Apex Legends’ Battle Pass and Review Bomb Controversy Explained

Highlights

• Apex Legends faced major controversies recently, causing fan outcry and negative reviews on Steam.
• Respawn’s battle pass changes, requiring IRL money exclusively, were met with backlash and threats of leaving the game.
• After community outrage, Respawn reversed the decision, bringing back the ability to buy passes with Apex Coins.

Apex Legends just had one of the biggest controversies in its entire history, which is no small feat after years of uneasy community relations. While the current situation with Apex Legends‘ battle pass is over, it will take a great deal on Respawn’s behalf for the game to truly recover.

Respawn’s flagship battle royale has had a long history of glitches, hacking, and monetization decisions that have all contributed to mass controversy, which the title has nonetheless weathered thanks to its strong gameplay and beloved cast. Still, ever since Apex Legends‘ Iron Crown event in 2019, which showed off some especially rapacious monetization that was quickly reversed, the game has not been able to escape recurring criticism.

The Apex Legends 2024 Battle Pass Controversy Explained

The Storm Before The Storm

2024 has not been kind to Apex Legends‘ reputation, even before Respawn’s latest snafu. The biggest point of contention was the hacking attack during Apex Legends‘ ALGS NA Regional Finals, an esports disruption that sent the whole community into a tailspin; not only was Respawn criticized for hosting a LAN event over vulnerable online servers, but the game’s hacking epidemic saw a fever pitch in that period. 2024 has also seen several major glitches (such as one that temporarily reset seasonal progress for all players) and even more egregious monetization (with the inclusion of extra currencies and price-gouged event rewards).

July 8th’s Battle Pass Announcement

The above is the context that fans had in mind when Respawn unveiled the changes coming to Apex Legends‘ battle pass in season 22. On July 8th, in a post made to the official Apex site, Respawn detailed what changes would be coming to the game’s battle pass in season 22 (launching August 6th). The post described that season 22 would have two 60-level battle passes (one for each split), rather than a single 110-level one. Each pass would cost as much as one season 21 battle pass, but would remove fodder like trackers and weapon charms while maintaining the same amount of coins and Apex Packs. However, the plan contained one divisive caveat; that players will no longer be able to buy battle passes with in-game currency, only IRL money.

The content changes to the battle pass here actually aren’t bad; despite growing battle pass fatigue among gamers, Respawn’s plan would offer more value per season. Players would also be more likely to unlock everything in a pass with fewer levels, all while getting the same rewards (if not more). However, the requirement of IRL cash for a premium pass threatened to rip off free-to-play players, who serve as the backbone of the community. Moreover, it meant that players would not be able to get the next battle pass upon completing one, completely ruining the prolonged play draw of battle passes. At a time when Respawn’s monetization is demanding more and more resources from players, it’s hard to see this as a good change.

Backlash And Review Bombing

Community feedback on these changes was immediate and intensely negative, with fans coming together to voice their disdain through every forum available. Most, naturally, focused on the issue of the IRL price funnel, but some also found any change to the battle pass misplaced when resources could be better spent fighting cheaters or cleaning up glitches. Many big creators also spoke out, with some declaring an intention to leave the game. Additionally, many of these creators encouraged fans to leave negative reviews on Apex‘s Steam page. This was, in part, spurred on thanks to an article by Game File’s Stephen Tolito, which highlighted how TakeTwo’s 2024 annual stockholder filing now warned about how review-bombing could ‘lead to loss of players and revenues’.

With that in mind, fans redoubled their efforts to leave negative reviews on the page, bringing Apex Legends‘ score down to ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’. This campaign reflected the extensive mockery evident in Respawn’s social media replies and YouTube comments, as well as what the reviews on Steam themselves said. On the former point, a collection event trailer was released on the game’s YouTube channel during this time, one that was bombed with dislikes and comments related to the controversy.

Prior to Respawn’s statement, the silence towards the community was deafening. Despite it being plainly evident that fans were not happy about the proposed changes, it took until July 24th for an official response. While it’s always better to have a prepared response rather than a hasty one, an immediate reversal of the derided policies would have brought over more goodwill.

Respawn’s Response And Moving Forward

Respawn finally responded to the community outrage in a post to social media and its website on July 24, announcing the reversal of these measures. Now in season 22, both seasonal battle passes can be bought for 950 Apex Coins like before. In addition, the premium tier of season 22’s first pass will be available for free, provided that players complete a number of challenges. It follows from this that the split pass plan is staying, in addition to the option to pay for the pass without buying coins. A new Ultimate+ tier, a $20 battle pass with some expanded goodies, is also still on the cards. In its announcement, Respawn stated ‘We recognize that we could have handled the Battle Pass changes better—that’s on us’ and ‘Your priorities are our priorities: cheaters, game stability, and quality of life updates are top of mind. We need to get better and it’s why we’re acknowledging them here’.

While not as apologetic as some would have liked, it’s a good start for rebuilding community relations. The proposed battle pass changes may yet be a boon to Apex now that the IRL cost requirement has been changed, but Respawn needs to follow through on promises to crack down on cheaters and bugs. A transparent timeline for bug fixing and anti-cheat provisions should be a top priority.