Apex Legends review-bombing pushes game to lowest-ever Steam rating

Declan Mclaughlin
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Apex Legends players have continued to review-bomb the game on Steam, pushing it from ‘mostly negative’ to ‘overwhelmingly negative’ in the past few days in an apparent revolt against the game’s developers.

Negative reviews started rolling in for the Respawn and EA battle royale following the announcement of its new battle pass system. The change was not received well by players as it increased the price of the pass by attaching it to splits instead of seasons, and it is no longer purchasable with Apex Coins.

While the game’s aggregated reviews over its entire lifespan are still ‘overwhelmingly positive,’ its recent reviews section is now ‘overwhelmingly negative’ – the lowest rating Steam has – thanks to consistent negative reviews over days from veteran players.

The Apex Legends Steam page as of July 16, 2024.

“If Respawn doesn’t care about me, I would have to be insane to keep giving them money just to suffer more. If they won’t respect my time, my effort, my skill, I won’t respect their game. I will not recommend this game to anybody and frankly, this game does not deserve to stay alive with the direction it has and is taking,” said one July 16 review from a player with over 4,000 hours played.

Some reviews are from Apex Legends console players who wanted to give their opinions on the platform’s recent changes.

“Stay Overwhelmingly Negative until you realize we’re not stupid EA & Respawn. ‘FoR tHe CommUNity!’ my cheeks. I’ve put 1,413 hours into this game on my PS4 and you are so bad that I pulled out the PC for this! FIX THE GAME AND STOP SELLING ME A HORRIBLE BATTLE PASS I HAVE TO PAY TWICE FOR,” another review said.

Some players are also concerned about the title’s longevity as its player count has dropped significantly in 2024, and the game still suffers from cheaters at high levels of play.

Respawn and EA have not acknowledged the community’s outcry at the time of writing. Whether every player will follow through with their pledge to uninstall the game or not pay for the new battle pass remains to be seen as Season 22 is still days away.