Report: Ubisoft Creating Battle Royale Game to Compete with Apex Legends

Word on the street is that Ubisoft, the renowned French game publisher, is throwing its hat into the battle royale arena with a new game that hopes to give Apex Legends a run for its money.

According to Insider Gaming, this upcoming project, currently known by the codename “Scout,” seems to take a lot of inspiration from Respawn and EA’s popular title. At one point, its concept art even looked remarkably similar to Apex Legends, with characters that echo those in the existing game. Ubisoft has been quietly brewing this project for quite a while.

The strategy here, it appears, is for Ubisoft to swoop in and capture a slice of the gamer base that might be slipping away from Apex Legends. Electronic Arts themselves have acknowledged a drop in financial returns from their game, which might just mean there’s an opening in the market for Ubisoft.

An insider mentioned, “The idea is to leverage Apex’s dwindling player numbers. The execs at Ubisoft see a gap for another hero-based battle royale game.”

This isn’t Ubisoft’s first rodeo in the free-to-play battle royale genre. Remember Hyperscape? That was Ubisoft’s attempt back in 2020, though it unfortunately failed to gain traction and was shut down just a year and a half later. And recently, Ubisoft also pulled the plug on XDefiant, another free-to-play shooter, anticipated to end in 2024.

Interestingly, a revamped version of Apex Legends, dubbed Apex Legends 2.0, is in the pipeline, with a release tentatively planned after April 2026. Ubisoft’s timing is intriguing, to say the least, as they aim to carve out their niche in this competitive space.