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Apex Legends Season 14 just dropped and the game continues its trend of increasing its player count every season . The game is over three years old at this point and the player count just keeps spiraling up. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), a game that was released in 2017, now has less total playtime (hours played) than Apex Legends, which came out on Steam in November 2020, more than a year after its release on Origin on PC.
Apex Legends is looking to go strong three years after its release
Apex Legends’ peak player count now sits at over 510,000 players while PUBG is just short of the 400,000 player mark. The only two games that consistently top Apex Legends are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, which are published by Steam’s owner, Valve.
Apex Legends launched in 2019 with absolutely no marketing whatsoever on digital media. EA decided to partner with streamers and launch the game unannounced. It immediately gained traction and became popular but most games usually do not see an increase in player count over time.
A lot of games usually see their player counts decline over time but Apex Legends has managed to maintain an upwards trend since 2021. Its renewed focus on esports and a steady flow of updates have helped the game maintain its popularity. The game also has a popular ranked mode and despite its issues, it continues to be very popular.
The game also had a mobile release but it is a separate version of Apex Legends optimized for mobile. The PC and console version of the game is also set to receive cross-progression later this year and there is an increased level cap which will allow all players to earn at least 544 Apex Packs over time, giving every long-term player a “free” heirloom that is usually priced at $160 USD.
With Warzone 2 set to release later this year, only time will tell if Apex Legends can maintain its momentum or if Activision’s offering will siphon some of the playerbase. Fortnite and PUBG are also still going strong and it looks like the hype for battle royale games is not going to die out anytime soon.
