How do you challenge the behemoth that is the ubiquitous Fortnite? Do you face the king of battle royale head-on by ripping them off? Or do you stick to your guns and pray that your “realistic” approach -*cough*PUBG*cough-  appeals to the more “matured” crowd?

What about creating your own niche instead? Here’s how:

• Incorporate the hero shooter elements of Overwatch using a likeable and practical cast. Quality over quantity.
• Infuse your shooter with the crisp and tight shooting mechanics similar to Call of Duty.
• Add a splash of lore which shares a universe with the highly underrated Titanfall series.
• Create a way for players to communicate easily with a touch of a button and aiming at whatever’s in front of you.
• For dramatic effect, don’t announce it beforehand. Instead, just drop it, hot off the presses onto the lap of gamers who did not see it coming.

That’s the story of Respawn’s Apex Legends, the genre-bending, or genre reinterpretation, of what a battle royale game could be.

Helmed by the guys who obviously live and breathe first-person shooters, Apex Legends is a product of careful market understanding coupled with balls of steel. Zigging when everyone else is zagging. Kinda like us when you think about it.

The rest, as they say, is history. Apex Legends not only managed to briefly beat Fortnite in the streaming realm, but also as the most-downloaded free-to-play game on the PlayStation 4 in 2019. 

Not resting on their laurels, Respawn has never been shy in introducing special modes which change the landscape of the game, adds in a day into night-time mode, as well as create some time-limited events with sweet, sweet exclusives.

Needless to say, they’re just getting started. Provided Respawn keeps the momentum going and surprise us constantly, they might even have a better 2020 to supersede their already-landmark 2019 debut.