Respawn confirms fix for ALGS server crashes—but at high price to viewers

The Apex Legends Global Series features the best players and teams from around the world, competing to earn a spot at the international LAN competitions and carving their name into Apex history. But the ALGS has fallen under scrutiny after recent server crashes affected players and viewers alike.

The official Apex esports Twitter posted an update on the situation today, confirming that the team has pinpointed the issues causing the game crashes and is already implementing fixes. But to confirm the results, the multiview stream experience will be disabled for the upcoming week, with no set date on when the feature will return.

When broadcasting ALGS matches on Twitch, viewers have the option of viewing through the Command Center, a feature that allows up to four different perspectives of the current match. All 20 teams broadcast their own perspectives and voice comms, alongside the official stream, map, and scoreboard as additional viewing options.

Now, spectators will only be able to watch the official stream perspective, unable to tune directly into their favorite teams. With how many fights break out in Apex, there is not enough time to spectate every battle, and for die-hard fans, their team’s results and POV can be left completely out of the broadcast due to the new limitation.

The past weeks of the ALGS documented the server problems in NA and EMEA, with matches featuring error messages popping up and individual team streams becoming completely unavailable to watch from the Command Center feature on Twitch. With players disconnecting from the lobbies without any control, ALGS referees made the decision to dismiss the results of the incomplete games, giving every squad a second chance with a completely new game.

Split Two of the ALGS is already halfway through for half of the major regions, and if the problems continue to persist, the match day results and overall standings can heavily change due to outside influences—a situation that has already been called out by many pros directly affected by the lobby remakes.

Season 16 of Apex Legends has been the most popular season of all time, but the influx of new players has increased the number of server crashes and bugs found in each individual match. Audio glitches, visual indicators missing, legend abilities not working as intended, and cheats have plagued the ranked experience for the casual and competitive communities alike.

Despite the many problems plaguing Apex, Respawn has been active in fixing these issues in a timely manner. Past issues in season 16, such as incorrectly demoting players’ competitive rank and the gun hacks from cheaters, have already been addressed and fixed, with no further problems sighted after each patch. Fans can rest easy knowing that it will only be a matter of time until the full viewing experience can be enjoyed once again.

The ALGS continues tonight with APAC-S at 11pm CT on the LongshotGG YouTube channel, followed by NA and EMEA on March 26, featured on the official PlayApex Twitch and YouTube channels.