Respawn Entertainment's
Apex Legends rocked the battle royale genre when it released earlier this month,
racking up 25 million players and providing the first real threat to
Fortnite's dominance within the market. While you can argue that
Apex Legends is a result of
Fortnite's success, it seems the student has now become the master.
Apex Legends introduced some rather useful mechanics to battle royale. Recognizing the importance of team communication, the game implemented an incredibly helpful ping system that allows players to quickly and easily communicate with teammates - even without a mic.
As of
update v8.00, that feature is now in
Fortnite. Introduced quietly
with Season 8, the new ping system in
Fortnite is essentially a clone of the one in
Apex Legends. Check it out below.
As you can see, it's pretty similar. It's hard to fault Epic Games for wanting to implement the feature in
Fortnite though. It's a brilliant mechanic. More importantly, it shows exactly why competition is important in the gaming industry.
Competition breeds creativity which, in turn, results in better games.
Fortnite became a better game today because of what
Apex Legends brought to the table.
Players can also thank
Apex Legends as a possible reason for why Epic Games offered the chance at a free Season 8 Battle Pass. It's speculated that Epic Games was threatened by the rapid rise in popularity of Respawn's game and wanted to ensure they stayed ahead of the pack by whatever means necessary.