"Apex Legends Disappointment Signals Substantial Pain Ahead [for EA]"

[MoogleMaestro]

It's very strange because Apex Legends is actually a very good game in isolation. However, I find that people's expectations for the speed of additional content is beyond the scope that Respawn was prepared to support the game post-release. It's getting hard for game developers across the board because the ratio between development time and user consumption ('completion' or 'boredom' both apply) has been getting exponentially worse for an already bad situation. Respawn/EA should probably refocus some development from external studios to help provide orthogonal content additions (skins, quips, custom elimintations) while Respawn works on bigger games and also bigger content updates for Apex.

Combine that with forced team play, which makes it harder for streamers in solo-play circumstances, and an ESports focus and it's no surprise that the userbase (at least on twitch) is dwindling. They need to provide some way for solo play if they want to compete against other games in the field on the streaming market.

 

[OldDirtyGamer]

I'm not a fan of BR games but this one seemed fun . I'd play it if it had solo

 

[JustinP]

The article frames it like EA is disappointed but it's just second hand investment speculation.

With that being said, they really dropped the ball with post launch support. Probably too distracted by the Star Wars game. And the monetization needs a rework.

 

[Doctor Avatar]

They needed to really come out the gate strong and cement themselves, which they started well with, and then shot themselves in the foot with an absolutely awful battle pass.

The battle pass has killed the game. It really really has. The combination of complete garbage rewards and it being a ridiculous grind has basically turned everyone off the game.

The core gameplay and ideas are by far the best battle royal out there. But they needed to get the battle pass and updates right to retain their players and they simply pooped the bed on every level. There is nothing good about the battle pass. Nothing.

Had they released a battle pass which had good rewards and was reasonably reasonable for the average player to complete (say 10,000 exp per level instead of the current 30,000) they would have had a hit on their hands.

Oh well.

 

[super-heated plasma]

They need to just make it a full blown Titanfall BR. game. bring in the Titans, and other stuff that makes Titanfall 2 MP so fun.

 

[Garrett 2U]

Its an amazing game, but they just don't update it enough.
If they updated it at half the cadence of Fortnite updates, it wouldn't have faded away.

Its really a shame because it looks like they shifted focus to Star Wars, and that game has fairly mediocre reception, compared to Apex.

 

[Soap]

How does a company with fifa madden and all that jazz have so much tied up in a f2p game?

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I have to imagine there isn't that much growth left in the sports genre as they have a giant player base who are already invested. The only way EA can grow is diversifying, which is something they are having a lot of issues with

 

[nomis]

how is literally everything Respawn does a fucking disappointment for EA??

like they make a perfect game in TF2 but it flops because of their garbage marketing and release window, EA considers it a failure

they release an almost perfect BR game with NO CONVENTIONAL MARKETING and it achieves astounding success, they overvalue themselves because of it, EA is let down yet again

stay with me here, but i'm starting to think EA sucks ass and Respawn are the best dev in the industry

 

[Deleted member 19996]

I never liked it, so the same for me.

However, there is too much importance given to twitch numbers. Companies are literally paying high profile streamers to play and then boasting about numbers. Obviously it's going to crash when they stop playing with the hope that those who did watch would play, but that isn't always the case.

 

[Castia]

The battle pass was a massive let down. The rewards are terrible and not even worth farming, I think that turned most people away.

I love the gameplay though it's my favourite BR game by some distance.

 

[CountAntonio]

It's a good game but only solo's meant it didnt last long for me. I was also used to fortnite impossible updates.

 

[Kusagari]

They blew all the momentum they had with the lack of updates and horrible Battle Pass.

 

[MegaBeefBowl]

I like it a lot but the battle pass sucked. I really enjoyed the free levels for top 5 finishes... until I realized it was only for 3 days.

Progression is a slog, but the core is still great. I really hope next season takes some notes from Fortnites battle pass because it would be a shame if they wasted all of this potential.

 

[LossAversion]

They're simply taking too long to update the game.

Mirage's ultimate has been garbage since launch and they still haven't done anything to it. So when updates take weeks to come out... it just kills my drive to keep playing. Even beyond character balancing issues, the updates are simply too spread out. Fortnite would put out updates weekly (if not, even more frequently) even if it was a simple UI improvement or accessibility options being added to the menu. This was pretty soon after the game started picking up steam. Then they started changing the map, adding tons of weapons, modes, gear, etc... Apex just looks like a dinosaur in comparison. It doesn't matter if it's a fair comparison or not... Apex is competing with Fortnite as it exists now.

