Apex Legends expands its reach to yet another platform. But instead of another way to play digital, the games are headed to your own household with its own tabletop version of the battle royale. And if the Kickstarter backing is anything to go by, there are plenty of players eager to get their hands on the board game.
Glass Cannon Unplugged, a tabletop game studio famous for adapting video games into physical versions, announced its biggest achievement yet on June 8. Their crowdfunding campaign for the Apex board game ended on with a final total of $832,996 from 4731 backers, more than triple the initial Kickstarter campaign goal of $225,000.
The official PlayApex Twitter account first announced their partnership with Glass Cannon Unplugged on Feb. 21, featuring four character miniatures and a link to the Kickstarter campaign start date for Apex Legends: The Board Game, set to launch on May 17 with a three week campaign run.
Apex Legends: The Board Game isn’t the first success of Glass Cannon Unplugged, as they have also adapted other famous board games to a physical setting, including Dying Light: The Board Game and Frostpunk: The Board Game, which famously rose over 2.5 million dollars in its Kickstarter campaign with 18,000 individual backers.
“Those of you who know us from our previous work are already familiar with the way we do things, Glass Cannon Unplugged believes in crowdfunding.” says founder Jakub Wiśniewski. “The only reason why Frostpunk: The Board Game is currently enjoying so much high praise is because it was co-created with the ardent involvement of Kickstarter backers.”
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The base board game is designed for two to four players, with three different game modes (training, deathmatch, and battle royale) that can last up to 90 minutes per game. Each player takes control of a squad of iconic Legends, trying to outmaneuver and eliminate their competition as the ring steadily closes in on a modular battlefield that changes with each play session.
The widespread support and success of the Kickstarter has allowed Glass Cannon Unplugged to develop multiple pledge tiers and expansions to the board game, including additional playable Legends, items, alternate game modes, and miniatures. At the end of campaign, 11 out of 12 stretch goals were met, with backers able to choose from seven different pledge levels that included all the new content with each milestone reached.
Notable expansions include the full squad add-on, featuring a bigger play map designed for Apex’s traditional three-vs-three experience, and solo and co-op play, where one player or a group can team up against the automa, a specialized deck of behavior cards where the game takes control of their own squad to fight in any game mode.
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The crowdfunding campaign for Apex Legends: The Board Game has concluded, but Glass Cannon Unplugged has already announced its continued interest and involvement with Respawn for making additional expansion packs after the Kickstarter release of the game.
“While we haven’t managed to reach the funding threshold required to add a free new Legend into the game, this doesn’t mean that we will not continue to develop the content for it.” said Wiśniewski. “When the game sees its official premiere, we will be able to learn if you want more as we evaluate its reception. If so, we will definitely prepare a new season to further enhance the game with new Legends, maps and gameplay modes.”
Avid fans can continue keeping up with the latest developments from Glass Cannon Unplugged on their official Facebook Group and Discord, and can personally playtest Apex Legends: The Board Game on Tabletop Simulator while waiting for their physical copy.
