In this episode, Greg sits down with Julie Banta, Director of Engineering for Build & Release at Respawn, to break down what it actually takes to keep a massive live game like Apex Legends running day after day.

Julie pulls back the curtain on the real machinery behind live service games: shipping updates across six platforms, reacting to hotfixes in real time, balancing player satisfaction with business realities, and what happens when millions of players discover a bug before telemetry even catches it.

Whether you’re building an indie title, supporting a AAA LiveOps team, or just curious how Apex stays online season after season—this is a masterclass.

• How content actually gets from dev environment to players
• What happens during season launch week
• Why shipping across PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC is pure chaos

• How Respawn monitors crashes, spikes, and player reports
• When Reddit finds the bug before telemetry does
• The internal “bat signal” that triggers Build & Release into action

• Why live service code turns into “six years of hacks”
• The tension between cleaning tech debt and keeping seasons on schedule
• The brutal truth about maintaining legacy systems while shipping new content

• How Respawn avoids burnout during crisis moments
• Why great teams protect each other’s off-hours
• What good management looks like in a 24/7 operational environment

• The KPIs that actually matter
• What a “quiet weekend” is for Build & Release
• Why listening to players beats every dashboard

• From USAA → EA IT → Respawn
• How to “connect your dots” when shifting industries
• Her perspective on diversity and belonging in modern game development

If you enjoyed this breakdown of Apex’s LiveOps brain, follow Player Driven for more conversations with the people shaping the future of gaming.