The shooter Apex Legends has peaked at 320,000 concurrent players, making it one of the top 10 biggest titles on Steam. Additionally, the free-to-play game has been released for Xbox, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. In financial reports, EA has repeatedly praised the shooter and highlighted its success. However, a new “improvement” in the funding model is now causing trouble as it essentially amounts to a price increase. Players say the only ones benefiting from this are the shareholders of Electronic Arts.
This is how the Battle Pass worked until now: Apex Legends utilizes the model that Fortnite has made standard in the industry: Every three months, with a new season in Apex Legends, there is a Battle Pass with 110 tiers:
- Players can access the Battle Pass for free and earn rewards without paying, but they only receive the free-to-play rewards, which means they level up in the Battle Pass as they play more, unlocking more rewards.
- Alternatively, they can spend 950 Apex Coins to unlock a special path on the Battle Pass to access better rewards.
- There is also a more expensive version of the Battle Pass available, which unlocks several tiers and rewards without needing to earn them, aimed at those who want to spend money.
In practice, this means: With this system, it is possible for players to earn enough of the in-game currency AC with the current season’s Battle Pass to purchase the Battle Pass for the next season.
This ultimately means that frequent players can purchase enough coins for one Battle Pass in their lifetime, spending $10, and can then use the AC they earn in the current Battle Pass to get the next Battle Pass each time.
2 Battle Passes instead of one – Real money instead of in-game currency
These are the changes now:
- You can no longer buy the next Battle Pass with in-game currency “AC”; you have to pay real money for it.
- Additionally, there is no longer a single Battle Pass with 110 tiers, but two with 60 tiers each.
- In return, EA is making the Battle Pass easier to earn rewards from.
EA sells the change as “improvement”
This is what EA says: The developers claim this is an “improvement” and will now create the “best possible experience” because players of Apex Legends only need to climb 60 tiers instead of 110.
They have also removed some rewards that were hardly used.
EA summarizes this with: “Shorter Battle Pass, one for each Split, revised rewards, and purchased with real currency.” (via ea.com)
EA says:
We have seen the numbers, and things need to be more tangible and realistic for our global community. Each of these updated aspects makes the Battle Pass more accessible and valuable for your time and money. The reward should always be worth the time you spend in the Outlands, and that is now the case.
“This is the last straw”
How is this received? Not well at all. The largest thread on reddit on the topic is titled: “The Battle Pass changes have broken the camel’s back. I am uninstalling it.” The thread currently has 1,500 upvotes and 330 comments.
The comments make it clear:
- Most players have practically bought the old Battle Pass “for free” with the ACs they earned in the last Battle Pass.
- Now EA wants $10 from them twice per season for the same thing.
In no universe is this an improvement, except for EA shareholders, comments a reddit user.
Whether and how this change will affect the actual player numbers of Apex Legends on Steam will be seen in the coming days and weeks.
Battle Passes have always been viewed critically by parts of the community in live service games. Because what seems nice and player-friendly at first glance brings certain obligations and actually has little gameplay: Some microtransactions in new MMOs border on self-enslavement.
