Ranked Arenas are coming to Apex Legends next season

Apex Legends' new 3v3 Arenas mode has already established itself as a really bloody good alternative to battle royale. But now that we've all warmed up, Respawn is ready to put us to the test by introducing a ranked queue for Arenas.

Introduced earlier this season, Arenas boils Apex down into round-based, 3v3 elimination fights. Like CS:GO or Valorant, each round gives you a bit of currency to spend on guns, upgrades, equipment and Legend powers, with resource cans scattered throughout maps to bump up your wallet in the next round.

It's a tight, tense way to enjoy Apex's very good gunfights, one that's getting a brand new map next week. But the absence of a ranked Arenas playlist was conspicuous at launch. Speaking at EA Play's Future of FPS panel, game director Chad Grenier confirmed that ranked play will be coming in Season 10.

Grenier didn't elaborate on how ranked will work in Arenas, but it'll in all likelihood be similar to what the game already does in battle royale—with similar skill groups and badge/charm rewards for each. But with BR's rating system built to accommodate 60-player matches, Arenas could also opt for a more traditional Overwatch- or Valorant-style system, where placement matches determine your starting rating.

A ranked system may also help Arenas' quitting problem, which persists despite efforts to penalise leavers. However it works, we'll find out when Season 10 drops sometime next month—bringing with it an as-yet-unknown new legend and potential map changes. Fingers crossed for a train comeback on World's Edge.

Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.