EA announces Apex Legends is getting twice as many battle passes and you can no longer earn them in-game

Apex Legends
(Image credit: EA)

EA and Respawn have announced some major changes to the Apex Legends battle pass which will see seasonal content become far more expensive to keep up with. The community response has been about as negative as you would imagine.

Starting in season 22, there will now be two battle passes every season - one for each split - and each of these passes will now be $9.99. Previously, you'd get a whole season's battle pass for 950 Apex Coins, the game's premium currency, and if you completed that pass you'd get enough AC back to get the next one without shelling out any additional cash.

The battle passes still award 1300 Apex Coins apiece, but since the new passes are only available at a price measured in real-world currency, you can no longer spend your AC to get those passes. In one sense, the price of the battle pass is doubling, since there are now twice as many per season, but for truly dedicated fans who've been earning AC to buy these things, the price is skyrocketing from a previous tag of 'free.'

The official announcement goes some distance toward trying to present this as a good thing - there are now fewer junk rewards in each pass, and one premium track battle pass purchase is a bit cheaper than before - but nobody's really willing to look past the price hike. If you'd like to read comments from players such as "actually the worst thing ever," "this game is officially dead to me," and "this is how Apex dies," you can head over to the game's subreddit, where these plans are being properly eviscerated. 

There's a footnote in the blog post that notes "this announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content." Fans are certainly hopeful that something will change, but this message is a generic one that appears in every single announcement about Apex Legends.

Check out all the best online games you can play today. 

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
Apex Legends Control
Months after ruling out an Apex Legends 2, EA CEO says "an even bigger, more meaningful" Apex 2.0 is on the table after Battlefield 6
League of Legends
As League of Legends players blast 800-hour grinds, Riot says this "wasn't meant to get harder" and "we messed up" on the whole First Blood thing too
Marvel Rivals Battle Pass
Marvel Rivals Battle Pass explained and how to claim rewards
A screenshot shows Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser absorbing red flame into his hands.
Doubling-down on League of Legends' worst PR disaster in years, developer Riot locks hotly anticipated cosmetic behind $240 gacha wall
Arcane season 2
"We screwed up on this one," Riot admits, promising League of Legends updates for Blue Essence and Account XP amid player backlash
League of Legends
League of Legends fans' fury grows as Riot nerfs another way to get free skins, this time as a reward for good behavior
Latest in Apex Legends
Apex Legends Control
Months after ruling out an Apex Legends 2, EA CEO says "an even bigger, more meaningful" Apex 2.0 is on the table after Battlefield 6
Lifeline looks into the camera with a smirk
After 5 years, Apex Legends is going back to the beginning with a Fortnite-style mode letting you experience the launch version of the battle royale FPS
Apex Legends
Apex Legends was a top 50 Steam Deck game, but EA's dropping Valve's handheld because it can't tell if those players are actually dirty cheating Linux users
Apex Legends Catalyst
72,632 'Overwhelmingly Negative' reviews later, EA walks back controversial Apex Legends battle pass changes: "You've spoken, and we've listened"
Apex Legends
EA announces Apex Legends is getting twice as many battle passes and you can no longer earn them in-game
Apex Legends
Apex Legends' new swimsuit skins have fans predictably down bad
Latest in News
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says
First-person screenshot from ASYLUM, showing the protagonist's hand holding up a notebook while walking through a dark corridor.
After 15 years and a $120,000 Kickstarter push, this cult horror dev has finally released a successor to their 2006 breakout game