Battle royale as a genre feels completely exhausted right now, largely thanks to cheap live-service gimmicks. Games like Fortnite or COD Warzone keep gathering casuals through endless pop culture collaborations. While Apex Legends was also in a slight decline, where players claimed it ‘DEAD‘, Respawn literally respawned the game to a new state.
Cut to Season 29, and the game is more popular than ever. The daily player counts are skyrocketing on Steam with consistency. I know, I know, player count is not everything, but for a game that struggles from So, what is Apex Legends doing right to outlive all the competitors? Let’s find out.
Apex Legends Was Its Own Apex Predator for Years
One of the key reasons behind Apex Legends losing players was not the top-tier competition. Yes, Fortnite and Warzone are their own games. However, fundamentally, they still lack gameplay that evokes more of a “What’s going on here?” On the other hand, the big claimants of an Apex Killer, such as Rumbleverse or Hyper Scape, left the Steam charts before they even arrived.
And it was not just the charts; the games fundamentally didn’t do anything special. No distinct themes like the sci-fi world-building of Apex or the great lore-accurate gameplay of, again, Apex. It felt like almost every competition was playing catch-up and still couldn’t crack the addictive loop of Apex (even when the game felt weak). This automatically threw all the average games into the void.
‘Apex is dead‘ started because of its own issues. It was losing players because Respawn avoided the key feedback from the core community. Steam and Reddit discussions were filled with these discussions. Most of them were talking about stale metas, lack of exciting gameplay progression, and, of course, the endless audio or technical issues.
Unfortunately, the core audience of the game couldn’t stick with the other low-quality games when Apex Legends provided a better experience, even at its 10%. That made people run back to the game every update and leave it when those tiring and neglected issues haunted them, AGAIN!
Despite the issues, players were coming back just to see if a new season fixed it, and the player count would spike. But they would go away the moment it all felt the same. The core gameplay was there, so what was going wrong? That is when…
Respawn Finally Realized Players Were Tired Of Sweating Every Night
Most Apex Legends players, including me, who spent almost two full years playing and streaming the game on Twitch, felt a legitimate burnout. The core gameplay, excellent gun feedback, and strategic parts were still fun. However, it was feeling more like a lobby simulator for the wrong reasons. Ranked games were a headache for gamers who just wanted some good fun.
On top of that, constant third-party fights took the soul away from a shooter who deserves more action. Yes, the game was competitive, but the fun of playing a video game was slowly losing its essence in Apex. The game kept relying only on hardcore competition, and eventually that stopped working.
Respawn finally started changing that around late 2024 by introducing more game modes. Mixtape ended up becoming one of the best additions because players could enjoy Apex without fully committing to battle royale every session. Modes like Team Deathmatch, Control, and Gun Run made the game feel casual again in a good way. Well, if that was not fun enough, massive weapon and legend changes made a lot of wrongs right.
You can also feel the fingerprints of Vince Zampella all over Apex Legends again. Ever since he took a much stronger leadership role across Respawn and EA shooters, Apex felt far more focused instead of randomly drifting between identity crises.
Perfecting the Art of Balancing Weapons and Legends
The balancing part is where Apex Legends struggled for a long time, but for the past year, it has been as close to perfection as it gets. When I was a regular, the game would have one R99 or a Charge Rifle being everyone’s go-to gun, as if using other weapons would cost you the game. That continued with legends too, where all I could see were Bangalore and Watsons in every lobby camping down zones.
This stale meta took away the soul of progression in a battle royale, where you tactically rotate and take fights. That change is finally here with massive updates over 2025-26. First of all, the EVO shield upgrades fit more into your whole gameplay rotations and not just “I shoot more Charge Rifle shots and get a purple shield.” On top of that, weapons like RE-45, Prowler, and several energy weapons feel more relevant due to advanced balancing. Especially, they fixed my favorite Hemlok (God, I missed ya).
This also applies to the legends now. Older agents like Lifeline, Gibraltar, Wraith, and Valkyrie are more valuable to a comp now than they were before. Hell yeah, being a Gibby main, three Defensive Bombardments no longer feel defensive at all. And yes, the solo queue improvements that will come later will be perfect for a lone dropper like me.
Respawn is making sure that players have more options to pick from when they drop into the game. This automatically creates a strong meta, and the quick burnout from repetitive gameplay goes away. And let us not forget the breachable windows and entry points that create more fight opportunities and strategic entry points.
Apex Legends is now more than just a better version of it; it is a full-throttle, high-octane (no pun intended) experience. But that is not the only thing that keeps Apex Legends alive now. Respawn is also heavily chopping down the cheating culture.
Apex Legends Is Finally Fighting Back Against Cheaters
If you are familiar with online shooter games, you know those egotistic folks will turn up with their two-dollar software to ruin a regular gamer’s experience. This has been the case with Apex Legends players for years now.
However, the massive crackdown on this started in late 2025. Just when people started believing that Respawn could not control it, thousands of accounts were wiped for using XIIM/Titan, HWID spoofing, DMA, or any other detection measures. This affected both PC and console users.
Yes, as long as controller aim assist and config file tampering exist, it is hard to wipe out all cheaters. But the pace Respawn picked up to obliterate this section of criminals brings more faith for the actual legends who play the game with integrity.
And trust me, even the legendary pros like ImperialHal are not spared, as during ALGS 2026, a $2 million tournament, he was denied using his custom controller. ALGS strictly said that the controller came with macros, which goes against the official rules of the game’s fight against cheating.
Apex Legends is far from perfect, but improvements are more visible than ever (and definitely not near the term ‘DEAD’). Overall, if you are a fan of Apex Legends, now is the perfect time to lock in, load up, and check why it is still beating the competition.
Are you jumping into Apex Legends Season 29, or are you finding strategies to stop losing in Deadlock more? Let us know which shooter has your attention right now in the comments.
Ishan Adhikary
