Respawn CEO Vince Zampella has issued an apology to Apex Legends gamers who were offended by criticism from the game’s devs in a Reddit post over the weekend:
— Vince Zampella (@VinceZampella) August 19, 2019
It all started last week when the Iron Crown event launched on Apex Legends. The event brought not only the awaited solo-mode but some great cosmetic items as well. Unfortunately, Apex’s developer, Respawn Entertainment, locked them behind a fairly prohibitive paywall. To obtain them, players had to spend between $100 and $200 in loot boxes. Therefore, players didn’t have the certainty of getting them either, as the loot boxes’ content is random.
After the player base protested harshly about the situation, Respawn wrote an apology blog post. In the post, they revealed that the items would be purchasable in the store, on a rotational basis, without the need of buying loot boxes. That starts on August 20th. They also stated that for future events, there will be more ways to unlock these items other than Apex Packs.
What Happened on the Apex Legends Subreddit
Apex Legends‘ developer, proceeded to publish the same blog post on the game’s Subreddit, as usual. The issue should’ve ended here but, instead, some users reinforced the message and kept complaining about the items’ high cost. Nothing new under the sun. After all, games’ Subreddits are often the better place where users can put themselves in direct contact with developers.
However, things degenerated when members of Apex Legends’ team responded to certain complaints by throwing insults. For instance, a Respawn Project Lead with the handle “dk05” called users “ass-hats” and “freeloaders” among some other insults.
“I’ve been in the industry long enough to remember when players weren’t complete ass-hats to developers and it was pretty neat. I forged a bunch of long lasting relationships from back then. Would be awesome to get back there, and not engaging with toxic people or asking ‘how high’ when a mob screams ‘jump’ is hopefully a start.”
“There is a wealth of data available on how monetization works in free-to-play games, and we ourselves have run tests by putting skins on sale in the store. The amount of people who spend is crazy low, most of ya’ll are freeloaders (and we love that!) and a change in price doesn’t move the needle.”
What are your thoughts on these comments and Apex Legends’ Iron Crown event? Let us know in the comments below!
I’m an Italian guy who likes talking and writing about video games. When I’m not involved in videogames, you can find me practicing handstands (with mediocre results), or lifting hay bales on my tiny, little farm.