The incredibly mediocre battle pass was just the final nail in the coffin for myself and most of my friends playing Apex. Nothing to keep us playing, especially since you just flat out stop earning loot boxes at a certain point. If I had to guess, I don't think that EA is putting enough resources behind Respawn. They probably want as much money as possible while spending as little as possible in return and they don't see the long game here.

 

[Professor Beef]

The battle pass was a huge letdown. I bought it to show support (which I do not regret), but updates rolling out like molasses hurt my interest.

 

[Baked Pigeon]

Not enough updates, the skins are way overpriced and suck, and the amount of xp needed to level the battle pass is ridiculous. I love the game but they are doing it all wrong.

 

[Gestault]

I still like playing it with friends, and I haven't hit my personal skill ceiling, but I could live with some more frequent changes.

The real-money price of skins is still an absolute insult ($18 USD/ea), and honestly, almost nothing in the Battle Pass is something I'd actually want for my legends (let alone pay money+time for). I don't like having a hampster wheel that's this slow without better motivating goodies. So the gameplay itself I still consider worthwhile, but any actual "product" aspect of it isn't strong.

 

[Forsaken82]

They need to just make it a full blown Titanfall BR. game. bring in the Titans, and other stuff that makes Titanfall 2 MP so fun.

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Titans won't necessarily fix the game... if anything they may even break the game completely. Apex feels good because of the boots on the ground mechanics, not because of a gimmick from another game, same universe or not.

 

[Hatebringer]

Game is fun, battle pass is terrible. I continue to play but I know that I'd enjoy it much more if the rewards were actually something to look forward to.

 

[Aztechnology]

I still enjoy it and it's easily the best gameplay of all the Battle Royales to me. I love the movement, abilities etc. It just needs to have better rewards. For many of the most committed players too, there's nowhere to go for them now. The battle pass was half baked and there's only a few small rewards actually worth getting. It also takes too long to complete the pass (for me personally) and I play a good amount per week. There's only one map which is getting stale with no rotation. And there's no game modes to spice things up.

They had insane success, and it was impossible to keep those kind of numbers with the structure they setup. It's also a first person game with skins across a wide variety of bodies instead of just a male/female model which makes the variations much more difficult to do.

Anyway a few things I'll say if they want to keep people engaged.

Remove the hard limit on Apex Packs. People need to have a way to continue to use earned points in meaningful ways.

Get game modes, a modified ruleset event out asap.

They need some maps out quicker.
The beauty of battle Royale is, maps don't have to have perfect or even good balance. Make some damn maps, use prefab buildings, slap some terrain down etc. I get there's a lot more to it. But maps don't need to go through thousands of hours of testing for balance. It's assymetrical gaming. Stop treating it like a TD map. I'd seriously love to see procedural maps.

Lastly build cosmetics around the player abilities, hands etc. Things the using playing can actually see and appreciate.

 

[Conkerkid11]

It doesn't feel like the game's got any better since launch. It actually genuinely feels worse in most areas, which is really disappointing.

Like most people have said though, the lackluster progression is killing the game, if it's actually dying. Twitch numbers don't mean much of anything when only a single streamer playing it could put it in the top 3.

 

[Etrian Darkness]

I was out as soon as the battle pass was lukewarm and the content drip wasn't there to bring me back.

I'll play it again at some point, it was super fun.

 

[Aztechnology]

It doesn't feel like the game's got any better since launch. It actually genuinely feels worse in most areas, which is really disappointing.

Like most people have said though, the lackluster progression is killing the game, if it's actually dying. Twitch numbers don't mean much of anything when only a single streamer playing it could put it in the top 3.

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Agreed. Twitch as a borometer of success is only for initial discovery/press often. Half the time it's why those streamers are paid a bunch of money to play for like a week. Because twitch is about following certain people mainly. I don't know what the actual breakdown is. But I imagine a super majority of twitch views have to be centered around a respectively tiny group of people. (100 or fewer people).

 

[Achtung]

To get from "Apex twitch numbers aren't as good as fortnite, the biggest game in the world" to "Apex is a flop and Respawns position is nearly as bad as Bioware's" is ridiculous

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Na its not ridiculous with the track record of EA. And I said IF the star wars game does not sell crazy then yes I believe Respawn will be on a short leash.

 

[Vareon]

I think like Pokemon Go, it rose too quick for its own good. It'll probably tumble down until it reached a stable point and rises again steadily.

 

[chrisPjelly]

I'll come back to the game when they actually have a damn roadmap

 

[Bricktop]

I love all the doom and gloom in this thread. Meanwhile Apex is still one of the most played games out there. You guys really going to take a half-baked article and pretend like it's based in facts?

 

[Absolute]

I love all the doom and gloom in this thread. Meanwhile Apex is still one of the most played games out there. You guys really going to take a half-baked article and pretend like it's based in facts?

