I realized the sheer scope and depth of Japan’s love for Apex Legends the second I set foot in a cab. My driver, a man who appeared to be in his 60s, asked why I was heading to the 30,000-seat Sapporo Dome. When I told him (via Google Translate) that I was in town to cover the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Year 5 Championship, he nodded knowingly, mentioning he’d dropped several riders off at the Dome already. I wasn’t surprised a cab driver was aware of the massive esports competition taking place in the middle of his city, but I was a bit caught off-guard when he launched into a five-minute explanation of how fond he is of Lifeline, the game’s beloved combat medic.
“She’s such a great character,” he explained, carefully navigating Sapporo’s icy streets. “I like her because she is tough, but she helps people. And her parents, she has a complicated relationship with them, which I can relate to.”
Moments after stepping out of the cab, I came face-to-face with an intricate, life-size ice sculpture of Apex’s resident electrical engineer, Wattson, perched atop the game’s mascot, Nessie, and it once again dawned on me that Apex Legends is absolutely huge in Japan.
This experience was one that would repeat itself for the duration of my stay in Sapporo. In many ways, Japan’s Apex Legends fanbase reminds me of how it felt to be a North American player when the game first launched in February 2019. Back then, everyone and their mother was talking about Apex Legends. Sleuths on /r/ApexUncovered were digging into the game’s source code in search of secrets while the lorehounds on /r/ApexLore picked apart each new trailer frame-by-frame, coming up with theories that might tie the game back to developer Respawn Entertainment’s popular Titanfall first-person shooter series. And everybody — absolutely everybody — was playing Apex Legends.
By day three, the “looking for team” wall in the Fan Zone was almost entirely covered in stickers from players looking for squadmates to play Apex with.Image: Claire Lewis/Polygon
Even on the first day of the four-day tournament, the merch line in the ALGS Fan Zone — which took up half of the enormous arena — was so long it had started spilling into the queues for the food stalls. (The adorable “Sakura Nessie” plush was one of the first items to sell out.) Throughout the event, I spoke with several Japanese attendees about what makes Apex Legends so special to them. One attendee, who goes by Yukina, told me she was excited for the esports competition, but was mainly there for the love of the game.
“I love Apex Legends because it’s not just about how skilled you are,” Yukina told me via Google Translate. “You have to be strategic and use your head. And I love the characters. Valkyrie is my favorite. She’s a badass.”
This deep love for the game’s characters was a running theme among the fans I encountered, and Apex Legends lead writer Ashley Reed told me she experienced the same thing when she went to the Apex AsiaFest tournament in Chiba, Japan in 2024.
“My most memorable experience was when I met the Apex cosplayers and other fans in the wings,” Reed told me via email. “I was absolutely astounded by their love for the game, the craftsmanship that went into their creations, and the fact that they wanted to talk to …me? It was a huge honor and genuinely knocked me off my feet.”
“It really helped me understand their love for the game in a way that transcends language,” she added. “I spoke to a Vantage cosplayer while I was there, and we were dealing with a language barrier, but she told me how much she loved Vantage and I could feel how much she meant it. I was holding back tears.”
A Mad Maggie and Rampart cosplayer I stumbled across at ALGS.Image: Claire Lewis/Polygon
Reed isn’t the only one who’s experienced emotional moments with the Japanese fanbase.
“The first time I teared up at a live esports event was when I saw the group of cosplayers gathered to receive awards (and yes, at this point I’ve teared up multiple times at gaming events, mostly in Japan),” Apex game designer John Larson said. “Seeing the cast of characters (and even some healing items, shoutout to some of my favorites) come to life with such attention to detail really left an impact on me. I was nervous to ask for a picture with Brudda Bear Gibby; it felt like I was meeting a celebrity. [Gibraltar] was my main when I first climbed for Predator [in ranked mode] back in Season 3, and Brudda Bear is still my favorite skin in the game.”
Reed and Larson aren’t exaggerating: The cosplayers I saw at ALGS were absolutely incredible, and fully committed to not only looking like their respective characters, but acting like them, too. When I spotted Wraith and Octane cosplayers in the Fan Zone on day two, I smiled and waved. The Wraith cosplayer looked over her shoulder, eyes narrowed, before glancing back at me and brandishing her Kunai knife. Octane pretended to inject himself with Stim, an in-game ability that grants a major speed boost, then started bouncing up and down as he waved back.
