Respawn Opens New Studio

@hayhorOpening a new studio to support Apex sounds awesome. I don't expect there will be any communication from Respawn about how this studio will play into their overall development strategy (assuming they have one) and what specifically it will be doing for Apex.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/respawn-opens-third-studio-to-keep-apex-legends-going-for-10-to-15-years

Sorry if the above didn't automatically turn itself into a hot link.

At any rate, I read the story and I have to be honest: my initial reaction was fairly snarky. But having had a little time to chew on it I'm coming around to thinking (hoping) that maybe this is the shot in the arm this game (should have got a year and a half ago) so desparately needs. I'm sure it's far too early to say, but feel free to speculate along with me. What does this mean for the game going forward? What meaningful changes would you like to see? What new content would you like see added?

Honestly, no Idea.

I know opening an entire studio and assigning a large portion of it to work on the live service of Apex should mean a lot, though at this point I doubt there are going to be any massive changes.

If they wanna go more than 10 years, they'll really have to switch gears.

Personally I'd like to see them switch to another engine, though at this point that might be a bit unrealistic.

Here is my opinions about this news;

I have always said, Respawn cares more about this product than EA ( the publisher ) and they seem to care enough to produce quality.  One must remember most of the issue are server ( data centers ) and match making which is more in EA's ballpark.  Having the 10 to 15 year goal is fine, but in all reality within the corporate world, no one can say for sure what will happen the next fiscal year.  

Next the article states, "To lead the new team, Respawn has hired Ryan Burnett as studio director for Wisconsin." who worked on Call of Duty.  I have witnessed first hand, individuals who have tons of experience fall flat on their face from day one.  I wish Mr. Burnett the best, but he needs to remember the old adage; Pride goes before a great fall. I have no idea how much ego he has about this new position.  If he doesn't listen to the other voices around him, he could end up singing out of key in the choir. 

Beyond that, what the commentary doesn't tell us is very important.  What I would like to know is how many new employees will be added to the current pool.  This 3rd studio could mean they just plan to move existing jobs and pull them from the first two studios.  For example; if site A and B has 300 placement at each site, they could be planning to pull 100 from each, and still have no more staff than they did before.  Most of these production studios hire at most about 200 to 300 workers. According to Respawn themselves at LinkedIn they have 500 to 1000 employees, but that is such a broad number.  I am not saying they are liars, just they have an issue with stating more precise information.

Meanwhile, assuming you have the degree and live in the Madison, WI area, it could be a good time to polish up the resume, and find a headhunter for Respawn.

@reconzero 

I'd say performance and that it would probably make it easier to service the game, especially on a longer term.

I'm not that well versed with game development, though from what I've heard, the game code has become spaghetti-like?

Apart from that, I think they could just benefit from an engine change overall, as I'd assume a source-modified/based game isn't going to survive that much longer.

Apart from that, possibly a bettet network architecture, bringing in some better lag compensation.

So does this mean we may get the audio fix this game so desperately needs? 

or no....

Im going to go with no? 

@reconzeroI feel the same. If they just set up a third studio led by a 20 year industry veteran to crank out collection events and skins, or just billable content of any sort for the store, that's the end of Apex. If they are going to actually tackle the fundamental issues with this game that the community has asked to be fixed for years, then we're getting somewhere. We'll see, I guess.

@NickBeam27 I think they've said that the audio issues are an engine limitation.  I would love to have them work with Valve on a sound engine redesign to get past those though.  For a BR, you need to be able to accurately represent a ton of sounds at once dynamically and get them to mix properly.  Especially Apex with it's huge roster of legends, abilities, & actions.