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Respawn Entertainment dropped a new battle royale title suddenly last Monday and it has essentially exploded in popularity. Apex Legends crossed the one million total players milestone in eight hours, and hit 10 million in under 72 hours, with the concurrent player number clocking in at one million. And now, a week after its launch, the free-to-play title sits at 25 million players, with "well over" two million concurrents at peak during the game"s first weekend.
Respawn CEO Vince Zampella confirmed the numbers in a new blog post while also touching on what the studio has planned for the game in the coming weeks. The game"s first season is scheduled to launch in March with its own battle pass, bringing new playable characters, weapons, and loot over a three-month period.
Meanwhile, a Twitch tournament "with 48 of the biggest streamers" contesting is starting today at 9am PT boasting a $100,000 prize pool. There"s some limited-time loot coming in for Valentine"s Day later this week as well. Also, there have been leaks about solos and duos modes making into the currently trio-locked game soon, but Respawn is yet to confirm anything.
As for the new player number milestones, Apex Legends seems to be growing much faster than Fortnite did at the beginning of its venture. Epic Games" take on battle royale was 30 million players strong two months in, which looks like Apex Legends will pass quite soon. Fortnite"s peak concurrent player count was hovering around 1 million at the time, however, which Respawn"s title has managed to beat easily in its first week.