Shroud criticizes Apex Legends Season 12 “battle pass meta” pressuring players

Former CS:GO pro turned Twitch streamer Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek has shared his thoughts on Apex Legends Season 12, criticizing the game’s “battle pass meta” and saying he doesn’t enjoy feeling “pressured to play”.

After much anticipation, Apex Legends Season 12 finally dropped on February 8, bringing Mad Maggie and a new game mode, Control, to the world of Respawn’s battle royale.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many players enjoying the change of pace offered by Control, a 9v9 respawn game mode that differs considerably from the standard BR that hooked so many Apex players.

While shroud did have positive words to say about Control and Apex’s twelfth season more generally, he reserved some criticism for the battle pass and how it forces players to play.

Speaking in his February 20 YouTube video, shroud highlighted the “battle pass meta”, arguing that the tiered rewards that accompany seasonal battle passes force players to play a certain way to ensure they level up.

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“God the battle pass meta is so f**king… I don’t like it anymore,” he said, flicking through the tiers. “I’m over it. I’m over the battle pass meta. I wanna go back to the days of just grinding and playing the game and seeing your tokens going up and then you just buy what you want you want.”

He continued: “It’s just easy… I don’t like keeping up the battle pass – it like pressures you to play. I don’t like being pressured to play.”

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Unfortunately for shroud, it doesn’t look like the seasonal content and battle pass system is going anywhere soon. Since Fortnite’s roaring success with the formula, many other titles (like Apex Legends and Warzone) have adopted a similar system.

Many have also praised the Season 12 battle pass, hoping to unlock its highest skins and rewards. We expect to see one accompany Season 13 as well.