EA and Respawn Entertainment’s PR department should be pretty busy over the coming weeks. Free-to-play battle royale title Apex Legends has been under fire for hosting an event with ridiculously high-priced in-game items, but its reputation has gone from bad to worse after its project lead decided to let loose on reddit.
Drew McCoy (dk05) didn’t hold back on his thoughts, addressing gamers who criticized the recent microtransaction changes as “dicks,” “ass-hats,” and “freeloaders.” Community Manager Jay Frechette (Jayfresh_Respawn) also joined in on the rant, accusing players of poor reading comprehension and how his team didn’t deserve the personal attacks and being called liars.
While their responses weren’t exactly professional, they may have a point. Gamers can be a pretty entitled, toxic bunch.
The Iron Crown event drew masses of criticism across social media and within the subreddit with users ridiculing Respawn and Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, for “over-monetising” and “prioritising money” by exploiting players with overpriced in-game items. An in-game item for the event, the Heirloom Axe, costs over £130 in microtransactions according to Metro.