Yuki Tsunoda laughs off “pretty bad” Apex Legends cameo at Tokyo Game Show

Yuki Tsunoda recently took part in an Apex Legends event at the Tokyo Game Show. After several years of not playing the game, the Red Bull driver admitted it was a “pretty bad” cameo appearance. 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix, the Japanese Formula 1 driver admitted that, despite his lack of performance, he still enjoyed playing alongside more distinguished gamers. Apex Legends, a fast-paced battle royale game, has a strong following across streaming websites, with the game boasting a loyal fanbase, much like Tsunoda himself. 

“Yeah, pretty bad,” he said after being asked how it went. “Yeah, I used to play that game three years ago, four years ago, when I was normally probably playing a lot of games in Milton Keynes,” he continued.

“But I recently got an offer from Red Bull that there’s some gaming event actually from the headquarters going on in Tokyo, so they wanted me to attend, but I said to them I quit that game three years ago, so my skills are going to be pretty bad.”

The result of his gaming was as he had expected, as he played against some of the greatest Apex Legends gamers in the country.

“And yeah, I kind of expected… I just got run over by literally pro streamers and pros. But actually, it was a cool experience, because I used to watch a lot of streams, YouTube, and those streamers were there, so it was a cool experience. But yeah, sadly, I just couldn’t really do much things.”

He was further asked about whether this appearance made him part of Japan’s ‘Otaku’ community – lovers of anime and the like – but Tsunoda skirted around the answer, focusing purely on his experience. 

“Playing against pros for the first time, the level was obviously different,” he said during the stream. “And about the grappling – you probably thought it looked terrible, right? When I tested it just now, the controller was actually broken. Seriously. There was a fault with it. I literally couldn’t press the jump button. So if they bring me a new controller, I’ll fight even better,” he joked. 

Photos from Singapore GP – Thursday

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– The Motorsport.com Team