"our goal has not been to squeeze every last dime out of our players" and "The amount of people who spend is crazy low, most of ya'll are freeloaders"

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Respawn Reverses Apex Legends Loot Box After Controversy

Apex Iron Crown Collection event hit live servers earlier this week, introducing nine new medieval themed legend skins and the battle royale’s long-awaited solo mode. The event turned sour, however, after fans noticed the only way to obtain the event cosmetics was to open Iron Crown Apex packs (loot-boxes)

The Apex Legends Iron Crown Collection Event, running until August 27, is “bigger, much more expensive, and more complicated” than we expected, and that hasn’t gone over particularly well with some parts of the community. Following considerable and prolonged backlash from fans, Respawn Entertainment has addressed and responded to the criticism of Apex Legends’ recent Iron Crown event. Further, it’s making changes. More specifically, Respawn notes this has been a learning experience for it, and in the meanwhile, it’s changing how legendary skins in the event can be earned, making the current implementation less punishing.

In short, the Iron Crown event offered several new cosmetics that could only be obtained through Apex Packs purchased with real money. You could obtain a couple packs through play, but to get the full collection and a special heirloom axe that’s only purchasable if you earned all the other items first you would have to spend over $160.

McCoy said:

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. “With the Iron Crown event we missed the mark when we broke our promise by making Apex Packs the only way to get what many consider to be the coolest skins we’ve released,” “Our goal has not been to squeeze every last dime out of our players, and we have structured the game so that all players benefit from those who choose to spend money–events like Legendary Hunt or Iron Crown exist so that we can continue to invest in creating more free content for all players,”

On Friday afternoon, Respawn’s Drew McCoy published a post on the official Apex Legends site & Reddit, detailing changes that would be made to the availability of the Iron Crown cosmetics. The gist is that the cosmetics will no longer require loot boxes (though they remain an option if players choose). Instead, individual items can be purchased for 1,800 Apex Coins (about $18 in real-world money).

The cosmetics will roll out for purchase over the course of several days. The schedule can be found here:

The statement continues:

“This week has been a huge learning experience for us and we’re taking the lessons forward to continue bringing the best possible experience to all of you.” “We need to be better at letting our players know what to expect from the various event structures in Apex Legends,”

The main draw of the Iron Crown event is the new limited-time Solos mode, which lets players compete just like the regular game while attempting to be the last single player standing. Apex Legends has been a team-based battle royale since launch, and Solos has been a heavily requested feature from the community. But like all Solos modes in traditional team-based games, some people have found to be forming alliances outside of the game and teaming up for a competitive advantage.

Apex Legends is available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC