Apex Legends now adding two Season Passes that can only be purchased with money - Players criticise plans

[John Elden Ring]

Starting with Season 22, there will be two $10 Battle Passes per season rather than one, and players will no longer be able to use earned virtual currency (Apex Coins) to acquire them – a decision that was “not one that we made lightly”, EA said on Monday. As it stands, Season 21’s Battle Pass can be purchased for 950 Apex Coins. The Battle Pass runs for the whole season and has 110 levels.

While it normally costs $9.99/£8.99 to purchase 1,000 Apex Coins with real money, players can earn some Apex Coins as rewards from a season’s Battle Pass, and these could previously be put towards future ones. Going forward, each season will offer two Battle Passes, one for each split, with each priced at $9.99 in real world currency and including 60 levels.

In a blog post detailing the changes, EA claimed the shake-up will offer greater value for players and reduce the time needed to unlock high-end items.



Going on social media reactions to the announcement, the move is being overwhelmingly criticised by players, with many suggesting it’s just a cynical attempt to fleece consumers in the face of diminishing returns for the free-to-play game, which launched in February 2019.

“Massive L,” one X user wrote in response to today’s news.

“Can no longer purchase with Apex coins and there are 2 battle passes per season. Basically just doubled the price of the battle pass AND doesn’t allow you to purchase future battle passes with Apex coins from the current. Arguably biggest L I’ve seen in Apex to date.

“I wanna follow up and say I don’t say this lightly. This is Respawn attempting to milk out the last bit of the remaining loyal playerbase. As a battle pass holder from S1-current, I won’t be purchasing S22. This is a telling sign to me the game is on the decline. Dramatic maybe?”

“This seems like the only people this improves the experience for is the stock holders,”

said another player.

“I’m usually positive but this is just disappointing,”

wrote another fan.

“You have one of the best shooters at its core with an amazing community and yet you keep slowly killing it.

Source

 

[voke]

this is why we need new gaas games to enter the space. these old ass games are in lime squeezing mode and it'll only get worse.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

No new players trying the game? Time to squeeze the current crop of players, a tale as old as time.

Also the verbiage used and how it's a good thing couldn't be more EA if they tried.
A real sense of pride and accomplishment for sure.

 

[Vertigo]

Big change not being able to earn currency in-game to buy their battlepass. Games that do this… I always wondered just how long such would last until there’s actually a cash flow issue. I guess we just found it for Apex

 

[Spyxos]

I don't play Apex actively, but I don't like reading that. Player numbers must be declining.

 

[Vertigo]

I don't play Apex actively, but I don't like reading that. Player numbers must be declining.

Apex has very drastic fluctuations in player engagement. Anywhere in the top 10 from 3 to 10 in xbl. On steam it peaks huge in international peak gaming hours (like now-ish). I can’t say I’ve seen anything concerning as so far it seems to be performing as usual.

A few service games have had cash flow issues due to a variety of factors. It may just be that the f2p model doesn’t provide enough to sustain ongoing dev time.

 

[Jim Ryan]

Been years now since I played this. It had great gameplay but it sounds like the monetisation has really become the overriding focus of the Devs and that means they are probably willing to sacrifice the long-term health of the game or don't see it going beyond another two or so years.

 

[Vertigo]

Been years now since I played this. It had great gameplay but it sounds like the monetisation has really become the overriding focus of the Devs and that means they are probably willing to sacrifice the long-term health of the game or don't see it going beyond another two or so years.

Sorta disagree here.

A huge amount of resources is needed for ongoing service and development in addition microtransaction items like cosmetics.

I will always question how viable for the devs and pub themselves currency earnable in-game towards buying the next seasonal battle pass by players is.

You kinda need money to keep rolling in. Especially for something completely f2p. You may need the player engagement of a fortnite to have whales sustain the game.

In expecting most service games to make drastic changes to their model. In some bizarre way… the Falloust 1st membership for 76 was the biggest innovation made with that game and probably what we’re going to see more of when selling players content and/or cosmetics.

Operations need to and will change for most service games. Times are changing and surival is priority number one. The world is fucked. This doesn’t mean apex is dying by any means. But they might need the cash.

Personally, I think it’s always best to pay devs for their hard work and for new content but this is PvP only games … and I don’t expect to see devs dare segment their playerbase like that as they used to a decade ago.