„You've Spoken, and We've Listened.” EA Backs off Heavily Criticized Change to Free-To-Play Shooter Apex Legends
Apex Legends fans triumphed. As a result of their actions, they managed to stop unfavorable changes to the game's battle passes.
The players stood their ground again. Electronic Arts and Respawn Studios were forced to withdraw an unfavorable change in the 22nd season of the free-to-play shooter Apex Legends.
Let's recall that the entire scandal revolved around battle passes. Until now, they could be unlocked with currency earned in the game itself. The 22nd season was intended to introduce two passes, both of which could only be bought with real money.
- The players' reaction was so bad that EA and Respawn had to back out of these plans. Season 22 will continue to offer two passes, both of which can be obtained using Apex coins collected during gameplay.
- In a message to the community, the developer admitted their mistakes and promised to listen better to players' voices in the future. It was also assured that the developers' priorities are the same as the fans', and they include, among others, fighting cheaters, improving game stability, and implementing changes.
The fans achieved this success in many ways. Negative comments have flooded social media, and the majority of YouTube channels dedicated to Apex Legends have released critical content on this topic.
Furthermore, the players carried out an extremely successful review bombing, resulting in approximately 70,000 negative reviews appearing on the game's Steam page within a few days. As a result, of the reviews from the last 30 days, only 7% are positive, which the platform categorizes as an "overwhelmingly negative" reception of the game.
This is another such success for the players in recent months. In May, they succeeded in pressuring Sony to retract the need for a PlayStation Network account to play Helldivers 2 on Steam.
