Apex Legends players boycott game over EA layoffs controversy
Respawn EntertainmentApex Legends players have rallied for the community to boycott the game over controversies surrounding EA laying off Respawn developers and in-game transactions.
Developers of Apex Legends, Respawn Entertainment have been hit was a fresh wave of layoffs as part of EA’s mass cutback. This has seen a further 5% of its staff being made redundant, which is about 670 jobs.
It was reported that 23 staff members from the Apex team had been made redundant. Various devs posted to Twitter/X to announce they had been let go, with one stating: “I don’t know how people dictating these actions sleep at night after casually shattering X number of human lives.”
With various stories being revealed by devs and EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, stating that monetization earnings can be increased by using AI to boost in-game transactions, it has left the player base furious.
Some of the Apex Legends community have revealed they are finally “done” and have called for players to stop playing the Battle Royale altogether.
Apex Legends players are finally “done” after EA layoffs
Apex Legends player ScoobyDoobyDreww expressed their frustrations with the reported layoffs at EA and the in-game purchases controversy:
“EA confirmed all the layoffs from Respawn, and Devs have come out and said how cold they were treated and tossed out like trash, one Dev had been there since the start of Apex and had her job replaced by AI.
“I think I’m done with this game forever at this point, maybe even all EA period, the company has just been buying studios, draining their lifeblood, and then dumping them. They are a terrible company to support and I can’t in good conscience give them any more money.”
The player ended by claiming: “Andrew Wilson is scum, and doesn’t deserve the billions of dollars he’s made exploiting players and ruining devs’ lives.”
Despite some having the view to: “Stop buying in-game content. Simple,” many players echoed the thoughts that this was “not enough.” Instead, numerous players rallied for the community to stop playing Apex altogether.
“It’s not enough to stop buying stuff in the game. You have to stop engaging with their products,” one player said.
Another responded: “That has a diminishing effect. They lose some money but realistically someone is always gonna buy in-game content… Everybody has to abandon them completely before any changes are made.”
With EA having already experienced several layoffs over the past few years, and the influx of AI making strides in the gaming industry, it remains uncertain how this will impact the state of Apex.