Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the free-to-play online shooter Apex Legends, has reversed course on at least one unpopular change for its upcoming Season 22. On July 24, the company said in a social media post on X that players will be able to purchase the two Battle Passes for the game, which includes new weapons and special content, using in-game currency, Apex Coins. On July 9, the company had said that players would only be able to purchase one or both Battle Passes with real money, not currency earned in the game.
“We recognize that we could have handled the Battle Pass changes better – that’s on us,” the game’s team said in the post. The Premium Battle Pass will cost 950 Apex Coins, which is worth about $10.
The follow-up to Upheaval, the most recent season of online shooter Apex Legends, launches Aug. 6 and will still include some pricing changes that have angered the game’s player community.
Like a lot of online games, Apex Legends has run on a system in which players can pay to access certain content for about $10 per season, or choose not to pay and receive a separate tier of free items if they’re willing to grind in the game and earn them.
What’s different with the new season, according to EA, is that the Battle Pass, which typically lasts about three months, will be split into two half-seasons — and EA will charge $10 to access each of them, for a total of $20 for the full season.
In addition, the Premium Battle Pass bundle, which used to cost about $30 and includes extra items and perks, is now called Premium Plus and costs $20 per half season, resulting in a cost of $40 total for the entire season, a $10 increase.
The reaction from player communities, including the Apex Legends subreddit, and on social media, hasn’t been positive. Some players say they’re uninstalling the game, and others are giving the game negative reviews on the platform Steam, dropping its overall score to “Mixed.” One early commenter on Reddit posted, “In what world is this better for players?” Another, on X, said, “EA has made some money hungry decisions in the past but this might be the worst one yet.”
EA Games didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the backlash.
Other free-to-play games have also seen cost increases recently. Last year, Fortnite raised the price of its V-Bucks virtual currency, and the game Fall Guys did as well. Destiny 2 and mobile games such as Clash of Clans have raised prices of their premium content in the last year. Battle passes and subscriptions to game content create revenue for game companies beyond the initial cost of the game, or may be the only revenue a game generates, if it’s offered free-to-play.
In its post about the Battle Pass update, EA Games said the new half seasons will ultimately result in 10 more levels for players and characterized the changes as making the game “more approachable and realistic for our global player community.” As for removing the option to pay with Apex Coins, it said, “The decision to move from AC to real world currency is not one we made lightly, but it does allow us to decrease the price of Premium+ for our community.”
That price decrease, however, compares a full season of what used to be Premium Battle Pass at $30 with a half season of Premium Plus for $20.
Last year, EA shut down a mobile version of Apex Legends.
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