In Apex Legends, the head of the studio, Vince Zampella, apologized for comments made by his employees on Reddit. The Project Lead referred to “assholes” and “freeloaders” – but Zampella explains that there were death threats against developers.
Why did the dispute escalate? Apex Legends released several skins for the “Iron Crown” event. However, they could only be obtained through loot boxes:
- If you wanted all the skins and an extra bonus skin, it cost quite a bit – you ended up at around €190
- Additionally, there was frustration that you could not purchase skins directly, but had to rely on luck.
After several days of players venting about this, Respawn apologized for this decision and promised to make individual skins directly purchasable in the shop. However, the conflict escalated right after the apology:
- Players took to Reddit to express their displeasure. They feared more influence from EA and said the skins in Apex Legends were too expensive – some Reddit users called the developers greedy.
- Two developers then defended their position – this happened on Friday and over the weekend, outside of Respawn’s business hours.
Freeloaders, Assholes, Bastards
What were those flames? The Executive Producer, Drew McCoy, responded directly on Friday in several posts, some emotionally, using words in his argument that upset fans:
- Freeloader – means something like beggar or freeloader
- Dick – literally “penis”, in German one would say something like “bastard”
- Ass-Hats – “assholes”
Essentially, Drew McCoy wanted to say: Guys, we messed up. We apologized. But it’s no reason to attack us like this now – give us the chance to do better in the future.
However, this message got lost in the uproar.
Now the topic was how someone from Respawn insulted the players.
Boss says there were death threats – still, the behavior is unacceptable
Here’s what the boss says now: The CEO of Respawn, Vince Zampella, is highly respected in the gaming industry and at EA. Many attribute the great success of Apex Legends to him because he works meticulously and Apex Legends was tested thoroughly before it went live.
He expressed himself in a tweet:
- He says some employees crossed the line – that is not the way Respawn wants to present itself
- He wants to apologize to all fans who feel attacked
- He will always stand behind his team and support them when they stand up against “ugly” comments that include death threats or comments against relatives or friends
- But one must lead by example – that did not happen last week
- In the future, they want to do better and work towards an open, healthy relationship between the community and Respawn – that is important to everyone
