It’s rather unfortunate, but Respawn Entertainment recently announced that Apex Legends’ Nintendo Switch release will have to be delayed until 2021. The free-to-play battle royale was initially released in February 2019, and it was able to remain relevant despite the fact that the battle royale market has been saturated as of late.
Newer first-person shooters such as Riot Games’ Valorant has been climbing the charts recently, yet Apex Legends remains a strong competitor thanks to the way Respawn has been constantly releasing updates and improvements, and how its gameplay is fast-paced.
That being said, the developer previously announced during EA Play this year that it had plans to release Apex Legends on the Nintendo Switch as well as on Steam. As a matter of fact, the studio even mentioned that it planned on implementing cross-play support across various platforms and systems.
It has been confirmed that the battle royale will launch on the next-gen consoles – Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 – when both get launched thanks to backward compatibility. However, the title was never released on the Nintendo Switch console or on any Nintendo platform for that matter.
It surprised a slew of players when Respawn Entertainment announced that Apex Legends will be coming to Steam much more than the fact that it will also be ported to the Switch. If you’re unaware, Electronic Arts refused to sell its games on Valve’s digital storefront for so many years, choosing instead to create its very own subscription service via the Origins app.
However, Epic Games began climbing the PC market as well, which led Electronic Arts to create a deal with Valve. Both companies came to an understanding when Electronic Arts agreed to have its games on Steam, while Valve agreed to host the EA Play subscription on its platform.
As for releasing the game on the Switch, Respawn Entertainment understands that the console is currently one of the most popular systems to play games on, especially since it’s easy to bring around with you everywhere.
However, in a sad turn of events, it appears that the Switch release for the battle royale will be pushed back to 2021. According to Game Director Chad Grenier, this year has been full of “unexpected new challenges,” which we assume pertains to the coronavirus pandemic and how it has affected the video game industry significantly.
Today we'd like to share a quick update on Steam and Switch launches: https://t.co/TEqQfFF0GE pic.twitter.com/aMWZ7xdZaV
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) October 23, 2020
Grenier also says that they don’t want to rush the title’s release, especially since he and his team want to give Apex Legends the justice it deserves. The game director also assures fans that they are currently hard at work on the Switch port.
Once the title does get released on Nintendo’s handheld console, players will still be able to participate in the same in-game events along with cross-platform support for fans to enjoy.
On the other hand, the Steam version of Apex Legends will be arriving quite soon. According to the game’s dedicated Steam page, the title will be released on November 4, which is the same day as the start of Apex Legends Season 7.
The fact that Respawn Entertainment was able to have Apex Legends ported to the Switch is already an achievement in and of itself, so we can’t really blame the studio for wanting to perfect the game’s release.
