Apex Legends Nintendo Switch: Release date, trailer, crossplay

Hold on to your joy-cons. Apex Legends is coming to Nintendo Switch. The battle royale hit is celebrating its second anniversary in style by bringing the game to Nintendo’s portable console. While it’ll miss the start of the game’s chaotic eighth season, Switch owners will be able to get in on the mayhem soon.

Of course, avid Apex Legends fans may have some questions here. Chief among those: How well does the game run on Switch? Does it have crossplay? Will progression carry over? We’ve got answers to all those questions and more, so read on to learn everything you need to know about Apex Legends on Switch.

When is the Apex Legends Nintendo Switch release date?

Apex Legends will launch on Nintendo Switch on March 9, 2021. Like every other platform, the game will be free to download on Nintendo Switch, though it’s not clear if users will need a Nintendo Online account to play it online. Free-to-play games like Fortnite don’t require an online account, so it’s likely this will be free to all players.

Is there an Apex Legends Nintendo Switch trailer?

Not quite yet. Respawn Entertainment formally announced the Switch version back at EA Play 2020 in June, but it didn’t show any footage of the game. We just got a logo reveal and a "Fall 2020" release window, which came and went. But it was delayed back in October 2020.

Respawn hasn’t really said much about the game since or showed it in action. Even the tweet announcing the game’s release date only features an Apex Legends logo on a Switch screen, so how it looks on the portable is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Does Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch have crossplay?

Yes! Switch owners will be able to play the game with other console and PC players at launch. The Switch version will get full feature parity with other versions of Apex Legends, so Nintendo fans won’t be missing out on any updates.

Unfortunately, there’s still no cross-progression available in the game. That means that Switch players will have to start from scratch, as they can’t carry over any of their progress from PC or consoles. Switch owners will get a free 30 levels of the Season 8 battle pass and double XP for the game’s first two weeks, so hopefully, that will help ease the pain.

How does Apex Legends run on Nintendo Switch?

That’s the big unanswered question at the moment and we probably won’t know for sure until it launches in March. However, we do know that Panic Button was responsible for porting the game to Switch, which is a great sign. The studio is best known for porting Doom and Doom Eternal onto the system, which run shockingly well.

Respawn says that it was able to get the game running on Switch with some “smart optimizations,” so we’ll have to wait and see what those look like. When Inverse asked Apex Legends’ creators how the game performed on the system, Game Director Chad Grenier said “It’s actually coming along quite well despite it being on Switch.”

Apex Legends will be released on the Nintendo Switch on March 9, 2021.