Apex Legends on PS5 and Xbox Series X? Respawn job listing hints at next-gen port
Next-gen battle royale
Apex Legends could be pinging its way onto PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, after a job listing appearing to hint at next-gen ports for the hit battle royale game.
As spotted by GamesRadar, Respawn has posted a job listing for senior rendering engineers to seemingly work on next-gen ports of the game, writing that "Respawn is looking for Senior Rendering Engineers to push next-gen platforms and the PC to their limits on Apex Legends."
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Apex Legends launched to great acclaim last year, with the smooth gunplay and smart mechanics we'd come to expect from Titanfall developer Respawn. But this is the first time we've got an inkling of the battle royale title coming to next-gen consoles.
When could it happen?
While it's not a surprise to hear Respawn is planning to bring its game to PS5 and Xbox Series X, the job specification leads us to believe that work is already somewhat underway, given the dev is recruiting for individuals to help with "shading", "optimizing", and bug-fixing, which feel like end-of-pipeline considerations for any game.
There are few launch games announced so far for both consoles, and getting Apex Legends: PS5 Edition to players before January would be quite a big achievement – while giving console upgraders a quality battle royale experience to take part in.
It's possible, though, we won't see it until 2021, especially with lockdown measures hindering game development and leading many publishers to delay big game releases, such as The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. For its part, though, Respawn has only delayed season 5 of Apex by a week so far, so maybe this new version of the game will be unaffected.
First, though, we'd like to see cross-play for this generation. Anything to announce, Respawn?
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Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.