Mackey McCandlish interview — Why Respawn made battle royale shooter Apex Legends

Respawn and Electronic Arts managed to keep Apex Legends a secret for a while. But rumors leaked out in the last few days, and the companies confirmed today they are launching a new battle royale game in the Titanfall universe. The surprise is that it is playable today for everybody, as the free-to-play game goes live on EA’s Origin platform.

I went to Los Angeles last week and tried out the game for several hours. Then I interviewed Mackey McCandlish, Respawn’s design director for Apex Legends. The game bucks some of the conventions of battle royale, as it has only 60 players overall and three players in each squad. But it’s a lot of fun, loads fast, and it has a lot of its own unique quirks.