Respawn Entertainment has announced that the upcoming Season 22 of Apex Legends will feature significant changes to the free-to-play shooter’s Battle Pass “experience”, with two Battle Passes being released per season instead of one and then charging full price for each.
Starting in Season 22, Apex Legends will abandon its current season-long Battle Pass in favor of two half-season Battle Passes — one launching at the start of the season and the other at its mid-point “split” — each with 60 tiers of rewards compared to the previous version’s 110.
Despite the reduction in the number of progression tiers, each new half-season Premium Battle Pass costs roughly the same as the old season-long version. Previously, a Premium Battle Pass cost 950 Apex Coins (a 1000-coin bundle costs $9.99 USD), and Respawn’s new half-season Battle Passes cost $9.99 each. A new Premium+ tier (replacing the existing Premium bundle) is $19.99 every half-season, and a free tier remains available.
Additionally, the overhauled Battle Pass will no longer be available to purchase using Apex Coins (previously, coins earned in one Battle Pass could be spent on the next) and will only be available by spending real money. [premium currency] This is not a task we take lightly,” Response wrote in its article. Post announcement“But it allows us to lower the price of Premium+ for our community.”
It also stressed that changes to the Battle Pass were necessary to make the system “more accessible and realistic for our global player community”, and that “the updated aspects… make the Battle Pass more attainable and valuable for your time and money”.
Respawn’s “value” argument specifically relates to the rewards “refresh” being done across all three tiers of its Battle Pass. These adjustments include removing less-used rewards, now giving away twice as many crafting materials per season, three more Legendary/Epic Apex Packs per Battle Pass, as well as additional rewards for the Premium+ tier, according to the infographic below. Respawn claims these changes will “double Battle Pass rewards throughout the season.”
Not surprisingly, the community’s response to Respawn’s Battle Pass changes hasn’t been positive, with comments aplenty. Apex Legends Subreddit They called the move everything from “a very poor decision” and “a very shameful money-grabbing move” to “the worst thing I’ve ever seen”. Announcement on Twitter/X At the time of writing, it has over 2.9K reactions, and the general sentiment is overwhelmingly negative.
Will the community outcry be enough to convince Respawn and publisher EA to reverse the decision? Time will tell, but for now, Respawn is hoping to get players into the new system by giving away the first half of Apex Legends’ season’s Battle Pass for free when it launches with Season 22 later this year – but it will only be free for players who log in and complete a set of challenges within the first two weeks of its release.
Apex Legends’ 21st season, Upheaval, began in May and will conclude in August.
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