Feb 11 2019
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apex legends

Apex Legends Hits 10 Million Players

Posted by | News, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | No Comments

Last week EA and Respawn Entertainment surprised everyone by announcing, and immediately releasing, a fully-formed battle royale-style multiplayer shooter based on the Titanfall series.

In the week since, Apex Legends has become a smash hit. After only 72 hours, Respawn Entertainment declared that over 10 million players had played the game, including 1 million players logged in at the same time.

“This has been a truly incredible journey. We knew it would be risky to take the franchise in this direction, to go free to play, and do a surprise launch. But we fell in love with Apex Legends and wanted, needed, other people to play it too,” says Vince Zampella, co-founder, Respawn Entertainment.  “From all of us at Respawn, thank you for giving us and Apex Legends a chance. Thank you for joining us on this journey.”

The elephant in the room is comparing Apex Legends’ explosive success to Fortnite’s currently huge popularity in the genre. In fact, it took Fortnite about two weeks to hit the same number of players.

EA and Respawn utilized a modern approach to marketing: live streams and influencers. This strategy paid off with a genre that lives and dies by its popularity. Some of the most popular streamers, such as Ninja and Dr. Disrespect, have completely switched from Fortnite to Apex Legends. And it helps that the game is quite good.

Interestingly, Apex Legends has gained popularity with Twitch audiences, yet Fortnite’s have not decreased. This suggests that Apex Legends may be bringing more newcomers into the genre instead of poaching Fortnite fans.

Apex Legends still has a long way to go before it can challenge Fortnite’s 200 million-strong players for king of the battle royale genre.

Apex Legends is available for free, with optional in-game purchases, on PC (Origin), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It’s rated T for Teen for Blood and Violence.

Jul 31 2018
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origin access premiere

EA Launches Origin Access Premiere Subscription for PC

Posted by | News, PC | No Comments

EA has announced a new subscription tier to Origin, EA’s digital storefront and gaming library for PC. The Origin Access Premiere subscription will cost $14.99/month or $99/year. Members will be granted access to 100+ games on Origin as well as additional in-game currency, and early access to new releases such as Madden NFL 19, Battlefield V, and Anthem.

“Origin Access Premier offers players a wealth of content, including all of EA’s PC games and numerous titles from other publishers in a single membership,” said Michael Blank, Senior Vice President, Player Network. “As our first-ever subscription service with full access to newly-released EA games, we’re offering players more freedom to play the games they want, anytime they want.”

In addition to the Basic tier library of games, the Premiere subscription provides access to the following games:

  • A Way Out
  • Fe
  • The Sims 4 Digital Deluxe Bundle
  • Star Wars Battlefront II
  • Unravel Two
  • Madden NFL 19 Hall of Fame Edition (August 2)
  • FIFA 19 Ultimate Edition (September 20)
  • Battlefield V Deluxe Edition (October 11)
  • Anthem Legion of Dawn Edition (February 15, 2019)

The previous Origin Access Basic membership already granted access to a library of 100+ games for a fraction of the cost: $4.99/month or $29.99/year. The main differences are that Premiere includes extra content (most likely the deluxe edition) with a minimum $20 value. Additionally the Basic subscription grants only 10-hour trials of early access to new games, while the Premiere tier grants full unlimited access to new games several days in advance.

Both tiers also provide 10% off Origin purchases.

Unfortunately EA has also chosen to end its On the House program, where it periodically gave away free downloads to older EA games, such as Theme Hospital, Plants vs. Zombies, and Mass Effect 2. Any games that were added and downloaded from the program will remain in your collection.