10 Incredible Video Games That Came Out Of NOWHERE
7. Apex Legends
Generally speaking a game as huge as Apex Legends will be marketed for many months before being unleashed upon the masses, but EA's free-to-play Battle Royale hero shooter was dropped the very same day that it was officially unveiled to the public.
Sure, there had been rumours about a new game from Titanfall developers Respawn Entertainment in the weeks prior to its reveal, but considering it ended up being the furthest thing from expected - that is, not Titanfall 3 - the element of surprise was still substantial.
Its February 2019 launch is all the more impressive given that Apex Legends didn't start development until mid-2017, and more to the point, its finessed gameplay and innovative mechanics - such as the brilliant ping system - allowed it to compete with other Battle Royale monoliths such as Fortnite and PUBG.
By the end of its reveal stream, Apex Legends was already the top game on Twitch, and four years on from its release has served an astonishing 130 million players, while generating more than $2 billion in revenue for EA.