Hero shooter Highguard reportedly didn't even pay for the Game Awards slot that's earned it so much preemptive hate—the showrunners thought it deserved the spotlight

Remember when Apex Legends was shadow dropped? It's a risky move for such a high-profile game to skip all the pre-release marketing hype entirely, but it paid off, and it's clear why Respawn went that route—"photoreal PvP hero shooter" was an eyeroll-inducing prospect even back in 2019, so letting the game speak for itself short-circuited any pre-release angst.

We don't know if the strategy could have been replicated, but would it have been worse than the late Concord's legendary failure...