"Two-Fold Thing" Apex Legends Dev Discusses Recent Player Surge

Apex Legends is having something of a moment, with the past few weeks seeing higher player counts, greater and wider-spread player goodwill, and plenty of player-driven content. All of this translates to positive word of mouth that has seen new players join the Apex Games, veterans and pros come back from time away, and basically everything is looking up for the beloved battle royale game. It is this momentum that the Apex Legends development team wants to take into Season 29, starting on May 5.

Ahead of Apex Legends Season 29, GameRant sat down with the development team and took a look back at this player surge. According to design director Evan Nikolich, the recent surge in players is a result of two ostensibly simple things: getting players to come to Apex Legends and getting players to stay.

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The One-Two Punch of Apex Legends in Early 2026

The first thing that got players to come to (or back to) Apex Legends was the recent Gundam Collaboration. It was compelling, incredibly popular, and well-received by players, which was a result of the two IPs mixing really well together. Apex Legends is incredibly popular in Japan (ALGS Year 5 was in Japan), and the Gundam collab just fits perfectly within its great fanbase. That’s not to say that future collaborations are going to happen, but it’s certainly possible with the way it brought players in. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for an Apex Legends x Star Wars crossover, but I digress. Simply put, “[The Gundam Collab] was reason to re-engage,” explained Nikolich.

More importantly, however, was giving players a reason to stay, said Nikolich. Roughly since Apex Legends Season 23 in November 2024, Respawn has been focused on listening to players, engaging with players, updating the game, and adjusting/reacting with greater speed and purpose, all to improve the core aspects of Apex Legends. Nikolich explained that all of the improvements to core content, plus the introduction of new content, has been “stacking up over time, then we have this event happen, and the game is just in a better state.” Once players came in for the event, “they’re staying, they’re telling their friends, and their favorite streamers are getting on board.”

The end result of the Gundam + Core Updates punch, Nikolich says, is a “snowballing effect. It’s not any one thing; it’s all the work we’ve been doing over the last 18 months building to this moment, and we are planning to maintain our momentum and keep driving. The core of that is listening to players and addressing their needs, for sure.”

On May 5, Apex Legends Season 29 begins with a brand new legend in Axle, massive core updates like healing improvements, health bar changes, and a new way to respawn, and plenty of other features. Trust me when I say, as a long-time player, Apex Legends feels like a whole new game in 2026 vs. 2024 or earlier.