Apex community up in arms about 2020 Fight or Fright skin sales

Apex Legends’ Fight or Fright collection drew backlash from a large portion of the community. Players are outraged by the event’s sales model: most exclusive cosmetics are only available through bundles in the in-game store, and only with Apex Coins.

Reception to the store bundles seems overwhelmingly negative. Players called the business model “unacceptable” and “a new low,” and one user even said that they actually missed the Halloween loot boxes from last year’s event.

“How is this fair if I, player, would like to support the game and buy some skins individually, the ones I like, but instead I have to pick one between these bundles which are expensive and have stuff I do not want?” a user commented.

Players seem primarily aggravated by a mixture of three main issues: most skins can only be bought in expensive bundles, players can only use Apex Coins and not Crafting Metals or Legend Tokens, and most cosmetics are just recolors of old visuals.

Bundles are a package deal. The offer supplies a set of cosmetics in bulk and lets players acquire all the skins cheaper than they would cost alone. Respawn, however, didn’t add an option to purchase cosmetics individually for full price.

The model forces players to shell out big bucks to get a handful of skins that they may not want. Granted, it comes at a cheaper price than buying all items individually, but it’s still considerably more expensive than buying one or two items. A disgruntled player shared his thoughts on the subject: “Here’s some valuable feedback about the bundles. Screw them.”

Crypto’s Prince of Darkness bundle contains three vampire-themed cosmetics for the hacker: the Deadly Byte skin from last year’s event, its Midnight Cipher recolor, and a banner pose. Players looking to get any skin for Crypto will have to spend 2,500 Apex Coins, instead of purchasing them individually for up to 1,800 coins.

Bloodhound mains have it even worse: to get the two skins for the Technological Tracker, they’re forced to shell out $60 to acquire the Tortured Souls bundle, with two skins for Bloodhound and another two for Crypto. “Why should I have to spend $60 on skins I won’t use that much, for the skins I do want?” a player asked.

Previous events let players spend their hard-earned Crafting Metals to unlock event-exclusive cosmetics, albeit at a higher price than normal skins. The 2020 Fight or Fright collection doesn’t give players that option. Anyone looking to buy the cosmetics is forced to spend Apex Coins — and the only way to get them is with real cash.

Buying 1,000 Apex Coins costs $9.99, but the cheapest bundle in the store, the Queens of the Night pack, costs 1,500 coins. The pricing forces players to spend at least $19.99 to get their hands on any of the new visuals. Some returning cosmetics, too, are only available in bundles, instead of individually or at a cheaper price.

The bundle model forces Loba players to purchase the Queens of the Night bundle with a Lifeline skin, even if they have never played Lifeline. The price is also considerably higher than it would be at 1,500 Apex Coins. Since the store only sells 1,000 and 2,150 coins with nothing in between, players have no choice but to shell out more of their currency to get Loba’s new visual.

The new Fight or Fright collection features a new take on cosmetics from last year’s Halloween event, with the lion’s share of items as recolors instead of completely new visuals. Only two legends got new skins: Revenant and Loba, both released after last year’s event.

The rest of the cosmetics are recolors or returning visuals from the previous iteration of Fight or Fright. Recolors and comebacks are parts of Apex‘s recent events, but they’re usually a secondary element, sidelined by the new skins. This year’s Fight or Fright, however, inverts the equation; recolors and returning cosmetics have the spotlight, while new skins are mostly out of view.

Respawn usually allows players to spend Legend Tokens to unlock cosmetics as long as they have the original skin, but developers also broke this practice in the latest event. Although event skins are more special than normal legendaries, they are generally craftable with Crafting Metals, albeit with a higher price. The same principle could apply to Legend Tokens and give players an extra incentive to purchase the original skins. The Bundle model pulls the brakes on that idea by forcing players to spend their cash on the new items.