As fans have dropped back into a new look Kings Canyon for Season 5 of Apex Legends, there is still disappointment from some that there wasn’t a whole new map. But, it looks like Respawn is busy working on something to come.
It was announced in May that Respawn had opened up an entirely new studio in Vancouver dedicated to working on Apex Legends. This news immediately excited players as it should mean more new content and features, more often.
Some have speculated about the mobile version of Apex, or cross-play being added, but a new map is also one of the possibilities. The latter now looks all the more likely, thanks to a Respawn job listing for the new studio.
Posted on May 19, this vacancy is for an experienced level designer to join the team working on Apex Legends. In the job description, it says that the new hire will “create and own large scale multiplayer maps iterating through gameplay blockouts in a live playtest environment.”
Perhaps the biggest clue that they’re working on new maps, rather than updates to the current ones is where it describes “helping realize the creative vision for taking players to new worlds.”
The candidate will also be expected to “champion a gameplay first mentality,” and “be forward-thinking and pro-active in terms of finding ways to improve the players’ experience through map design.”
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World’s Edge was added in Season 3, and this led to speculation that Season 5 would have a new map (a new map every two seasons). But, technically Kings Canyon was around for three seasons before World’s Edge, because of ‘Season 0’ (before Season 1 officially started).
This job listing could mean a new map in Season 6, but a better guess would probably be Season 7 or 8. This will give the developers ample time to create a new location from the ground up. In the meantime, expect to see more map overhauls like Kings Canyon got for Season 5.
As for where a new map would be, the most likely option is the planet of Psamathe. The birthplace of Lifeline and Octane, we’ve seen numerous teasers about this planet, even as far back as Season 3. World’s Edge arrived instead, which is on the planet of Talos.
In the Season 5 trailer, fans spotted a reference to Psamathe in the underground area Loba had broken into.
Apex Legends has the whole Titanfall universe to choose from, so it’s still anyone’s guess which planet might be next.