Respawn Entertainment's free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends is one of the biggest games in the world, and at the Game Developers Conference next year you'll have an opportunity to learn how its rock-solid Ranked leagues work!
This is a big deal because Apex has surpassed 70 million players to date, and in a GDC 2020 Design track talk on "Best of the Best: Designing Ranked Leagues for 'Apex Legends'" senior designer Chin Xiang Chong will walk you through how Respawn tried to design a ranked matchmaking system that fairly respects skill, simplicity, and clear progression.
You'll also see how the team tried to reduce ladder anxiety and churn, learn about the challenges of making a ruleset work in the context of a battle royale, and see the roadblocks Respawn ran into once the system actually went live into the hands of millions of players.
This is going to be a great talk for anyone interested in skill-based matchmaking or high-level competitive game design, so don't miss it -- even if you're not the world's greatest Apex player, you'll walk away with loads of useful learnings you can apply in your own work.
Next year GDC 2020 runs from Monday, March 16th through Friday, March 20th. This will be the 34th edition of GDC, and now that registration is officially open, you'll want to take a look at the (ever-expanding) session schedule and your GDC pass options -- register early to lock in the best price!
For more details on GDC 2020 visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent company Informa Tech
