{"id":1848357,"date":"2026-03-26T15:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1848357"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:03:14","slug":"after-leaving-respawn-to-work-on-highguard-a-former-apex-legends-developer-has-been-rehired-by-ea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1848357","title":{"rendered":"After leaving Respawn to work on Highguard, a former Apex Legends developer has been rehired by EA"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/apex-legends\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Apex Legends<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">After leaving Respawn to work on Highguard, a former Apex Legends developer has been rehired by EA<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Battle royale treatment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/female-Apex-Legend-character-with-short-blond-hair-and-a-mostly-purple-outfit-giving-a-quick-thumbs-up-to-the-camera.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"female Apex Legend character with short blond hair and a mostly purple outfit giving a quick thumbs up to the camera\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"female-Apex-Legend-character-with-short-blond-hair-and-a-mostly-purple-outfit-giving-a-quick-thumbs-up-to-the-camera.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Respawn<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-26T15:03:14+00:00\">March 26, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/after-leaving-respawn-to-work-on-highguard-a-former-apex-legends-developer-has-been-rehired-by-ea?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"9d9d9dcc-0b07-4d9a-88c6-9a8b9d35f7f6\" data-name=\"Apex Legends\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Apex Legends\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Apex Legends\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Apex Legends\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Apex Legends\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Apex Legends\" title=\"Follow Apex Legends\"><br \/>\n  Follow Apex Legends<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Here&#8217;s some nice news for once. A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/apex-legends\">Apex Legends<\/a> developer has been rehired by Respawn following Highguard&#8217;s shut down earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Environment artist Derek Bentley has announced he has returned to the world of Apex Legends after getting laid off from Wildlight in February. &#8220;I&#8217;m back, baby,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DerekBentley3D\/status\/2036822717635457164\">Bentley wrote on social media<\/a>, adding he was &#8220;unbelievably stoked&#8221; by the move.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Apex Legends - Official Aftershock Event Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ErPUbsqbNJU?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/ErPUbsqbNJU\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Apex Legends &#8211; Official Aftershock Event Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Apex Legends &#8211; Official Aftershock Event Trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ErPUbsqbNJU\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bentley was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">one of many from the Wildlight team to get laid off<\/a>, after the studio&#8217;s hero shooter Highguard &#8211; which came from several former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/titanfall\">Titanfall<\/a> and Apex Legends developers &#8211; failed to set the world alight. Despite a strong start, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> along with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">reported lack of funding<\/a> resulted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">Highguard ultimately getting shut down after less than six weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for what Bentley will be doing on his return to Respawn and Apex Legends, he will be a principal environment artist, with a focus &#8220;almost entirely on making some extremely cool art, probably mostly rocks&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate this is a small update really in the grand scheme of video game news, but goodness me is it nice to write about someone getting a new job which they are clearly very excited about, rather than studio closures and game cancellations for a change.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"apex legends from the rift lifeline and seer with karambit mythic\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/apex-legends-from-the-rift-lifeline-and-seer-with-karambit-mythic.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"apex legends from the rift lifeline and seer with karambit mythic\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"apex-legends-from-the-rift-lifeline-and-seer-with-karambit-mythic.jpg\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Respawn\/EA<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Elsewhere in Apex Legends news, earlier this year it was announced that the game&#8217;s 29th season will be its last on Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n<p>Respawn didn&#8217;t provide a specific reason as to why updates would be discontinued on the original Switch when it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/apex-legends-players-have-until-august-to-get-a-switch-2-if-they-want-to-keep-playing-on-nintendos-system\">shared the news in January<\/a>, but did say the discontinuation was part of the studio&#8217;s goal to &#8220;continue to evolve Apex Legends&#8217; content and technical foundation&#8221; and &#8220;deliver a high quality experience&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Here&#8217;s some nice news for once. A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/apex-legends\">Apex Legends<\/a> developer has been rehired by Respawn following Highguard&#8217;s shut down earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Environment artist Derek Bentley has announced he has returned to the world of Apex Legends after getting laid off from Wildlight in February. &#8220;I&#8217;m back, baby,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DerekBentley3D\/status\/2036822717635457164\">Bentley wrote on social media<\/a>, adding he was &#8220;unbelievably stoked&#8221; by the move.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Apex Legends - Official Aftershock Event Trailer\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ErPUbsqbNJU?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/ErPUbsqbNJU\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Apex Legends &#8211; Official Aftershock Event Trailer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Apex Legends &#8211; Official Aftershock Event Trailer. <a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ErPUbsqbNJU\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bentley was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it\">one of many from the Wildlight team to get laid off<\/a>, after the studio&#8217;s hero shooter Highguard &#8211; which came from several former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/titanfall\">Titanfall<\/a> and Apex Legends developers &#8211; failed to set the world alight. Despite a strong start, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> along with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">reported lack of funding<\/a> resulted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">Highguard ultimately getting shut down after less than six weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for what Bentley will be doing on his return to Respawn and Apex Legends, he will be a principal environment artist, with a focus &#8220;almost entirely on making some extremely cool art, probably mostly rocks&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate this is a small update really in the grand scheme of video game news, but goodness me is it nice to write about someone getting a new job which they are clearly very excited about, rather than studio closures and game cancellations for a change.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"apex legends from the rift lifeline and seer with karambit mythic\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/apex-legends-from-the-rift-lifeline-and-seer-with-karambit-mythic.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"apex legends from the rift lifeline and seer with karambit mythic\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"apex-legends-from-the-rift-lifeline-and-seer-with-karambit-mythic.jpg\" height=\"1080\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1920\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Respawn\/EA<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Elsewhere in Apex Legends news, earlier this year it was announced that the game&#8217;s 29th season will be its last on Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n<p>Respawn didn&#8217;t provide a specific reason as to why updates would be discontinued on the original Switch when it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/apex-legends-players-have-until-august-to-get-a-switch-2-if-they-want-to-keep-playing-on-nintendos-system\">shared the news in January<\/a>, but did say the discontinuation was part of the studio&#8217;s goal to &#8220;continue to evolve Apex Legends&#8217; content and technical foundation&#8221; and &#8220;deliver a high quality experience&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Apex Legends After leaving Respawn to work on Highguard, a former Apex Legends developer has been rehired by EA Battle royale treatment. Image credit: Respawn News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on March 26, 2026 1 comment Follow Apex Legends Here&#8217;s some nice news for once. A former Apex Legends developer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1848357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1848357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1848357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1848357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1848357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}