Some players in Apex Legends felt cheated because of the high cost of cosmetic items. Now developers are asking for $18 for one “legend”, which, according to users, is too much. Respawn representatives tried to explain their pricing policy and said that creating “cosmetics” is not cheap.During a series of questions and answers with the developers of Apex Legends on Reddit, one of the users clarified: “Given the growth of the game, can we expect a move towards more accessible content?
People want to buy these items, but now their cost is difficult to justify.”
This was answered by the Respawn monetization specialist. According to him, pricing policy is a complex issue, which is influenced by several reasons:
- focus on gameplay. According to a Respawn representative, the studio does not want to turn Apex Legends into a pay-to-win game, and therefore developers have to introduce various “cosmetics” into it. To do this, you need to find a balance between earning money to support the project and the amount of content that players can open for free;the cost of creating content.
- It seems to players that there is nothing easier than adding cosmetic items to the game. However, given the relatively small size of the team, the cost of development is increasing. “People do not take into account the costs of creating concepts, QA, working out ideas and creating design,” the company representative said;the dependence of game support on the price of cosmetics.
- Respawn notes that the development of Apex Legends depends on the studio’s revenue. Developers need funds to create new maps, introduce new features and game modes. Without “cosmetics” all this would be impossible;the reward system.
- According to a Respawn representative, the developers know that not all players can buy such expensive items. Therefore, the studio has introduced a special reward system that allows you to receive part of the “cosmetics” for actions inside the game.Many Reddit users were dissatisfied with this response and felt that the studio simply took the discussion in the other direction.
Some players suggested reducing the cost of legendary items to $ 5, they say, in this case they would be bought by many times more people. However, one of the users noted that it makes sense to reduce the price only if the studio is fully confident in a significant increase in the number of paying players.
Apex Legends is a free—play battle royale, the number of players of which exceeded 100 million in April. It took Respawn two years to do this. In its annual financial report, Electronic Arts also noted the success of the project, calling it one of the most successful games on the market.
According to EA CFO Blake Jorgensen, Apex Legends earned $600 million in the fiscal year. The total revenue of the game for the entire time of operation exceeded $ 1 billion. In the near future, the publisher plans to launch a mobile version of the project.