Re: EA confirms Apex is dying

The difference is we're getting less & less actual content each season. Less map updates, less legend changes, more recolour events. By dying I don't mean it's dead, I mean it is on life support just barely holding on. OG Devs left & with it apparently meaningful changes. I have played less & less each season because they keep making it less & less enjoyable. 

I've spent the less time playing Apex in S16 & S17 than any other season & haven't played ranked since S10 so I don't believe the lower player count (record lows according to several Youtubers) is the fault of the *-up over ranked changes per se.In my reducing Apex playtime I pretty much junked playing BR mode about 3 seasons ago because of the terrible matchmaking (& I speak as a solo queuer),rampant cheating & the numerous bugs/performance issues & stuck to playing Arenas & LTM modes.Even this season when I've dabbled in BR just when I think my gaming experience in this mode cannot get any worse it does & then some & if anything things have gotten worse. If I'm honest the without Arenas,LTMs & Mixtape I think that Apex could be in a bit of trouble.Content is key with most multiplayers & it took Apex devs a while to realise that the game isn't going to solely survive on just BR mode alone.

Even if I go days without playing Apex I always like listening to the rumour-mill & various news stories of what's happening to the game going forward & the general consensus I get is that I'm not really happy with what's happening with the game at present & going forward.Brand new maps in the game was always a slow process (annually) & according to reports it's going to get even slower & instead just more tinkering around the edges of existing maps (just blow up Broken Moon & start again).No new weapons since like forever & instead of new character in the game every season/other season just re-workings of existing characters just isn't going to expand the player-base or even keep existing players entertained for long.

So that's why they allowed for practically anyone to hit masters - player retention - makes sense.

They're just trying to inflate player count, whilst most people are enjoying the game less. 

Have you got a source for that? 

@BallisticMVPI am sure somewhere stats may show it being lower. We went from an average 400k masters most seasons to nearly what 1.6m now? This indicates more players. Even if you go by current masters there is 1.6 million master ranks. This is 1.6 million players while some may be alts as well this is still a very very large number of players.

That 1.6m is for 1 single rank. Imagine rookie, gold, plat, diamond, pred. This 1.6m figure is greatly increased once adding those in.

So I will not say the game is dying despite what stat some company thinks they have correct. When pure numbers are there to be seen. Not everyone uses steam.

Then lets add in big games dropping Diablo 4 being a recent one where a ton of all gaming populations shifted over to until they was bored with it or still remain there. All game releases pull players from their typical normal games. 

I will help clear the confusion behind if the game is "dying" Seeing Rookie rank indicates all these players did get past their placement matches. This is not counting non ranked playing players. 

Rookie 4 = 160,821

Rookie 3 = 197,974

Rookie 2 = 199,953

Rookie 1  = 201, 839

----------------------------------

Bronze 4 = 167,030

Bronze 3 = 218,430

Bronze 2 =  221,929

Bronze 1 = 205,907

----------------------------------

Silver 4 = 160,213

Silver 3 = 197,377

Silver 2 = 137,067

Silver 1 = 133,621

----------------------------------

Gold 4 = 115,722

Gold 3 = 146,053

Gold 2 = 144,176

Gold 1 = 118,689

---------------------------------

Plat 4 = 141,126

Plat 3 = 135,440

Plat 2 = 116,377

Plat 1 = 88,901

--------------------------------

Diamond 4 = 168,222

Diamond 3 = 113,448

Diamond 2 = 85,172

Diamond 1 = 59,677

--------------------------------

Masters = 1.6m 

Pred = 2250 

All these added up equals a whopping 6,191,645 players who participated in just ranked this season. 

@BallisticMVPWell this is a indicator in just ranked of how many did not leave like some assume.

Wish I had a way of seeing how many pure pub players can be added to that nearly 6.2m which im sure is a very large number as well. 

@BallisticMVPFore sure def would be hard to figure out. We can only go by trackers for ranked. So without knowing full details and we are left with only ranked numbers it would be virtually impossible to know how many left or stayed. It would all be assumptions with no data left behind to show for it in the publics eyes.

So when you say 30% has left there is no true way of knowing this. Steam does give some numbers but this would not account for some who swap to ea app and such. I am just more so meaning when ranked shows 6.1m players this is not a dead game nor a dying game the season ranked alone there are plenty of players. I do not honestly care how accurate steam is. When numbers do not lie across the board.

---

@E9ine_AC wrote:

@BallisticMVPFore sure def would be hard to figure out. We can only go by trackers for ranked. So without knowing full details and we are left with only ranked numbers it would be virtually impossible to know how many left or stayed. It would all be assumptions with no data left behind to show for it in the publics eyes.

So when you say 30% has left there is no true way of knowing this. Steam does give some numbers but this would not account for some who swap to ea app and such. I am just more so meaning when ranked shows 6.1m players this is not a dead game nor a dying game the season ranked alone there are plenty of players. I do not honestly care how accurate steam is. When numbers do not lie across the board.

---

The numbers you cite are for accounts, not players. Unless you mean that each person playing Apex only has one account, which I'm fairly sure is highly doubtful.

Steam numbers likewise are for accounts. They're not indicative of the total player count, either, but they do provide helpful information for trends.

I think revenue and, more importantly, actions on the part of the developer, are a good indication of how relevant player habits have been. The game is bleeding players and losing revenue. I'm guessing we'll get another survey next week, lol.

As for the reasons for the loss in players, it's anyone's guess, truly. Not even Respawn knows the real reason for it. Some people could leave because ranked changes don't make them feel satisfying. Or the drop could simply be ranked players that don't feel inclined to level multiple alts anymore. Perhaps people (like me) are irritated by the devs' virtual endorsement of exploits such as tap strafing. Maybe the fact that Respawn keeps increasing recoil for weapons without addressing anti-recoil macros is off-putting. Perhaps the huge switch of players to controllers with AA abusing Steam configs makes the game unappealing to PC players who don't want to play on controller.

There is also the focus on cosmetic "content" that may irk many players.

Not to mention larger gaming industry changes following the COVID pandemic. It's the sad nature of late-stage capitalism that all good things must be destroyed in favor of increasing revenue.

Personally, the controller/AA/SteamConfigs issue is what did it for me. I'm not interested in being fodder for the level 15 Wraith smurf with perfect aim and neo strafing (not to mention cheaters), and not even the most incredible cosmetics are enticing enough to endure the unfairness factor anymore. I'm not a "join 'em" player, so the only option is to find a different game.

It's almost like they inflated player count by making Masters a participation trophy that anyone with enough time & hatred for themselves could get.