Respawn Entertainment took an unexpected approach with the launch of their hugely popular Battle Royale shooter Apex Legends. No hype, no pre-release footage or announcement trailers, not a single word on twitter; the public had no idea about the release of Respawn’s highly polished, visually beautiful free-to-play shooter. Perhaps Respawn knew the gameplay would speak for itself – gaining 25 million players after the first week of release, and profiting $92 million within a month.
Regarding this off-beat strategy of absolutely no marketing prior to release, Apex’s lead director Drew McCoy alluded to Respawn’s recent acquisition by EA, in lieu with public disdain for F2P loot box based monetisation made for some potentially detrimental PR – leading the team to ‘Just ship the game and let players play’.
