Apex Legends dev explains why they removed Skulltown in Season 5

Respawn game director Chad Greiner has revealed why they removed Skulltown from Apex Legends, and even hinted at more iconic areas facing the chop in future seasons.

The arrival of Apex Legends’ fifth season saw some major changes made to Kings Canyon, including the infamous point of interest, Skulltown, which is now completely underwater following the end-of-season update.

As the removal of the popular location came as a shock to many fans, Respawn devs have now revealed why they chose to destroy such an iconic location and their thought process behind making other major map changes.

Greiner revealed that he was completely on board when the idea was first mentioned and explained why he was eager to get rid of one of the arena’s hot spots, during an interview with Gamespot.

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“I just love the idea of shaking the game up and making meaningful changes,” he said, “we’ve been playing Kings Canyon for a while – players have had thousands of matches on it – so a significant change like that gets me excited.”

While many Apex Legends players used to prioritize Skulltown as their favorite place to land, Greiner continued on explaining why such major changes like this are necessary to keep the game more exciting for its fans.

“I don’t worry too much about the players who love Skulltown,” he added, “I was one of them, I think what’s best for the game is to keep it fresh.”

More ‘iconic’ map changes coming?

Greiner revealed that surprising fans with such changes holds as much value to the dev team, as does getting positive feedback over new features in the battle royale “We find the value in changing things up and surprising people more than saying, ‘Oh we made a town that people really like.’”

The Respawn director later explained that any of the future POI’s that become popular in Apex Legends might also be a target for major changes, “I like to think [Skulltown] is iconic to early Apex, and if something becomes too iconic, it probably has our scopes zoomed in on it.”

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While we don’t what major changes Respawn has planned for Kings Canyon past Season 5, recent events have proven that even the most popular spots on the map are not safe from the drop. Caustic mains will be hoping Bunker doesn’t face a similar fate.