Apex Legends Battle Royale has been attracting a lot of attention from players all over the world for several years now. However, over the past couple of years the audience has been gradually declining, and some players are thinking about the future fate of the project. Some even predict the death of the game in the next year or two.
The game reached its peak in February 2023, when there were more than 620 thousand users online on Steam. And taking into account console players, this figure could be closer to a million. Since then, the game has gradually begun to lose players, and by the end of 2024, the game is struggling to exceed the 150 thousand peak online players. There are no figures from the console versions, but there are suspicions that a similar trend can be seen there too.
At the same time, the number of streamers and viewers on Twitch is decreasing. The decline is not so rapid, but interest in the game is falling.
On the one hand, the loss of interest in the game is associated with a simple reason such as “played enough and got tired of it.” But on the other hand, players blame the developer and publisher:
- Lack of content and long response time to emerging problems. Changes for problematic characters may not be released for a couple of months. As for maps or modes, the community no longer believes in anything new and interesting.
- The developers do not understand for what audience they are making the game. One update is aimed at casual players, and with the next update they try to attract hardcore players, thereby scaring away casual players.
- Not the best matchmaking system. If you have been playing for several months and achieved high results, then if there is a break of several days, the system will consider that you have lost all your skills and will throw you into a match with newcomers. And it’s not even clear who will suffer more from this: a beginner, who may simply mistake you for a cheater and delete the game, or you, who will not find any challenge or pleasure in such a victory.
- Prohibiting users from creating any content related to the game. Users can only play the game. If you want to organize a tournament or any event related to the game, then permission from the publisher is required. And it’s not a fact that Electronic Arts will respond in principle, but it can threaten legal action quite quickly. This is against the backdrop of Fortnite, where players can get paid for having a lot of people play their mode.
Most likely, the online decline will continue into 2025, and the current situation is related to the small team that is working on the game. The player revolt that occurred in July 2024 clearly showed the developer and publisher that it would not be possible to increase monetization. And without financial profit there will be no development of the game.
