For most Battle Royales these days, the key seems to be going free to play.Fortnite,Call of Duty: Warzone, andApex Legendsmanage to attract players by allowing them to play the game without having to spend money, relying on gameplay mechanics to keep them coming back for more. to make money, the gamesutilize a heavy microtransaction system through purchasable skins, cosmetics, and a Battle Pass.
Epic has really embraced this concepts and has continued to push massive crossover events with other brands like DC, Marvel, Star Wars, and others. The inclusion of iconic skins has helped makeFortnitehave a much broader appeal, and has led its competition to attempt to replicate that success.Call of Duty: Warzonejust announced aRamboandDie Hardcrossover, with likely more 80s action stars on the way. WhileApex Legendsdoesn’t have anything quite like that, the game is constantly adding new cosmetic items for players to check out, though not everyone seems to be too happy with the prices.
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While cosmetics in these battle royale games are purely optional and offer no gameplay associated benefits,Apex Legendsplayers have noted that some of the legendary gear can carry a hefty price tag. For example, a typical legendary character skin costs 1,800 Apex Coins, which translates to $18. Naturally, during an AMA event on theApex LegendssubReddit, one player took the opportunity to ask Respawn’s Director of Communications, Ryan Rigney.
Rigney turned to the studios monetization director for answers, who revealed that Respawn makes an effort to decouple gameplay and cosmetics so the game doesn’t feel pay to win. As for pricing, its something the studio takes into consideration constantly, though withApex Legendsbeing free to play and content creation costs being fairly expensive going through multiple departments, the business needs to remain healthy. Part of the way the studio can work around these costs is throughevent rewards and the free Battle Pass track, which provides a different way to unlock items for those who can’t or don’t want to pay the typical cost.
It’s certainly a fine line and there are thoughts on both sides. Some believe lowering the prices will push more people to buy them, while others believe there’s no way to tell for sure that doing so would be financially viable. One player mentioned that they place more stock in the overall value of the bundles on offer and that for them, spending $60-$70 a year on the game is fine considering they get hundred of hours out of it.
While the debate regarding prices will likely rage on, the AMA sessions have seemingly proved to be fruitful.Apex Legendsfans have gotten tons of new information about the game including plenty of development insights like whyRespawn isn’t planning on creating small Arenas maps, what some of the team thinks of the current character meta, as well as some wishlist items like adding a penalty system for those who leave an Arenas match early.
Apex Legendsis available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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