According to new reports, October 2019 was the strongest month for Apex Legends (PC, PS4, Xbox One) since its release. We are looking into where the sudden surge comes from: Apparently, Season 3 launched more successfully than Season 2.
Here’s how strong October was for Apex Legends: The statistics site SuperData has shown new data on the state of digital games in October 2019. Included in the commentary is the note that Apex Legends generated $45 million in in-game revenue in October. This is enough for 9th place in digital revenue on PS4 and Xbox One:
- October 2019 was the strongest month since Apex Legends launched in February 2019.
- In September 2019, the revenue was only $16 million.
This is especially interesting because interest in Apex Legends had actually decreased somewhat in the weeks prior – until October. So where does the sudden boom come from?
Are Season 3 and Halloween the reasons?
Here’s what happened in October: On October 1, 2019, Apex Legends Season 3 kicked off. It brought many changes:
- the new legend, Crypto
- a new map – something fans of the competitor Fortnite have long wished for
- changed weapon balance with new attachments and a new weapon
Additionally, new features have found their way into the game. Special keycards can be used to open secret vaults on the new map. This adds more dynamics and allows weaker teams to turn the round around in the end.
Were there special events? In October, the Halloween event “Fight or Fright” also took place. This offered various new skins that players could either unlock or buy for the first time.
Since there were quite a few really cool skins, some players likely spent a few bucks to re-skin their favorite legend.
One advantage was certainly that Season 3 started exactly on October 1, giving Apex Legends more time to benefit from this “new hype” and have a strong October.
Is competitor Fortnite to blame?
Here’s what happened with Fortnite: Also in October, Fortnite launched Chapter 2. For this, Fortnite was completely destroyed; the entire map was gone. The game itself was inaccessible for several days.
Although this was a media spectacle with over 6 million viewers, fans could simply not play the game as they wanted to. At that time, Apex Legends was one of the obvious alternatives to Fortnite.
What’s next for Apex Legends?
This is what the future brings: Recently, a Duo mode in Apex Legends was tested, which was playable for some time. After solo modes had appeared in the past, these could be potential changes for the future.
Currently, EA is working on bringing Apex Legends to Steam as well. This will likely take a little while, but it should certainly be beneficial for the game’s revenue:
