EA is still making an Apex Legends mobile game with a Chinese partner

Apex Legends was a huge hit in China, and Electronic Arts has been planning to bring the popular battle royale title to mobile for a year

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Apex Legends was once so popular in China that Western gamers complained that it was filled with Chinese cheats, bots and advertisers. (Picture: Electronic Arts)

Josh Ye

Published: 5:05pm, 31 Jan 2020Updated: 1:24pm, 15 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

US gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) is still working with a Chinese partner to bring Apex Legends to the country, the company said in its latest earning call. It’s also working with the same partner on a mobile version of the game for global release, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen reportedly said on the call.

This plan was originally revealed in May 2019, with earlier reports saying EA partnered with Tencent, the company behind PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile. As in much of the world, Apex Legends -- a free-to-play, fast-paced, sci-fi battle royale -- was a huge success in China in the first months after it launched, but it hasn’t gotten an official release in the country. EA said that Apex Legends continues to see growth. Digital bookings, which includes microtransactions inside free-to-play games, now account for 77% of the company’s total net amount of products and services sold.

Battle royale games have found tremendous success on mobile thanks to popular titles like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite. The recent success of Call of Duty Mobile might also be reassuring for EA as evidence that a first person shooter like Apex Legends can provide a good mobile gaming experience.

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