Not many games have managed to stick around in the battle royale genre since PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite exploded onto the scene in 2017. Apex Legends, released almost two years later at a time when battle royale fatigue might have been setting in for many players, successfully carved out its own niche in the market thanks to its focus on team play, use of hero characters with unique abilities and the smooth movement and satisfying gunplay we've come to expect from Respawn after the excellent Titanfall games. If you're hoping to play Apex Legends on Thursday, February 25, however, then just be aware that Respawn is conducting server maintenance on the game.
What time will Apex Legends' maintenance take place?
🔧@PlayApex server maintenance incoming🔧
âŒYour store, inventory, and cosmetic unlocks may unavailable
â•ï¸Only default characters will be playable during this period
Maintenance is expected to begin at 2:30am PT on 2/25 and conclude by 5:30am PT on 2/25.— Respawn (@Respawn) February 24, 2021
">In a tweet ahead of the maintenance, Respawn said it is expected to take place between 2:30 a.m. Pacific Time (that's 5:30 a.m. ET or 10:30 a.m. GMT) and 5:30 a.m. PT (8:30 a.m. ET/1:30 p.m. GMT).
Can I still play during the maintenance?
Apex Legends will still be playable during this period, so don't fret - you'll still be able to team up and dominate your competition. However, for the duration of the maintenance, it seems that players will have a slightly stripped-back experience. According to Respawn, stores, inventories and unlocked cosmetics may be unavailable, with only default characters playable throughout.
What could the maintenance be for?
When you have a healthy player base of gamers from around the world, it's difficult to apply repairs without causing disruption to some of them, and at this time it could impact players in Europe, Africa and Asia. However, with the maintenance taking place at a time with minimal interruptions for players in the United States, it's possible the fixes being applied are fairly significant.
Apex Legends launched Season 8 on February 2, but since the latest update a lot of players have encountered crashes, issues with laggy servers or struggled to connect at all due to "infinite loading screens." These problems will likely be the target of Thursday's maintenance, here's hoping they'll be ironed out.