Apex Legends Fans furious after learning the Possible Plans to add “Subscriptions”

Recently a rumor has been circulating the internet, News first broke out by Tom Henderson a writer at Insider Gaming that EA might be exploring the idea of implementing a “Subscription” system for Apex Legends, let us dive into all the details we know so far about this change

Source of the Rumor

To start with, the source of this topic is a supposed EA survey that questioned whether players would be interested in having a “monthly subscription” that rewards the subscribers monthly with in-game currency, Battle Pass tiers, and exclusive rewards.

Fortnite Crew Pass comparison

If it seems like you have heard something like this before then yes you are correct, Fortnite Crew Pass functions similarly to the details EA mentioned in their survey however Fortnite Crew Pass offers a variety of goodies even outside of their main game Fortnite, for $11.99/mo Crew Pass offers
▫ Crew Pack – A Crew Exclusive bundle, each month’s crew pack features a new outfit a a matching glider, pickaxe, wrap, or emote
▫ Battle Pass – Full access to that current Season Fortnite Battle Pass which includes 110+ cosmetics for you to grind towards
▫ V-Bucks – V-Bucks is an in-game Fortnite currency that is used to unlock cosmetics or other goodies in the shop, and each month Fortnite Crew Pass offers 1,000 V-Bucks to all of their subscribers
▫ Rocket Pass Premium – Fortnite Crew Pass gives free access to its current Rocket Leagues Season Rocket Pass Premium, It is basically the Battle Pass in the Rocket League game
▫ Legacy Styles – It offers a limited number of Legacy styles for a few cosmetics, each month you will receive a new legacy style and if as long as you are an active subscriber of the Fortnite Crew Pass

This method of subscription has proven to be substantial for the revenue of the game because it allows players to gain exclusive rewards and in-game currency like Apex Coins which can be used to purchase shop skins and other in-game items, This form of monetization generates a steady flow of income for the company which otherwise would be depended on Special Shops and Events, which leads to more Investors investing into the game, since the CEO can provide an exact revenue that they will make in next month, which gives investors a sense of assurance that they will be making above that threshold.

Apex Legends has just recovered from the backlash because of their Battle Pass changes that took effect earlier in August with Season 22, which made it so Battle Passes will be split based instead of an entire season which sparked frustration across many players, and even a conversation in other gaming communities, Apex Legends player count went lower and Steam reviews reached over 80,000 negative labeling the game as overwhelmingly negative for a while

Apex Legends Community’s reaction

Apex Legends community is very vocal when it comes to monetization practices that players don’t agree with and there are players that also defend this with a statement that ‘its a free game’

for example, the user @TTVGoldnSkul shared their thoughts on this rumor saying “If Its anything like Fortnite Crew with the amount of benefits it gives then I’m okay with that”

another supporting Apex Legends fan named @izzyjoshuadavis also said, “I mean I would probably do it. I already do it for siege because it is cheaper than buying the individual passes for the year”

X (Formerly Twitter) user @HoudeifaBahloul shared a logical take on this matter while also taking into account the common problems of free-to-play games “I want to address something, Apex Legends is a free game and I don’t care if they add monetisation as long as it is optional, but not attending to the game’s problems is a mistake they are making, give me 100 milestone event but at least fix the servers, cheaters and audio”

Conclusion

At the end it seems like EA or Respawn might notice the community’s reaction and try to make improvements before officially announcing it similarly to the Battle Pass fiasco, since some players are interested and some players are not too sure and some completely disagree with this change, and how Respawn will handle this challenge is yet to be seen

for example, in the season 20 “breakout” survey of April 2024 players were asked if they would like pack upgrades and mass pack opening which was implemented with Season 23, so most of the time these changes are hints towards upcoming changes that are already being worked on