Respawn opens new studio to bolster Apex Legends development
Respawn is opening a new branch in Madison, Wisconsin, the company announced today. This latest addition may work on other projects in the future, but at least right now, it will be focusing on supporting Apex Legends.
Former Epic games director of engine production Ryan Burnett is taking up the role of studio director. He also had 14 years with Raven Software. The Madison branch is working closely with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation as well, to help grow the studio.
Respawn opened a support studio for Apex Legends in Vancouver back in 2019. With this new studio, it sounds like Electronic Arts and Respawn want to keep the battle royale growing. From a GamesIndustry.biz interview with the new studio leads, Burnett says that the branch is not a remote live ops department, but an expansion of the core Apex team that will work with the studios in LA and Vancouver.
Three locales is a lot, but it sounds like Respawn has big plans for Apex Legends, especially when it comes to longevity. Responding to a question about crunch and quality-of-life, game director Steven Ferreira talks about just how long-haul the development of Apex goes.
“Team health is absolutely a top priority for us because we’re in this for the long haul,” Ferreira said. “We believe in Apex as a franchise that’s going to be around for 10, 15 years or more and we’re excited to make that happen. In order to do that, we can’t just put everything all upfront, burn ourselves out and not be ready to do that in the long haul.”
That’s a long time, but as online game after online game has closed, Apex Legends has indeed weathered the storm. Maybe this battle royale does have a long future ahead of it. God willing, that will include some
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