EA’s Sam Turkbas feels Sapporo deal is placing a “flag in the ground” for the ALGS

Sam Turkbas is the new man in charge of all Esports Product at EA, overseeing Apex Legends, EA SPORTS FC and Madden's competition. His role means he leads production and competition rules for all of these events including things like the introduction of things like Legend Bans, Map Rotation and more for the ALGS.

It's an exciting time for EA Esports, with a 2-year deal being signed with the City of Sapporo for the ALGS Championship and their events officially being integrated into this years Esports World Cup in Riyadh.

esports.gg spoke to Sam Turkbas at the opening press conference of the Esports World Cup.

This year Apex Legends is part of the opening week of the Esports World Cup - with the matches even being streamed as a prelude in the venue of the opening ceremony that featured Post Malone. Sam is really excited that the event chose to put Apex "front and centre" this year.

"All the attention is always focused around certain moments and one of those moments that a lot of attention will be around is the start. So it's fantastic that the ALGS will be front and center as we kick off the Esports World Cup and of course kick off a really important competition as part of the ALGS too."

Like with traditional sports events such as the Olympics, viewers have a wealth of things to choose from over the next eight weeks. What would Sam Turkbas say to esports viewers about why they should watch the ALGS this weekend when there is so much else to choose from.

"I think that the ALGS is some of the most dynamic action you can get. Obviously, there's lots of amazing titles at the EWC, but I think the ALGS is very unique with its format. And obviously, our success in Battle Royale has been tremendous over the last five years.

"Especially when you think about that match point final on Sunday, that's one of the most unique moments in gaming. The match point final at this event last year, at the EWC event last year, I think went to 13 games. One of the most memorable moments from last year's EWC. And so hopefully we'll replicate something amazing that's interesting, not just for the ALGS fans, but crosses over in anybody who's interested in competitive gaming and sport and seeing amazing athletes compete on the biggest stages would be interested in watching."

This year the Apex Legends event at the EWC is an official ALGS event, titled the Midseason Playoffs. Last year, the EWC used a very different format to ALGS events - but was of course a standalone event.

This year, that format has essentially been retained with some of the ALGS Year 5 changes, like Legend Bans, being added in. Now this is an official ALGS event, how was the format decided upon?

"[Deciding the format] was super collaborative, and ultimately, we love our normal ALGS format with our longer group stage, then, you know, winner's bracket and loser's bracket going into the final and the match point final. This time, obviously, there's a little bit more jeopardy in the group stage. So you're only playing, you know, I believe two less group stage games than normal, but obviously, you only get that one opportunity before an elimination might come in.

"And so, also the ability for top teams to book their ticket directly into the match point final through a really solid performance in the group stage is compelling. So it's a really easy to follow format in that we have one 10 game series each day leading into the match point final. So it's really interesting. It'll be really interesting to see what the players and community reactions is to it, but it's something that we collaborated on and we think is really interesting.

"It worked really well at this event last year so we're not worried about it in any way but we're interested to see how it plays out as part of an ALGS event and I think it'll be really exciting with a little bit more jeopardy earlier in the competition at the group stage level."

The ALGS Midseason Playoffs at the Esports World Cup came off the back of a historic announcement for the ALGS. It was revealed that the ALGS has signed a multi-year deal with the City of Sapporo to bring the ALGS Championship back to Japan in both January 2026 and 2027. This announcement also acted as a confirmation that the ALGS will continue into Year 6. This is contrary to some persistent niggling rumours that suggested this was the final year for Apex Legends Esports.

Sam Turkbas admitted that EA were aware of these rumours, and was delighted that the team were able to publicly show their commitment to Apex Legends in this way.

"I think working with the team internally, with our amazing partners in the city of Sapporo and at the Sapporo Dome to actually make that announcement and make sure that was a two-year thing was super exciting. Monica Dinsmore, head of EA Esports, being there at the signing ceremony was an incredible moment.

"And, to be able to tell the world that we were committed to being there for the next two years, and as you said, indirectly confirming next season. Obviously, we're not releasing any details of next season yet beyond that but we're all really excited to tell the fans about that subsequently in the future!

"But being able to have placed a flag in the ground and declare hey, we're here for the for the fans, for the players, for the teams is amazing. And obviously, we're not immune to social media, we see things online so we knew that delivering that message for the community was really important and we're really happy we were able to do that."

Last years, and this years EWC event attracted a lot of organisations back to the ALGS. This was mainly driven by the EWC's Club Championship system which rewards success across multiple esports. However, the influx was followed by a bit of a post EWC exodus as organisations chose to leave the ALGS - in part because of a huge gap ahead of the ALGS Championship and no clear roadmap beyond.

Now, with this extra stability, Sam is hopeful that the multi-year announcement and the green shoots of the "Esports spring" means that more teams could choose to stick with the ALGS outside of the EWC.

"I hope so and one of the most positive elements and one of the reasons that we're kind of in this esports spring as EA views it is that there's really opportunities on the table for these teams. And so obviously having the ALGS event be part of EWC kind of makes that narrative around staying in Apex, keeping your Apex team around a lot smoother than it was in the past. 

"So we're really hopeful that not only that announcement, but the inclusion of ALGS as part of EWC helps drive that really positive team investment into the space and that we have a really strong set of teams that are competing across the entirety of the season. Whether that be from the first moment of the first split all the way to the championship."

Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS and all things Apex Legends.