SotW (8/13-8/19) The Meltdown of Respawn and Sony Boosting It's Arsenal

So we are BACK for a brand new SotW baby! YEEEEEAH! It's only been like five months, right? So I thought about shooting a video for the channel, but figured that this is where this belongs for now, and I needed to talk about the absolute meltdown on the Apex Legends Subreddit the last few days.

So for those that do not know, Apex Legends is a game that came out at the end of January to critical acclaim by outlets AND fans and has seen some really high highs (50 million unique people) and some really low lows (This new "Crown" event). I've enjoyed my time for the most part with Apex, and while it still has a few issues, when playing with friends, it's THE best Battle Royale on the market, hands down. It's free to play, and the combat is very much like Titan Fall 2's, just with abilities instead of wall running. It's a blast and a game I would like to see succeed for some time still.

However, this last week wound up giving the game and the studio a black eye that they won't be able to shake for a little while. Now I'm not one to openly attack developers. Will I get mad at studios? Sure. Will I get mad at Publishers? Absolutely. But I don't ever attack devs individually. It's disgusting and dehumanizing. You shouldn't do it to anyone in ANY industry. Whether it's your server, your plumber, or a retail worker, it's never okay to yell at them, shout profanities at them, or issue death threats people. I don't know why I have to say this in 2019.

So why am I saying this? Well last week, Apex released an event called the "Iron Crown" to people to try and get some cool, unique cosmetics in the middle of Season 2. It's not a bad idea, but the execution was WAY off. While most groups that are F2P (Or otherwise known as Free To Play), have learned that if they sell Skins or Skins/VA Lines and other items like in League, people are willing to shell out to help keep work happening with the game. Apex hasn't learned this lesson. As to the why? It's hard to tell if they really live in their own bubble, or if EA really has it's fingers in it all, but Apex utilizes loot boxes. Hisses and boos from the crowd, I know. Loot boxes are a ban on gaming, not just Apex, and for some reason, Apex both sells individual skins (For $18 none the less, sweet Jesus) as well as loot boxes. This has been a problem since the game came out. But over the last week with this "Iron Crown" event, it's escalated to a point where a majority of the players have openly revolted, and for good reason.

When the event first dropped, it was estimated that to get the main high end item, an ax skin for one of the characters, that it would take $170 worth of MT to be able to THEN purchase this skin. For another $30.

Yeah, you read that right. So of course, there was some backlash. Heaps of it, if we are being totally honest. Some of it justified, some of it not. Being upset and letting the devs know that "hey, this isn't okay" to me isn't above and beyond, but the death threats? Come on guys, we NEED to be better then this.

I don't believe in death threats. I don't believe in messaging someone JUST to hate on them. But there are people out there that will do that, because they have nothing better to do I suppose, and they are total assholes. I not only concede that point, I'll stand up for devs all day from it.

So on Friday, Apex made a message telling people they were trying to reel it in a bit, and that they would try and do better later, which sounded like every EA response that has ever been made. They changed up a few things, but the event still had some rather expensive tastes, still costing the player a substantial about of money to get EVERY item. So players were still a bit salty over it, and some of it once again, being totally justified. It wasn't a good look. However, instead of taking the high road, apparently the Project Lead Drew McCoy, had had enough, and started to lash out a bit at people who were being a bit hostile on Reddit.

A lot of the comments weren't received all too well, who would have guessed? Calling people "asshats" and "dicks" doesn't usually end up going down too well. Also calling gamers "freeloaders" isn't really a good look either.

People took it heart, and some have already made memes over it on the Subreddit. I get that it was probably in jest. When you look at JUST the comment, without the context it's not quite as bad. But it comes off totally jaded and tone deaf to the real problems at hand with the context. Now these comments are the one s that a lot of people are focusing on. However, Drew did say some other things I felt were heartfelt and genuine that should be pointed out too. At some points even admitted they messed up, and that wasn't their intention.

Like I said, I get that Drew, as well as many others, are probably tired of getting slammed around for something, and so on Friday, he finally had enough. We are all human, I get it. However, like many others have said, you still have to be a bit professional. I'm all about reeling in the "amount of professionlism" as I get it, now more then ever, people bash on others WAY more thanks to the power of the internet. But that doesn't mean play their game. Because even if you were just targeting those assholes, everyone sees it differently, and a lot of the community takes those lumps and says "oh yeah?" It's why you can't always lash out against the assholes, because a lot of them don't have anything to lose, and everything to gain if they get you to come out swinging.

But Drew wasn't alone in all of this.

Sadly the Community Manager Jay Frechettte did the one thing he wasn't suppose to do, he stoked the flames.

I get that he was trying to come to the aid of his Project Lead, but dude, come on. I spend hours everyday trying to combat stereotypes and false info that people either think or say about devs. But this isn't helping me or anyone who usually does. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we need each other, and I'm tired of both sides lashing out. I need one of you to figure it all out before I lose my mind.

However, Vince Zampella, head honcho at Respawn came out today to both defend his staff, which I do commend, and also talk about how they need to not stoke the flames. I hope as a whole, they take a real hard look at their monetization. Many F2P games have figured it out. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it with a loot box. So with that, I'll leave this on his post today on Twitter.

Finally, we have a small story, with big implications with Insomniac Games being bought up by Sony. The studio recently had a lot of great success with Spiderman on PS4. Having sold over 13 million copies of Spiderman as of the end of July. Well today, Sony wanted to make sure they keep that success going, and while I'm super happy for the studio as a whole, I'm a little sad we won't ever see another Sunset Overdrive.

Sony hasn't released any financial information yet, but when they do, you know I'll try to tell you about it. I don't know what Insomniac's plans are going forward, but I wonder if Sony wants to snag them up for a Spiderman sequel everyone wants, or if it's a new IP they are looking at going into the next generation of consoles? Only time will tell, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see what's going on next year at E3 or Gamescom.

So that's it from me, I wanted the SotW to mainly focus on the Respawn thing, and to get back into it. I can't promise there will be one of these EVERY week, but I want to start doing them again a little more often. Until then, I'll see you guys next time.