>>26911681. PUBG was the most popular BR in Japan but it slowly died due to cheaters running rampant.
2. OW was also popular in Japan (probably the most popular FPS), also slowly died due to GOATS meta and role queue butchering queue times.
3. Apex was released during those times and it was the perfect middle ground (fast paced BR with characters and abilities) for both dead games, plus it's free.
4. When pretty much everyone else is playing it, anyone would be inclined to try it