Apex Legends faces critical season 18 as Twitch viewership drops drastically

Season 18 of Apex Legends could be one of its most important to date, as the battle royale’s declining Twitch viewership suggests waning interest in the game.

A social media post today from Apex Legends News included a screenshot from Twitch stat tracker Sully Gnome showing that the game’s 39,000 average viewers in June was its lowest since October 2020.

While esports competitions like ALGS are sure to give the game a boost to its July viewership figures, the continued downward trend of viewership for the game indicates that many of gaming’s most popular influencers aren’t spending as much, or any, time playing the game for their audience. And even the game’s most devoted streamers seem to be experiencing some lows, as well.

With season 18 set to start following the conclusion of Season 17 on Aug. 8, EA and Respawn will be under pressure to produce some exceptional content that can turn some heads and revive some of the intrigue in Apex.

Related: No new legend in season 18, Apex leaker says—but there’s still a ‘new’ character to learn

Respawn hasn’t yet released much information regarding content for the upcoming season, with only promises that some tweaks to ranked are coming. However, in the past two seasons Apex Legends has only received one new legend, one new weapon, and one big map update. As we head into season 18 next month, one can hope that a fresh face to the game’s roster, in conjunction with an interesting piece of artillery and a map update, could help pique some curiosity that will drag streamers back into the fray.

That ranked update will also be vital considering just how stale some of the game’s biggest streamers have considered the mode this season. The ranked changes in season 17 resulted in a hugely bloated Master tier, with players hiding from fights for big placement points, resulting in boring and uncompetitive ranked lobbies.

With season 16 being the first in the game’s history to not include a new legend, and weapon additions being fewer and farther between in the past year, it looks like it might be time for EA and Respawn to once again put their foot on the gas to make season 18 one worth coming back to Apex Legends for.