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Not arguing with you dude just interested in the metric you are using to say it's one of most played games out there today.

 

[Cheddahz]

It's still the best battle royale game on the market imo

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I love all the doom and gloom in this thread. Meanwhile Apex is still one of the most played games out there. You guys really going to take a half-baked article and pretend like it's based in facts?

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But it hasnt toppled Fortnite

 

[U Know Me]

No solo killed it for me. I pretty much forgot about the game altogether and I really like it.

 

[sandboxgod]

This game doesn't have any loot boxes though right? I always thought that was a great thing.

Fornite kind of always had my interest since it has Cross play and it's on like every system. My kid used to play that game non-stop on the Ninty Switch. I didnt mind buying him some outfits and stuff

 

[Conkerkid11]

This game doesn't have any loot boxes though right? I always thought that was a great thing.

Fornite kind of always had my interest since it has Cross play and it's on like every system. My kid used to play that game non-stop on the Ninty Switch. I didnt mind paying him some outfits and stuff

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It has loot boxes.

 

[sandboxgod]

It has loot boxes.

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whelp there goes my interest in Apex. I thank you sir.

Shame on me for not being better informed. I really should've researched Apex. I think Fortnite doesn't have any lootboxes though so I eagerly supported them.

Anyway, that's just my own personal hangup not trying to derail the topic. I realize Apex is a f2p game so they gotta get that cash

 

[Dragon's Game]

sad to see how Apex is starting to lose steam. How do online games become successful?

for example, how did this become such a behemoth, money making machine?

 

[SoulShimmer]

I enjoyed it for about 100 hours when it came out. Took a break and came back recently. Havent been able to make it past 2-3 fights because most of the people left playing are super good or (more likely) cheating.

 

[Parenegade]

sad to see how Apex is starting to lose steam. How do online games become successful?

for example, how did this become such a behemoth, money making machine?

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Apex puts out content at a glacial pace. And the content they put out isn't that good. The battle pass was terrible.

 

[lexible]

I still think it's the best BR game on the market, bar none. They have been slow to update and the Battle Pass was woefully inadequate, but I think it still has a healthy player base. PUBG fell off a cliff on Twitch for pretty much all of 2018 and was and continues to be a very successful game.

 

[Surface of Me]

Not arguing with you dude just interested in the metric you are using to say it's one of most played games out there today.

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On Xbox it is usually number 2 or 3 on the most played games. I guess someone can look at the PSN charts as well, dunno how to get PC numbers.

 

[Sensei]

the game is dope but a shit ton of games are dope these days

gotta bring more to the table

 

[thebishop]

I'm not mad about the battle pass, I'm just playing Sekiro right now. The game is still great, and I'll come back to it.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

It always impress me how r/games is more positive on EA than resetera lol

 

[Mr. Von Touchdown]

The battle pass sunk it for me. Even as a $10 purchase to just support the game, it actually felt worse value to me than just straight up buying the loot boxes the game had. Too grindy with flat out "Meh" level skins.

Didn't even play as the new guy, my interest just plummeted way too hard after the battle pass reveal.

As far as I'm concerned, Season 2 pass needs to knock it out of the park or the game just ends up floundering. Also, turn on the wall and double jumps.

 

[Slayven]

The battle pass was a huge letdown. I bought it to show support (which I do not regret), but updates rolling out like molasses hurt my interest.

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One might say they have to, go fast?

 

[Nateo]

Not enough content and updates being put out. While Fortnite is still doing continual updates. EA's One update a month scheme doesn't work.

 

[Daheza]

Yea, I really don't understand what they are doing over there. The battle pass was/is horrible you get the same skin for a gun every 10 levels and it takes me 1day + of playing to grind a level. We know that they have more content from all the data mining, so why is it so slow to be released? Do they really expect everyone to pay for the battle pass each financial quarter when people are leaving in droves?

 

[Syranth]

That article was so barebones I'm confused why there is even a thread being made about it. Google metrics and twich viewers determine if a game is successful now?

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When a game company doesn't share metrics (and why would they), yes. Common across other media as well. For example Google metrics might show a few things like new player attachment or social media buzz. Twitch is the gamer Nielsen's ratings now I guess.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I think it was stat trackers being the most exciting thing in the battle pass that pissed me off the most. Game itself is fantastic but that kinda felt like a backhand to the nuts.

 

[Jakisthe]

I agree with this topic and the article therein, but are we really going to get a new topic for "Apex's popularity has declined" every time a new article comes out?

 

[Professor Beef]

One might say they have to, go fast?

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did you get that from the 90's along with your avatar?