It’s a generally widely understood assumption that items are made rare purely because the drop rate numbers are fudged by game studios, but players of Apex Legends are learning just how rare certain item drops are around the globe – despite this information being mandated by law in South Korea.
The law in question is an amendment to the country’s Game Industry Promotion Act announced in April, which requires foreign game companies to appoint a domestic representative to share information to help “foreign game companies comply with Korean regulations, including those on item probability disclosures, game advertising, and illegal game distribution, while also managing compliance reporting to the government.”
The amendment will go into force in October 2025, but Respawn Entertainment is getting ahead of the matter now and sharing drop rate details around the globe “so that [players] can continue to make [their] own informed decisions about in-game purchases.”
The breakdown specifically points out heirloom shards – a currency that lets players purchase a mythic skin of their choice – drop at a rate of 0.045%, with shards guaranteed if none drops after opening 500 Apex Packs; it further points out that cosmetic drop rates adjust dynamically to avoid duplicates. So if you were wondering what your chances were in getting this currency, you now have hard numbers.
An update on minimum global drop rates for Apex Packs: https://t.co/tcO1MFhgt0 pic.twitter.com/CWhH1qXPFW
— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) October 8, 2024