Respawn Apologises to Apex Legends Players for Poor Communication
Following the recent launch of the Iron Crown Collection Event, Respawn has published an update responding to backlash from players. Specifically, the studio stood accused of breaking a promise about their approach to monetisation. As a result, the update reveals that changes will soon be made to the Iron Crown. It also contains an apology to fans for the studio’s poor communication. Indeed, leading up to this latest Apex Legends event, the studio offered almost no concrete information about what it was, or even what it would include.
Communication Problems Concerning the Latest Apex Legends Event
Respawn’s Drew McCoy penned the new Apex Legends update. In the statement, he began with an apology for the studio’s decision to make Apex Packs the only way to attain new skins in the Iron Crown event. (A decision which breaks a monetisation promise once made by the studio.) He went on to detail how Respawn will be changing the way the Iron Crown event works as a result. You can read more about that here.
Following that, McCoy went on to apologise to fans for the studio’s poor communication of late; “We need to be better at letting our players know what to expect from the various event structures in Apex Legends,” he writes; “[…] one of the take-aways from this week (beyond what was mentioned above) is that our messaging for expectations needs to be clearer”. He went on to state that the structure of Iron Crown would be different than future planned events. He also reiterated that the studio have learned a great deal from the backlash over this latest Apex Legends event; “We’re learning more each day on what works, what doesn’t, and how to provide the best possible experiences and content to all of you.”
Hopefully, this statement is earnest, and Respawn does learn from this error. Of course, poor communication is certainly not an uncommon problem among studios. However, the monetisation issues in the Iron Crown event are more serious. After all, violating a previous pledge in this manner does great damage to the trust that players have in the studio. (And, of course, their plans for the game’s future. In this case, the studio has at least taken swift action to correct their mistake.