Apex Legends Respawn Entertainment developer announced last week revamped its Battle Pass system with the launch of the game’s 22nd Season, which was set to begin in early August. To say the announcement went badly would be an understatement: the player base is furious, and they’re showing that anger with review bombing Apex Legends on Steam.
Apex Legends‘ last rating dropped to overwhelmingly negative after more than 24,000 negative reviews were posted in the first half of July. Why are players so furious? Respawn previously sold its seasonal battle passes once per season, for 950 Apex Coins (around $10) for a premium battle pass or 2,800 Apex Coins (a little over $20) for a premium bundle pass. Starting with Season 22, Apex Legends players will have to pay twice per season — $9.99 for Premium or $19.99 for Premium Plus for each half of the season, effectively doubling the price. Additionally, the Battle Pass will no longer be available for in-game currency, but for real money. Apex Coins Down cost real money, but previously you could earn the currency by completing the Battle Pass, meaning you could earn the Battle Pass just by playing the game. The free tier, with fewer rewards, still exists.
Starting with Season 22, we will be refining the Apex Legends Battle Pass to improve your experience and progression goals.
Read on to learn all about the upcoming changes, or check out the infographic below to learn more.
: https://t.co/kg5NhlFfVq photo: twitter.com/i516ktP9ma
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) July 8, 2024
Many reviewers are swearing to uninstall the game if Respawn doesn’t change its mind. “I have 2000h on APEX, I have never missed a season from Season 4 to now, but I think this will be my last season on APEX” someone wrote.
Polygon has reached out to Respawn for more comment.
Of course, these battle royale problems are compounded by the grave problems of the esports league, Apex Legends Global Series. Earlier this week, ESL FACEIT Group, which is responsible for payments for the event, confirmed to Polygon that a “system error” caused players to receive “incorrect prize payouts.” In total, more than $100,000 was mistakenly awarded. The company is working to fix the issue. In March, North American Apex Legends The finals were postponed after someone hacked into tournament games and provided professional players with cheating tools such as aim bots.
Apex Legends is a free-to-play game, and Respawn makes most of its money from its battle pass and other purchasable items, such as skins. Since its launch in 2019, Apex Legends brought Electronic Arts $3.4 billion in net bookings over its lifespan, according to the latest earnings report.EA also explained that online book sales have declined Apex Legends in fiscal year 2024. Currently, Apex Legends At any given time, there are between 85,000 and 300,000 players playing simultaneously, according to SteamDBThis is the lowest number of players since January 2022. Apex Legends is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC via the EA App, Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles, and mobile devices Apex Legends in mobile versionIndividually, Respawn is not revealing numbers, but in August 2023. Apex Legends had 18 million players per month.
