One of the things that stood out about Apex Legends when it first launched last year was how it grouped players into teams of three instead of the more common four-player configuration seen in other battle royale games like PUBG and Fortnite. Since then, Apex has added a permanent duos mode and even dabbled in solo play with a number of limited-time modes, yet so far Respawn Entertainment has made no move to go beyond trios and introduce an option for quads.
With 60 players in a typical match, one could argue that implementing four-player squads wouldn’t radically change gameplay, as it would merely reduce the team count from 20 or 30 to 15. No doubt, a quads option would be welcomed by those who prefer playing battle royales in larger teams. However, when asked about the possibility in a Reddit AMA this weekend, James “Monsterclip” McCord, Apex’s Design Director, shut it down, stating, “We don’t have any plans to release Quads.”
McCord then went into the reasoning behind this decision. He explained that, after testing out different squad sizes early on in development, Respawn found that trios is the “magic number” where team compositions “really shine.” It did experiment with quads during the testing period, but according to McCord, “the combat becomes nearly untrackable” between four-player teams. “It’s chaotic in a negative way.”
More than that, though, the game simply isn’t designed with quads in mind, McCord said. Everything from the lobby screen to the loot distribution to the banners that highlight players on the maps is built around Apex Legends’ original three-player limit, which Respawn still considers the “sweet spot” in terms of team balance. Because of this, the studio hasn’t felt compelled to pursue quads in something like a LTM, even though McCord admitted that the issues are “technically solvable” with enough effort.
Only time will tell if Respawn ever changes its mind and decides to make that effort, but in the meantime, players have the game’s ongoing stream of seasonal content to dive into. Apex’s seventh season kicked off this week with one of the largest updates in a while, introducing a whole new map, Olympus, and the game’s first drivable vehicles on top of Season 7’s new playable Legend, Horizon.
For now, at least, Respawn seems content to continue iterating within the game’s initial design constraints, but a lot of fans still think there’s room to grow. As the the game’s roster of characters and the universe they live in continues to grow, many, including people at Respawn, believe Apex Legends has the potential to expand beyond battle royale, and given the game’s popularity, it’s certainly a possibility.
Apex Legends is free-to-play for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with mobile and Switch versions currently in development.
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