It has been a whirlwind month for Apex Legends. Respawn’s hit FPS game celebrated its second anniversary in style, ending February with 50,000 more concurrent players on Steam than it had at the beginning of the month. It also broke its peak player record over the weekend, with Steam Charts registering a high of 196,799 players on February 27. With this, the game has surpassed Team Fortress 2 and Grand Theft Auto V to sit in the top five most-played games on the platform.
With the launch of Season 8: Mayhem, many have evidently found themselves enticed to either try out, or return to the free-to-play shooter. The game itself has continued to evolve since its launch, with Respawn eager to keep the experience fresh. Over the last couple of years we have seen maps come, go, and even return with major changes. Meanwhile, the game’s roster of legends has doubled since launch, with each new character providing a slew of unique abilities.
Speaking to The Loadout in a previous interview, concept art director Steve Ferreira even says the studio prefers to release a new legend on the stronger side in the hopes that it “has a big splash and really shakes things up in the meta.” Such are the lengths Respawn goes to in order to ensure no two seasons are the same.
Although keeping things interesting remains important, so too does ensuring the overall balance of the game. Although she is still at the top of our Apex Legends tier list, the nerf to Wraith’s hitbox at the start of the new season has resulted in a dramatic decrease in her pick rate. She currently sits as the fourth most picked legend, down from first where she has sat for most of the game’s existence.
But for real this time, this is your last weekend to party hard and celebrate two years of Apex with the Anniversary Collection Event before it ends March 2. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/rt06tXMkEE
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) February 27, 2021
With the two-year celebration ending tomorrow, March 2, now is a great time to drop in and see what Season 8 has to offer while hoovering up some free goodies.