Fans who can’t wait to play Apex Legends‘ sixth season won’t have to wait as long as they may have previously thought. Respawn pushed the release of Boosted, the battle royale’s sixth season, up by 12 hours to 12am CT on Aug. 18 instead of its usual noon release.
The season six launch trailer revealed that the new season will drop on Aug. 18. The latest Gameplay Trailer, however, finishes with a new date: one day before. Respawn confirmed through Twitter that the launch has been moved up to 12am CT.
This is a departure from Apex‘s established update schedule, which has been in place since the early seasons. New content—including events, limited-time modes, and even hunts in the season quest—normally dropped at 12pm CT. Season six, however, is an exception.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, titles such as Call of Duty have changed their update times to overnight or early morning launches, likely in an effort to reduce the strain on servers when the season drops. It’s possible that Respawn could be following suit to avoid server issues when launching a new season. Considering that the quests took down Apex‘s servers and that season five showed positive statistics regarding player engagement and retention, the new update schedule could be a measure to protect the Apex servers.
Season six, Boosted, is bringing in a plethora of new features. The new legend, Rampart, is coming to the Apex Games alongside the Volt SMG and an updated version of World’s Edge—designed to provide “[b]etter options for rotations out of some particularly sticky chokepoints” and complete with a new map mechanic.
