Apex Legends players worry game is “dying” after controversial Battle Pass changes

Apex Legends players have been voiced concern for the game’s future after Respawn announced a major Battle Pass overhaul.

Starting with Season 22, the battle royale will no longer allow Battle Pass purchases with Apex Coins – real money will be the only eligible option.

Some have reacted by accusing publisher EA of being motivated by greed, with the Battle Pass changes serving as a catalyst for players to re-emphasize their issues with Apex Legends like monetization, server issues, cheaters and more.

When asking the simple question “Is Apex dying?” on Reddit, the thread’s author admitted they had “less and less” motivation to play, specifically naming cheating, “messed up” matchmaking, and “Respawn/EA just turning the game into a cash cow,” as reasons for their drop in interest.

Responses followed suit. Several singled out matchmaking as the primary problem area. “Skill-based matchmaking ruins pubs,” one reply stated. “Matchmaking is literally the number one problem with the game and the devs don’t give a single sh*t,” another echoed.

The aforementioned battle pass changes were a core pain point for many. “New battle pass requires IRL money instead of the coins you have saved,” one user stated in their list of current misgivings.

“I opted in for the battle pass for the first time last night,” said another, adding “Then this news dropped and I feel like Respawn/EA swiped $10 out of my pocket and left me some stickers and a 25-cent toy.”

Others attributed the “high barrier to entry” as the culprit preventing Apex from “attracting new players and having them stick around.”

“I mean, it has the lowest player base almost in the game’s history, so it’s not good. But ‘dying’? I don’t think so. Just a lull while they work some things out” said a more optimistic player.

Per SteamDB, Apex Legends’ concurrent player count on Steam peaked at 329,663 in June. This was the lowest total of 2024 so far and a drop of just under 100,000 from May 2024. These figures don’t take into account population numbers for other platforms, most notably Xbox and PlayStation.

Apex Legends is still going strong, but these player count numbers show a steady decline brought on by issues the community need to see addressed for them to return.