A new Apex Legends and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth crossover event launched January 9th — a first for EA’s free-to-download battle royale — and it’s been a big source of criticism from players due to the high price of its microtransactions.
Respawn recently launch a new collaboration with Square Enix as part of the run-up to the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The event brings with it a new category of cosmetics, and it has the potential to cost players hundreds of dollars.
Previously, each Event Pack cost 700 Apex Coins, or around seven dollars. In this event, the price for one event pack is 1,000 Apex Coins, or about $10. With that change alone, this is the most expensive event to date for Apex Legends, with Milestone Rewards like the event’s Death Box skin costing as much as $290.
~1% chance to pull the sword out of $10 packs and a $360 DEATH BOX. 😂
— primehgss *insert something quirky* (@hgssprime) January 6, 2024
Great crossover, but not worth $295 for all the stuff .
— Benzrkx (@Benzrkx) January 9, 2024
What’s more, the pricing isn’t as straightforward as it was in previous events. When players load up the Seasonal Event tab, they’re greeted with a free event box and a new Milestone Reward track that shows the “free” reward for that tier. The two most controversial items are the brand-new Death Box skin and the Heirloom Buster Sword R5 cosmetics, the expensive items guaranteed at the end of the Milestone Rewards.
There are two options for purchasing packs: individual and bundled. When players look at the options before hitting the first milestone, the packs cost a discounted 100 Apex Coins individually, or 1,600 for the four. However, this pricing changes the more packs you purchase.
I discovered this after attempting to see how many Apex Coins the full 36 items would cost with that initial discounted price. I saw that after my first four pack bundle purchase, the pricing jumped from 100 Apex Coins to 500, pushing it to 2,400 Apex Coins. The pricing slowly crept upward, and I wasn’t even halfway through the Milestones when the pack prices were back to 1,000 Apex Coins.
I found myself with 21 items left to unlock before getting the final controversial Death Box skin for “free.” I would have had to spend an additional 21,000 Apex Coins ($210) on top of the previous 8,000 ($80) I already spent in order to obtain it. In total, with all deals applied, the 36 items — 35 not counting the free pack on login — would have cost me 29,000 Apex Coins, or $290 USD.
So it’s less than $360, but not by a large margin. On top of that, the Apex Coins cannot be bought at a 1:1 ratio. In order to get 29,000 Coins to purchase all the items, you have to go to the Apex Coins bundles and buy from the available amounts. The fluctuating prices depending on how many packs you’ve bought isn’t addressed or stated in the event messaging.
While it’s theoretically possible to obtain these items for free, it’s not easy. Players were shocked at the probability chances of the Buster Sword being unlocked through purchasing Event Packs, which is less than one percent. For players not wanting to spend more money, the chances are near impossible to win before unlocking all event items.
Respawn has been criticized by players before for not including more free rewards that can be earned from just playing the game and limited-time modes. In the current free rewards shop for this crossover event, you can earn up to three free event packs, which saves you around 3,000 Apex Coins if you’re trying to get all the cosmetics. However, it hardly makes a dent against the 36 total that you have to buy.
In previous collection events, players were able to at least go to the event shop and buy the specific Legend Skins, but Apex Legends’ new crossover event only allows players to purchase the character skins for 2,150 Apex Coins ($21.50), with no additional Event or Apex Packs.
In short, this is the most expensive event Apex Legends has ever put on, and fans are not happy about it.
IGN has reached out to Respawn and EA for comment.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, Modern Warfare 3, Warzone, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
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