On importance of continuing lore development

Hello.

Firstly, thank you very much for sharing your plan for the next 4 seasons. I understand how challenging it is to plan creative work so far into the future and how easily overpromising may turn into a marketing nightmare. I don’t take this openness for granted and I appreciate it regardless of what I'm about to say.

Now, what I want to say is that this roadmap made me sad due to not even mentioning lore development. Yes, it’s not the first time I’m bringing up this topic here, but since we are now talking about plans for an entire year, let me go into more details and explain why I consider lore a crucial part of Apex Legends and why its absence is so heartbreaking.

I’ve played Apex Legends for the first time back when it launched in 2019. I’ve enjoyed the game, but after playing a month or so, I drifted away and stopped paying attention to game-related news. Then, in February 2021 I found myself with two free evenings as I was waiting for another game to come out. I’ve decided to re-install Apex Legends and Fortnite and play each for one evening. This ended up in playing Apex Legends for the next two weeks non-stop and keeping playing it ever since. And the reason I’ve suddenly got so attached to a game I had not much interest in was the narrative. Hearing character’s banter when you thank other players and reading their story in seasonal quest made me fall in love with their personalities and made me want to know what will happen to them next.

Of course, Apex Legends is not a visual novel, and I wouldn’t stick with the game if gameplay wasn’t to my liking. For example, I quickly stopped playing Wildcard because I don’t enjoy fighting infinitely respawning enemies. But even in modes which’s gameplay appeals to me (Trios, Ranked Leagues), I still gravitate towards characters I love regardless of their gameplay potential. As you were buffing various Legends throughout last year, I was still playing Vantage simply because her social awkwardness really resonates with me. I even played as her in ALGS Challenger Circuit.

Narrative also plays a huge role in making playing by yourself attractive. Just like Vantage, I’m not a social person, so I’m solo-queuing 95% of the time. Naturally, when you form a team with random players, you often get two people picking Legends from the same class or getting two players with mismatching playstyles. From gameplay perspective this can be frustrating: you left your POI at level 1 because no one could open bins or scan ring console, then one person run into a fight by themselves and quickly died, then you had to fight a battle you couldn’t win. But when you add a narrative, everything changes: Vantage and Crypto got distracted as they were discussing emails, Octane got bored and ran into a battle by himself, it was so stupid, but at least we have a story to tell. In other words, narrative gives me a whole new reason to enjoy matches I’m playing, and it is vital for getting over the inevitable bumps of the solo-queuing experience.

Finally, I can tell you how important the narrative is for bringing new players in. I love Apex Legends and I want others to experience the same, so I’m regularly making videos about the game. I’m also a Patron of Easy Allies (a group of ex-GameTrailers journalists, maybe you know them), so I send these videos to their monthly Community Showcase. When I talk about maps, game modes, ALGS or anything gameplay-related, it generates some appreciation of what Apex Legends is doing, but nothing more. However, when I'm highlighting narrative or character interactions, the interest often reaches the point of wanting to actually play the game. In other words, the lore is a strong gateway into Apex Legends for many of those who don’t play it right now.

To summarize, I believe that lore is crucial for Apex Legends because it brings new players in, it gives you a reason to play different Legends and it makes solo-queuing experience more enjoyable. I know that you listen to the feedback, and I know that I’m not the only one who wants Apex Legends to continue developing its lore. So, I hope that you’ll find opportunity to put this feedback into action sooner rather than later.

Thank you for reading this long post.