Respawn Entertainment can now add its name to the dubious list of companies that screwed around and found out in very short order. At the beginning of the month, the studio announced changes to the battle pass of Apex Legends, including adding a new pass in the middle of an ongoing season (instead of a single pass per season) and requiring players to pony up real-world money for the premium pass (where previously they could use earned in-game currency to buy a pass).
The revulsion from players was immediate, expressed through a Steam reviewbombing campaign that saw around 70K players drop negative reviews on the game over the course of roughly three weeks. “Two 10 dollar passes for one season. Titanfall died for this slop,” summarizes one review.
Yesterday saw Respawn post a message about the furor that confirmed an about-face on the plan. Sort of.
“You’ve spoken, and we’ve listened. With the release of Season 22 we will restore the ability to get the Premium Battle Pass for 950 Apex Coins. We recognize that we could have handled the Battle Pass changes better — that’s on us. […] Moving forward, we recognize that we need to be more timely, transparent, and consistent in our communications with you.”
As a result of the revolt, players will be able to get the first Season 22 premium pass for free when it goes live on August 6th by completing “a series of simple in-game challenges,” while the second pass will be available for purchase with in-game currency when it arrives September 17th. Respawn also promises that these premium passes offer better rewards.
However, what isn’t changing is the double-dipping on season passes, with the studio continuing to move forward with launching a second mid-season pass, while the two Ultimate+ tiers of the pass willl still require real money to buy; those grant more currencies, materials, weapons, and cosmetics.
Players are understandably sardonic about the changes in general, with fans assuming that this was EA and Respawn’s plan all along, calling for continued vigilance against further monetization envelope pushing, asking why all this money isn’t being spent to attack problems like cheaters, or outright stating that the bridges have been burned. Overall this appears to be another needless own-goal.
