Although EA plans to implement a “large systematic change” to its popular, free-to-play battle royale hero shooter Apex Legends as a result of declining engagement in Season 22, it won’t be in the form of Apex Legends 2 (a la Overwatch 2), CEO Andrew Wilson revealed in the company’s second quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
“We do have a moment right now where we are managing the current trajectory of the business,” Wilson said. “But we believe by virtue of the strength of the brand, the size of the global community, the position we hold in the top tier of these free-to-play live service games, that we’ll be able to return that to growth in the business side over the course of time.”
Wilson explained that changes to the Apex Legends Battle Pass in Season 22 did not provide the expected growth in monetization and fell short of the company’s outlook.
“Following changes to the battle pass construct, we did not see the lift in monetization we had expected,” Wilson continued.
“Two things have become clear in the free-to-play FPS category. First, in the competitive landscape where brand, a strong core player base and high quality mechanics matter more than ever, Apex has proven to be a compelling franchise for us and an industry stalwart.
“Second, to drive significant growth and re-engagement, large systematic change is required. We will continue to focus on retention and breadth of content in service of our global community as we work towards more significant, innovative changes in the future.”
Electronic Arts
Later on in the earnings report, EA was asked to explain the advantages and disadvantages of ameliorating Apex Legends in cumulative fashion, as they have been doing up until this point over fully overhauling the game and rebranding it as Apex Legends 2, much like what Activision-Blizzard did with Overwatch 2.
“It’s a really good question and probably beyond the scope of this conversation, but what I would say is that typically, what we have seen in the context of live service driven games at scale, is the Version 2 thing has almost never been as successful as the Version 1 thing,” Wilson replied.
Wilson continued, “And so actually the objective right now is to ensure that we are continuing to support the global player base that we have, and deliver them new innovative, creative content on a season by season basis, as well as build these other things, but build them in a way that players don’t have to give up the progress that they’ve made or the investment that they’ve put into the existing ecosystem.”
The aforementioned changes to Apex Legends‘ Battle Pass in Season 22 which did not meet monetization expectations were met with ardent player backlash, with many players decrying EA’s decision to remove the ability for the fanbase to purchase premium battle passes with game’s virtual currency, Apex Coins.
EA subsequently retracted the move and issued a statement on their X account.
“You’ve spoken, and we’ve listened,” EA said. “With the release of Season 22 we will restore the ability to get the Premium Battle Pass for 950 Apex Coins. We recognize that we could have handled the Battle Pass changes better-that’s on us.”
“You’ll be able to earn enough Apex Coins via the Battle Pass to get future passes,” EA added.
Do you think it’s the right move that EA won’t be making Apex Legends 2 despite declining engagement last season? Do you think that EA still needs to make huge changes to Apex Legends in light of last season’s Battle Pass outcry or is the game in a good place right now? Let us know in the comments.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login