PS4 players pay for Apex Legends despite it being Free-to-Play – Why the age rating is to blame

The free battle royale game has a price on PS4. And that is due to the age rating of Apex Legends.

A price for a free-to-play game? On February 4, Apex Legends was released for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This is a battle royale set in the Titanfall universe. And although you can download the game for free on PC and Xbox One as announced, you will be charged in the PS Store.

On PS4, Apex Legends costs 25 cents for the standard version.

What is the minimum age for Apex Legends? The USK rated Apex Legends as “Not rated for youth” and therefore for ages 18 and up. Sony is not allowed to offer games without youth release for free in the PS Store. That’s why there is a small fee of 25 cents for Apex Legends. This is probably to be understood as a symbolic value that says “See? Not free.”

As GamePro knows, this regulation only applies to users of the German PS Store.

Subscribers to the PS Plus service receive Apex Legends for free, as the members must prove that they are 18 years old.

Not the first free game that costs something on PS4: The shooter Warframe is also actually free, but has a price of 49 cents in the PS Store. The reason is that this shooter has an age rating of 16 and did not receive a youth release.

How to download Apex Legends without PS Plus

The purchase price creates a barrier for some PS4 users, even if the price is low. If you do not have any balance on your Sony account, you need to top it up first.

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If you don’t want to share your account information, you have to resort to gift cards, which are available starting at a value of 5€. However, you often still have leftover amounts on your Sony account from previous purchases that you can use to pay for the game.

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ID Check – Confirm age in the PS Store: For age verification in the PS Store, an ID is needed that confirms your age. This can be an identity card or a passport. This age verification is only necessary once. After that, the account is permanently cleared for purchases with age restrictions.

Download Apex Legends: Here you can download the battle royale shooter Apex Legends on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Apex Legends, by the way, does not require a PS Plus membership to be played online. You can find more cool games without PS Plus here:

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