EA and Respawn's free-to-play battle royale shooter Apex Legends attracted 1 million unique players within eight hours of going live. 

The news comes straight from Respawn chief exec Vince Zampella, who tweeted out the figure earlier today. 

Apex Legends was simultaneously unveiled and launched yesterday for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and Respawn said it was keen to keep the project under wraps for fear of alienating skeptical players -- who were perhaps expecting Titanfall 3. 

"We're doing a free-to-play game, with essentially loot boxes, after we were bought by EA, and it's not Titanfall 3. It's the perfect recipe for a marketing plan to go awry, so why have that - let's just ship the game and let players play," explained Respawn's lead producer Drew McCoy, chatting with Eurogamer.

"To try and convince a skeptical audience for months with trailers and hands-on articles, we're just like 'let the game speak for itself' -- it's the most powerful antidote to potential problems."