EA respond to concerns that Apex Legends could hurt Battlefield 5’s Firestorm battle royale

Respawn’s Apex Legends has taken the gaming industry by storm, bringing a whole different feel to the battle royale experience, but it’s left EA in a tricky situation where they’re having to convince investors that the project won’t hinder Battlefield 5 Firestorm. 

The new Battlefield game, which is set to be released during Spring of this year, will potentially compete not only against Fortnite and PUBG, but another battle royale game from their own publisher with Apex Legends. 

Speaking to investors, the CEO of EA Andrew Wilson has tried to reassure interested parties that there is space for both of them in the extremely competitive current market. 

“What we have seen is that the community who plays these types of games is hundreds of millions of people strong,” Wilson explained during EA’s Q3 Investors call.

“Given the size of the community, given the different types of gameplay even with the battle royale genre, we believe those two modes will fit very well together in the community.”

• Read More: Is Ranked Play coming to Apex Legends?

During the same call, EA revealed that Battlefield 5’s sales had not met their expectations, since its release in November of last year, sparking curiosity about how the gaming giant was going to be able to have both Apex Legends and Firestorm succeed together – highlighting similarities. 

“While they sit inside the battle royale genre, they are two very different types of experiences,” Wilson added, before admitting that “on some level, there may also be some crossover.”

• Read More: Respawn reveals that two of Apex Legends’ characters are LGBTQ

Apex Legends is already standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Fortnite and PUBG for concurrent players, but the EA chief believes that there’s something unique about Battlefield that will allow its own battle royale experience to also flourish. 

“We think that there is an opportunity to deliver the fast-paced gameplay that is Apex Legends and where that game goes to a big part of the community,” he said. 

“Also, the strategic play, the vehicle play, the things that are unique to the Battlefield battle royale mode, will offer differentiation of play for a different part of that community.“