EA in 'advanced negotiations' to bring Apex Legends to China and mobile

During a call with investors (transcribed by SeekingAlpha), EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen shared that the company is currently in talks to bring Apex Legends to China and mobile platforms.

The Chinese government is infamously strict about what games it will approve for monetization and release in the country, and those regulations have only strengthened this last year. But, for the games that can get approved China can be a valuable market given the fact that the country represents a $30 billion video game industry and over 600 million players.

“We are in advanced negotiations to bring Apex Legends to China and to mobile,” said Jorgensen, “And we will update you on timeframes when those negotiations are concluded.”

Beyond that, details are unclear. Fellow battle royale games PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite followed similar paths after first releasing on PC and consoles, though Tencent just this week had to pull support for the PUBG mobile game in China due to licensing complications.

Even without a mobile version of the game or a release in China, EA says that Apex Legends is “easily the fastest-growing franchise we’ve ever had.” The company's current forecasts see Apex Legends bringing in net bookings in the range of $300 million to $400 million in the 2020 fiscal year, and that’s before even considering income from a mobile or Chinese release of the game.