Titanfall creator Respawn Entertainment became the latest developer to take on Fortnite, with today’s announcement and surprise launch of Apex Legends. It’s a new free-to-play shooter set in the Titanfall universe, and it’s a bold attempt at venturing into the increasingly crowded battle royale space. Perhaps even more interesting than the game itself, though, is Respawn’s release strategy, which amounts to a radical rethinking of how big-budget game studios put out new products.

As a subsidiary of gigantic game publisher Electronic Arts,