SOUTH-AFRICA (SA) servers when..?!?

Subject: Formal Complaint – South African Apex Legends Players Deserve Proper Server Support

Dear EA/Respawn Team,

I am writing to formally raise my frustration regarding the continued lack of dedicated South African servers for Apex Legends.

South African players have been playing Apex Legends for years while being forced to connect to servers outside our region, particularly European data centres. The result is consistently high latency that directly affects competitive gameplay.

This is not simply an inconvenience. In a fast-paced competitive shooter like Apex Legends, high ping can affect hit registration, damage registration, movement, interactions, peeking, and the timing of gunfights. Players can fire first, see their shots connect, and still experience inconsistent registration because the connection has to travel thousands of kilometres to reach the server.

It is incredibly frustrating to invest time into a competitive game while knowing that your connection can put you at a disadvantage before the match has even properly begun.

South African players are being left behind

What makes this situation even more frustrating is that South Africa already has substantial gaming infrastructure and a large gaming community. Major online games and services already operate within the country.

So the question is simple:

Why has Apex Legends still not received proper South African server support?

If the argument is that there are not enough South African players, then EA/Respawn should provide transparency regarding how that conclusion was reached.

Has the South African Apex player base actually been measured?

Has EA/Respawn analysed how many South African players are currently playing on European servers?

Has the company investigated whether local servers could actually improve matchmaking and player retention in the region?

South African players should not simply be told that there are "not enough players" without any meaningful explanation or evidence.

High-ping matchmaking is not an acceptable long-term solution

South African players are effectively forced to choose between playing with high latency or dealing with matchmaking limitations.

That is not a reasonable long-term solution for a competitive multiplayer game.

Players in regions with local servers can experience significantly lower latency while South African players may be playing hundreds of milliseconds behind them. That difference can directly affect close-range fights, tracking, reaction windows and hit registration.

We should not have to accept that as the normal Apex Legends experience simply because we live in South Africa.

We want answers, not silence

I am asking EA/Respawn to provide clear answers to the following:

1. Has EA/Respawn officially evaluated the size of the South African Apex Legends player base?
2. Has EA/Respawn investigated establishing an Apex Legends data centre in South Africa?
3. Has the company conducted any technical or financial feasibility assessment for South African servers?
4. If South African servers have been rejected, what specifically prevented them from being introduced?
5. Are South African servers currently being considered as part of Apex Legends' future server infrastructure?
6. What would need to happen for South Africa to become a supported server region?

South African players have supported Apex Legends despite having to deal with poor regional connectivity for years. We continue to play, purchase content, participate in the community and support the game.

The least we deserve in return is transparency and serious consideration.

I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for a fair opportunity to play the game on infrastructure appropriate for our region.

South Africa is not some tiny gaming market that should simply be ignored. There is a real Apex Legends community here, and those players deserve to know whether EA/Respawn intends to support them properly.

Please stop treating South African connectivity as an afterthought and give the South African Apex community a clear answer about the future of local servers.

We want to play Apex Legends competitively without being forced to fight the server as well as the enemy.

Regards,
A frustrated South African Apex Legends player