A Wraith and Pathfinder cosplayer hang out backstage. The screen on Pathfinder’s chest display is real, and can display various emojis, just like in the game.Image: Claire Lewis/Polygon
Speaking of Octane, his number-one fan was not only in attendance on the final day of the championship, he also performed during the opening ceremony. Okinawan rapper Reo Okuma — better known by his stage name, OZworld — adores Apex Legends, and is especially fond of Octane, a thrill-seeking double-amputee with robotic legs and a bottomless appetite for Stim.
“I absolutely love Apex Legends,” Okuma said after his ALGS appearance was announced. “I’m drawn to its world, of course, but more than anything, I feel a real connection with the character Octane.”
Okuma was born with a medical issue in his legs, and uses a cane. During the opening ceremony, he performed a new song called “Stim Up” as a 24-person dance crew covered in LED lights took the stage and footage of Octane played on the Sapporo Dome’s enormous screens. Okuma wore a replica of Octane’s eye goggles for the duration of his performance, and was later spotted posing with the aforementioned Octane cosplayer while wielding his cane like a gun.
Moments after OZworld’s high-energy performance, vocaloid legend Hatsune Miku appeared on-screen, giving a short speech in Japanese and presenting the enormous trophy as the crowd of nearly 15,000 attendees went absolutely feral. Sapporo’s mayor even made a brief appearance partway through the competition. When’s the last time you saw an American politician at a video game event?
Devs got a special surprise when their waiter at a Sapporo steakhouse realized they’d worked on Apex Legends.Image: John Larson
For a few days in January, the whole city of Sapporo seemed to be screaming “APEX” at the top of its lungs. That was the case last year too, according to Apex associate battle royale game designer Josh Mohan, who attended last year’s Championship and had a memorable encounter with a fan during a steakhouse dinner.
“Our waiter got excited to hear we worked on Apex Legends. When our food came out, they had written ‘APEX’ in sauce on our plate, and [our waiter] mentioned he was a player, and so were some folks in the kitchen. They had tickets to attend ALGS the next day! It was a touching moment for us.”
Emotions were high on the final day of this year’s event, and the atmosphere was more like a Kpop concert instead of watching guys in jerseys press buttons for five hours. In the end, an unsigned Canadian underdog team, Oblivion, pulls off a miraculous win in the ninth match, marking the first time a female-coached team has ever won the championship. But what surprises me most isn’t Oblivion’s win — it’s the crowd’s response. Everyone is cheering at the top of their lungs (something another cab driver later tells me he could hear from outside the Sapporo Dome), including a group of attendees who spent the entirety of the four-day event camped out in the front row, tirelessly cheering on their favorite team, Fnatic. I approach one of them, a 21-year-old named Haru, to ask how he’s feeling about his favorite team not taking home the win, and his answer catches me completely off-guard.
Enormous inflatable Nessies as seen by lead writer Ashley Reed at Apex AsiaFest 2024.Image: Ashley Reed
“Of course I wanted Fnatic to win,” he explained. “But look at [Oblivion]! They played so well, they earned that trophy.”
If this were an NFL game, fans of the losing team would have already started filing out of the arena. Instead, the stadium was still packed as team Oblivion lifted the ALGS Championship trophy, and the crowd hadn’t thinned at all when I left to conduct my post-win interview with Oblivion member Bowen “Monsoon” Fuller.
“I love the Japanese fans, to be honest with you. I think the soul of Apex really resides here with the people who are as passionate as the [professional] players are about it,” Fuller said. “When I’m walking down the subway and I see signs for the tournaments, and I get stopped by a mother and daughter, and they’re both geeking out and want pictures… It’s just crazy how [Apex] ties all these worlds and cultures and people and history together.”
Fukuzumi Station was absolutely packed with advertisements for ALGS.Image: Claire Lewis/Polygon
Still full of adrenaline from his team’s win, Fuller paused, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.
“Japan is a beautiful embodiment of what Apex and gaming really is about: Community.”
Like Fuller, Apex Legends game designer John Larson has also experienced that sense of community during his Apex-related trips to Japan.
“We discussed our favorite Legends with our cab driver on our way to the stadium,” Larson said of his experience at ALGS in 2025. “A Japanese rock cover band (shoutout Japarocka) had a couple of hardcore [Apex] fans. The day after they attended champs in Sapporo, we went to their show. They were rocking some merch and a little stuffed Nessie had joined as their newest band member. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
AloJapan.com