Overpriced items, lack of change, competition, and other controversies have gradually killed Apex Legends. Will the problems be handled, or will Apex continue to lose thousands of players?
According to Steam Charts, Apex lost 47 percent of players last year and 56 percent the year before. The player count dropped from 257,416 to 146,164 and 69,580 in February 2023, January 2024, and January 2025, respectively.
“This is not the apex that I used to love.” “What was once a great game has become terrible in the past year.” These quotes reflect numerous recent negative reviews from players across Steam and Metacritic. What caused this change? Analyzing Apex before and during its decline presents some answers.
In 2023, the developers at Respawn Entertainment shifted to focus more on game balance than additions. This was first noticeable when Season 16 was released in February. Making major changes and being the first season not to add a new legend to the game.
Streamer and YouTuber Macro stated, “Overall, this is a good health season. There’s no new legend, but that’s okay because the changes to the quality of life, the legend classes, the buffs/nerfs, and the new game mode are healthy for the game.” Despite this positive spot, the decline started shortly after. Why?
#1 Competition: Apex is constantly competing with other games. Between new releases and game updates, it can be hard to remain popular. Whatever is fresh, fun, new, or all of the above will catch players’ attention. Listening to feedback and releasing liked updates will keep them engaged, but recently-
#2 Apex hasn’t changed the core gameplay enough to keep players interested. In 2022, Jason Mcguire, a developer, expressed concern about the rapid addition of new legends. Saying the creation of unique and balanced legends could become more challenging. Also, stating that “whether or not that pattern continues is an ongoing discussion and it might not be changed”
Respawn eventually did adjust their approach to updates, evident when looking back at seasons. For example, 16, 20, 22, and 24 didn’t include any new legends. 18 and 23 instead revamped pre-existing legends, but Legends aren’t the only additions that have slowed.
A permanent weapon hasn’t been added since February 2023, Multiple in-game events reuse content, Changes to maps have slowed, and a 1375-day-long wait for a new map occurred.
“They don’t care about player feedback and will continue to do what they want as long as it doesn’t result in severe backlash,” said a player on an online forum.
#3 Prices of cosmetics. Prices for cosmetics in many modern games are controversial, and Apex is no different. Recent events and battle pass changes have caused an outcry in the community.
With the launch of Season 22, a reworked battle pass system was introduced. Now, split into two passes with new, more expensive tiers for purchase. No longer were any of them available with in-game coins.
This meant players could no longer use coins earned or bought to get the pass and would have to pay $9.99 for both passes. Many players voiced their disgust on online forums. “So basically pay 10 dollars twice a season instead of being able to continue buying battle passes every season. In what way is this better for players?”
In response to all the backlash, the change to the coins was reverted for the original tier. However, the split passes and higher-priced tiers stayed the same and are still unavailable with coins.
A possibly more infamous controversy occurred in January 2024 during the Final Fantasy VII Crossover event. To get items, you bought packs, and as you owned more items, the price for packs grew. Also, each pack had a 5% chance for the desired skins and a <1% chance for a unique melee skin. OR once you owned all 36 items, you would get the melee skin and a deathbox skin, which cost around $360. Fans were not happy. “Ain’t no one paying 360 dollars for a death box skin man. I can't believe you’re normalizing gacha too.” “Is it just me who feels like I'd probably spend more on the game if the prices weren't so exorbitant?” “They definitely do not have to be charging as much as they do for something that's purely cosmetic, it’s greed in its purest form.” #4 Apex is hard. The game suffers from horrible matchmaking, hacking, and smurfing problems. Despite the best efforts from the devs to improve the anti-cheat, many players are still affected by cheaters. The issue is so bad that during a professional tournament, pro players were hacked and had cheats enabled on their games mid-match.
There is also a large number of experienced players who use new accounts known as Smurfs. Which leads to unfair advantages in matches. The matchmaking too puts many players into higher-skilled lobbies than they should be in. With all these issues, it can be very hard for new players to get into the game or for most to have fun.
It remains to be seen whether Apex will rise again. The new season has seemed to boost the game back up a bit. As someone who has followed the game since its release, I’ll be watching closely to see.
