Apex Legends is having one of its best moments in a while. After a long stretch of uneven seasons, player interest has clearly spiked again with the Season 28 update and the arrival of the new Gundam crossover.
Steam Charts currently shows Apex Legends hitting a 24-hour peak of 261,786 players, with the last 30 days also trending upward. That is notably above the monthly peaks listed for late 2025 and early 2026, including 203,439 in February and 206,450 in January. Steam Charts also shows November 2024 peaking at 225,795, which helps explain why many fans are calling this the game’s biggest surge since the Season 22 era.
Apex Legends gets a real shot of momentum again
A separate third-party player tracking site recorded Apex at 268,390 players on March 11, which lines up closely with the viral chart being shared on social media around the new update.
The timing is not hard to understand. Apex Legends x Gundam officially launched in March, bringing one of the game’s biggest crossover events in recent memory. The collaboration was confirmed by Gundam’s official English site, which said the event would launch on March 11.
The Gundam collab gave players a reason to come back
The event trailer also teased Gundam inspired cosmetics, themed weapons, and a refreshed version of Broken Moon, giving the update a much bigger identity than a standard seasonal refresh.
That kind of crossover matters for a live service game like Apex. A new balance patch can bring regular players back for a few days, but a major anime and mecha collab has the power to pull in lapsed players, collectors, and curious newcomers all at once. Gundam has a huge global fanbase, and Apex smartly turned that into an event that feels louder than a normal store refresh.
This is more than just a nice looking number on a chart. Apex has spent the last year fighting off fatigue, competition, and growing skepticism from players who felt the game needed a stronger hook. Season 28 seems to have found one.
The recent Steam data suggests the game is not just stabilizing. It is actually climbing again. The current 24-hour peak of 261,786 players is well above the peaks from the last several months, including 191,112 in December 2025, 229,804 in November 2025, and 248,781 in August 2025.
That does not mean Apex is suddenly back to its all time glory days. Steam Charts still lists the game’s all-time peak at 624,473 in February 2023. But it does mean Season 28 has created real momentum, and in the current live service market, that is not something to brush aside.
Apex needed a big win, and this feels like one
The bigger story here is perception. Apex Legends has not always struggled for players, but it has struggled to feel exciting in the same way it once did. The Gundam collab changes that, at least for now. It gives the season a clear theme, a reason to log in, and something people actually want to talk about.
That is what makes this spike feel important. It is not only about the raw concurrent player count, but it is also about Apex feeling relevant again.
Season 28 still has a lot to prove, and player retention will matter far more than one strong week. But as of now, the numbers are moving in the right direction, the crossover has landed, and Apex Legends finally looks like it has some wind behind it again.
