Apex Legends is a wildly popular multiplayer shooter published by Electronic Arts. While most would assume that means Apex Legends was created using EA’s proprietary game engine, they would incorrect. Apex Legends was developed using a publicly available game engine developed by a competitor to EA.
What game does Apex Legends use? Why was this decision made? Read more to find out!
What is a Game Engine?
At its most basic level, a game engine is a piece of software that provides the basic infrastructure required to create a video game. This includes things like a rendering engine for generating graphics, a physics engine for simulating realistic interactions, and a sound engine for generating audio.
However, game engines also typically provide a number of other features, such as tools for level design, character animation, and artificial intelligence. The best game engines are constantly evolving, providing developers with more powerful and efficient ways to create the games of their dreams.
While game developers can create their games from scratch or from a new, fully custom engine, game development has matured so far that it’s rarely done from scratch. Almost all indie and AAA games, including Apex Legends, are made from well-developed game engines.
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What is the game engine used in Apex Legends and why is it important?
Apex Legends uses Source, which is also used in popular games such as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The Source engine was developed by Valve Corporation, yet Apex Legends is published by Electronic Arts.
It appears that the decision to utilize the publicly available Source Engine predates EA’s acquisition of Apex Legends. Prior to this, the battle royal game’s developers did not have access to EA’s own proprietary game engine or other resources, so they began work with what was available.
While the Source Engine isn’t the most advanced game engine available today, it is known for its highly customizable nature, giving developers a lot of control over how their game looks. Apex Legends uses this to its advantage, with a very clean and colorful art style. The game also benefits from the engine’s excellent physics system, which results in a very fluid and fast-paced gameplay experience.
Redoing the entire game with one of EA’s own engines would likely require too many resources and not be worth the effort. Apex Legends runs well and is loved by its players as is. EA must figure, don’t fix what isn’t broken.
Other Notable Games Created with the Source Engine
In addition to Apex Legends and the aforementioned Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Half-Life 2, the Source engine has been used in a number of other popular games. These include:
- Left 4 Dead
- Team Fortress 2
- Portal
- Titanfall 2
The Source engine is a versatile and powerful game engine that has been used to create a wide variety of games.
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The Game Engine Used in Apex Legends Mobile is Different
Apex Legends mobile uses a different game engine than the PC and console versions. The mobile version is developed by Tencent’s Lightspeed & Quantum Studios group. Lightspeed & Quantum have experience developing mobile games.
They are also responsible for another massive multiplayer game: PUBG Mobile. By publishing Apex Legends mobile, Lightspeed & Quantum have solidified themselves as kings of the mobile, battle royale games genre.
Lightspeed and Quantum Studios used a different game engine than the Source Engine to make Apex Legends Mobile. They used Unreal Engine 4 to develop Apex Legends mobile.
This decision was made because they had much more experience with Unreal Engine. Furthermore, Unreal is usually thought of as being a more complete game engine for mobile development than Source.
Conclusion
The Apex Legends engine is the Source game engine, which was likely chosen because it is customizable and available to everyone. Apex Legends mobile uses Unreal Engine 4, which is more commonly used for mobile development.
Both engines are powerful and have been used to create a number of popular games. What do you think of Respawn Entertainment’s choice of using the Source Engine? Let us know in the comments below.
For more great Apex Legends content, check out our guide on the best keybinds for Apex Legends.
