Respawn, the developers of the Battle Royale Apex Legends, recently received so much hate online that the rapper and Twitch streamer Faheem “T-Pain” Najm (37) had to intervene – he advised critics to simply go outside.
Background: Respawn, the development studio behind the successful Battle Royale Apex Legends, recently reported an increase in hate against the team. In a Twitter post from September 23, they stated that the line between constructive criticism and harassment had been crossed.
Respawn also reminded players that they have zero tolerance for threats against employees and announced that they intend to take “appropriate action.”
They received support from Bungie, the developers behind Destiny 2. They are currently dealing with considerable trouble themselves and showed solidarity: to tackle toxicity and harassment, everyone must work together and build healthier communities (via Twitter).
Now Respawn received even more prominent support, and it came from an unexpected direction: rapper T-Pain stepped in and admonished the complainers.
In Apex Legends, players can take on the role of various legends. One of them can be seen here in the video.
Haters should chill – or simply play something else
How does T-Pain come into play? The rapper and multiple Grammy winner has been running his own Twitch channel since April 2021. He mainly operates in the “Just Chatting” category but also enjoys showcasing a shooter or two, like Apex Legends.
On Twitch, over 865,000 people follow the rapper, with up to 16,254 watching live when he is on air (via sullygnome, as of: 28.09.2022). The cover photo comes from a promotional video T-Pain filmed for the strategy game Crusader Kings III (via YouTube).
What did he say? On September 24, T-Pain shared a screenshot of Respawn’s post. He apparently found it in the Apex Legends subreddit. He addressed the critics with strong words. They should all just relax.
After all, it’s just a game, and if you hate it so much, you could play something else.
To those who are “so invested in a game” that they “feel the need to threaten the people who work hard on it,” he advised: just step away from the console or PC.
Why are people so upset? Apex Legends, which celebrated its 3rd anniversary this year, has been dealing with several issues for some time. Players complain about various bugs and matchmaking, particularly audio issues.
Whether T-Pain’s intervention can calm things down remains to be seen.
Despite all the criticism, it is actually going quite well for Apex Legends. Since 2020, the game has been steadily growing in popularity. In August 2022, Apex even recorded a new player count record – while frustrated fans had actually called for a boycott under the hashtag #NoApexAugust.
The latter has already caused some outbursts from the infamous shooter streamer Guy “DrDisrespect” Beahm.
The critics apparently feel that Respawn is not addressing player feedback and is not working hard enough to get the issues under control. Instead, the developers would prefer to release new skins, according to a Twitter user.
It’s the fact that when the community gives devs feedback. And the devs don’t do anything about it and instead just decide to release skins instead of fixing the game. Maybe the devs should take some action against: hackers, no audio, many bugs and glitches, ranked play, balance
— Hyper (@BruhBruh0987654) September 24, 2022
It seems the lines are quite hardened. Numerous Twitter users responded to Respawn’s original post, stating that this is what happens when you ignore your community. Others countered that precisely these people are the reason for the post (via Twitter).
Whether T-Pain’s intervention can calm things down remains to be seen.
Despite all the criticism, it is actually going quite well for Apex Legends. Since 2020, the game has been steadily growing in popularity. In August 2022, Apex even recorded a new player count record – while frustrated fans had actually called for a boycott under the hashtag #NoApexAugust.
