Respawn admits it "broke its promise" regarding monetization in Apex Legends

Apex Legends' developer Respawn has admitted it "missed the mark" and "broke [its] promise" in the way it has monetised Apex Legends' Iron Crown collectables.

As Austin detailed earlier this week, Apex Legends solos mode was finally released, albeit temporarily, as part of the new Iron Crown Collection Event. However, the bulk of the event leans heavily on the collection aspect, and more to the point, it often feels like it was priced with collectors in mind.

Participating in the event itself is free, but the stylish cosmetic items it introduced come with eye-watering prices. Bloodhound's Raven's Bite axe, for instance, can only be purchased once you obtain all 24 loot box-exclusive Iron Crown items, and the axe itself goes for a whopping 3,500 coins. If you wanted to get absolutely everything the Iron Crown has to offer, assuming you get your two free packs, you'd need to spend 18,900 coins, which is almost exactly $170 if you buy coins in bulk.

Now, in an open blog post (thanks, Eurogamer) to players, Respawn's Drew McCoy has acknowledged that whilst the developer had hoped to monetise the game "in a way that felt fair", it "broke [its] promise by making Apex Packs the only way to get what many consider to be the coolest skins we’ve released".

"At launch we made a promise to players that we intend to do monetization in a way that felt fair and provided choice to players on how they spent their money and time," Mc Coy said.

"A core decision during development of Apex Legends was that we wanted to make a world class battle royale game - in quality, depth, progression, and important for today’s conversation - how we sell stuff. 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."

Looking ahead, Respawn says that from August 20, 2019, the developer will be "adding and rotating all twelve of the event-exclusive Legendary items into the store" for the remainder of the event, and they'll be available for the "regular Legendary skin cost" of 1,800 Apex Coins. Iron Crown Apex Packs will also remain on sale for 700 Apex Coins.

"Our goal has not been to squeeze every last dime out of our players," McCoy concluded, "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.

"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."

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.