'Apex Legends' has 100 million players after two years

Just over two months after its two-year birthday, Apex Legends has more than 100 million total players worldwide. Developer Respawn Entertainment announced the news over on Twitter with a video celebrating the milestone and promising it’s “just getting started” on the battle royale title.

100 million strong, and we're just getting started. Thank you, Legends! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/FlINru0lx5

— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) April 14, 2021

While Apex was quick to pass the 25 million and 50 million player mark in its first month of availability, it’s had a harder time maintaining that breakneck momentum. Before today’s announcement, the last time EA, its publisher, talked about player count was when Apex crossed the 70 million player threshold. That was in late 2019. Since then, the game has enjoyed more moderate (and arguably sustainable) growth, with the company revealing in its Q3 earnings that the player base had increased by 30 percent year over year. EA has yet to detail how the game’s recent Nintendo Switch release is doing, but it couldn’t have hurt things.

All the same, 100 million players is a significant milestone, especially in a crowded market that includes juggernauts like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone that, as of their most recent updates, had 350 million and 75 million players, respectively. And despite being the middle child in that grouping, none of that has stopped Apex from being a financial performer for EA. The company expects the game to pull in more than $500 million this year. When you add that there’s a mobile version in development, it's safe to say Apex has a bright future ahead of itself.