There’s no doubt that Apex Legends stands as one of the faces of the battle royale genre. The game debuted way back in 2019 and featured quite a rich lore, and fast-paced combat helped it gather a massive player base.
Over the years, EA has implemented some controversial changes to the game, which haven’t been received very well recently by the community. However, the recent changes to the game’s Battle Pass system have shot up community outrage and led to review bombing on Steam. Unlike the Helldivers 2 PSN controversy, it seems like EA doesn’t really care.
EA Won’t Do Anything About Apex Legends Controversy
Recently, Helldivers 2 became the center of a significant community outrage when Sony brought a requirement for all PC players to link their Steam accounts with PlayStation Network. Sony was quick to realize its mistake and rolled back the linking requirements. However, it seems EA won’t ever realize its fault and will continue pushing its games down a hill.
Recently, EA made significant changes to the Battle Pass System in Apex Legends, which meant players could only purchase it by spending real money, and the option to purchase it with Apex Coins was gone.
After the change was revealed, there was a massive community backlash, with players expressing their frustration by review-bombing the game on Steam.
On July 12 alone, a total of 3,587 negative reviews were posted, dropping the game’s recent review score to “mostly negative”. The majority of the community believes EA has brought this upon themselves as they’ve once again ruined one of their most popular games just for the sake of generating more revenue.
A number of gamers have labeled the changes as the final straw that broke the camel’s back, citing bugs, server issues, cheaters, and balancing problems as their other grievances. It’s truly a fall from grace for Apex Legends.
Let’s not forget that it’s not uncommon for developers and publishers to backpedal after an announcement that shows this kind of backlash. So, if EA and Respawn finally wake up and decide to do something, we will see the changes at the start of Season 22 in August.
Apex Legends Season 21 Comes With Massive Game Changes
Even before announcing the controversial Battle Pass changes, Apex Legends had decided to adjust the Ranked Rewards system in Season 21.
EA and Respawn decided to head back to the previous version, where players get an animated badge if they achieve the same rank in both splits of the season. Players who end the season with completely different ranks are given a static badge.
In the mid-season patch for Season 21, Apex Legends‘ Ash and Wattson were also buffed. Ashe’s Ultimate ability was enhanced by improving the portal distance, and Wattson’s shield regeneration abilities were massively buffed.
The mid-season patch also brought a highly controversial nerf to Bloodhound in Apex Legends, which led to concerns about the future of the legend on the game’s competitive side. The legend’s ultimate ability can no longer highlight enemies through gas or smoke, which has been a crucial part since the beginning of the game.
Although the future is uncertain, such controversial Battle Pass and legend changes can result in lower player numbers in upcoming seasons of the game.
Do you think EA should revert Battle Pass changes in Apex Legends? Let us know in the comments.
