Apex Legends Player Count Hits All-Time Low
Apex Legends has dropped to its lowest average player count in a month for the first time since 2021 as the player base plummets to around 94,000. Despite Respawn’s continuous addition of new content, players are no longer satisfied with the game’s current status, and many have mixed feelings about it. While each player has their own reason for leaving Apex Legends, it all boils down to a few things.
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Why Players are Leaving Apex Legends
Despite its status as one of the premier battle royale games, many players share the same sentiments and reasons for leaving the game. Here’s the core basis of why Apex Legends has been underperforming:
Game became too Grindy
EA has made many changes to the battlepass and challenges, making them longer for players to complete. On top of that, devs recently updated the weekly challenges you can complete, dropping from five to four. Many players have also complained that the dailies now feel like a chore more than anything else. For many, Apex Legends is a game they want to enjoy casually, so they might not have that much time in their lives to grind through all the daily hours of chores just to get to the meat of the game.
Too Much Monetization
Many players have noticed that recent events put more focus on purchasable cosmetics rather than event challenge rewards. Previously, these events would provide valid prizes like Apex Packs and rare skins. Unfortunately, most of those rewards have now been stripped from the challenges, and instead, more emphasis is placed on skins and other cosmetics you can buy during the time-limited events. The blatant cash grabs being promoted by the game have put off a lot of players, which contributed to the sudden drop in player base.
Unbalanced Matchmaking
Apex Legends used to cater to both hardcore and casual players alike, but the unresolved, unbalanced matchmaking has seen a drop in interest for the latter. Casual gamers who barely play competitive matches will often get queued up with high-elo players, making the experience less enjoyable. Many people have remarked that they don’t find Apex Legends interesting anymore because they spend their limited free time just getting dunked on by Sweat Predators and Masters. This issue has significantly caused many casuals to leave for more relaxing and simple games.
Removal of Certain Content and Slow Updates
While Apex Legends introduced Revival mode and Quad Squad, removing the Duo queue has put off many players. Duo has been a go-to game mode for people, as they can hop on and play with their friends. Its removal caused them to queue up with random teammates with potentially unpleasing personalities, further degrading the gaming experience. On top of removing the popular Duo Mode, the slow addition of new content doesn’t help stave off player boredom. We scarcely get any new map updates or Legends every year, and some more popular changes don’t offset the much bigger unbearable features.
Persistent Rampant Cheating
The most obvious reason people leave Apex Legends is the unresolved cheating in the game. Hackers plague unrated and Competitive matches, and gamers suffer through multiple encounters. Many players have shared their experiences of encountering cheaters in back-to-back matches, which would kill their appetite to play the game. This problem has been going on for a long time, yet EA has yet to present a solid, long-lasting solution. With no resolution in sight, many players have lost faith in the game and ultimately jumped to others.
Apex Legends is Still One of the Better BR Games
Despite its massive drop in players, Apex Legends remains one of the better BR games in the genre. The game itself, while excellent, is still off-putting to players because of how it’s managed, developed, and moderated. Other titles that have tried to make a name for themselves in the genre, like Concord, failed due to their inability to introduce new things and weren’t F2P. Despite all this, Apex Legends remains a popular choice because of its F2P aspect.
