Here’s some nice news for once. A former Apex Legends developer has been rehired by Respawn following Highguard’s shut down earlier this year.
Environment artist Derek Bentley has announced he has returned to the world of Apex Legends after getting laid off from Wildlight in February. “I’m back, baby,” Bentley wrote on social media, adding he was “unbelievably stoked” by the move.
Bentley was one of many from the Wildlight team to get laid off, after the studio’s hero shooter Highguard – which came from several former Titanfall and Apex Legends developers – failed to set the world alight. Despite a strong start, dwindling player numbers along with a reported lack of funding resulted in Highguard ultimately getting shut down after less than six weeks.
As for what Bentley will be doing on his return to Respawn and Apex Legends, he will be a principal environment artist, with a focus “almost entirely on making some extremely cool art, probably mostly rocks”.
I appreciate this is a small update really in the grand scheme of video game news, but goodness me is it nice to write about someone getting a new job which they are clearly very excited about, rather than studio closures and game cancellations for a change.
Elsewhere in Apex Legends news, earlier this year it was announced that the game’s 29th season will be its last on Nintendo Switch.
Respawn didn’t provide a specific reason as to why updates would be discontinued on the original Switch when it shared the news in January, but did say the discontinuation was part of the studio’s goal to “continue to evolve Apex Legends’ content and technical foundation” and “deliver a high quality experience”.
