Apex Legends criticized for selling nearly identical weapon skins
The Apex Legends store has always drawn criticism in the past, and it’s once again under fire from fans over very two similar-looking weapon skins, both for sale at a premium.
Apex Legends isn’t alone in the battle royale market with its in-game store as Fortnite makes a killing with its daily updated shop. As free-to-play games, they rely solely on in-game revenue.
However, Respawn’s store has been criticized for its high prices, with ‘legendary’ items costing the equivalent of $18, and occasionally underwhelming skins, although they have definitely improved in this area.
The Apex Legends store has been a constant source of criticism.One frequrent addition to the shop are skin ‘recolors’, which take an already existing skin and give it a new colorway. While not problemetic on their own, fans have pointed out that some of the colors are very similar.
Reddit user bricious posted a meme that shows how similar ‘The Life Saver’ and ‘Rescue Effort’ skins for the Kraber sniper are – practically just the same design on the weapon with very slight color tweaks.
The picture showing just minor differences leaves no real reason to get the next one, which is only available by dropping 1,800 coins on The Life Saver.
For the Rescue Effort skin, players will first have to buy ‘The Snowpiercer’ for 1,800 coins, and then use 6,500 Legend tokens, which is the free in-game currency.
Some users have suggested that the recolorings could be determined by some sort of random algorithm, rather than a human artistic choice.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Apex Legends has come under fire for the pricing of their weapon skins, with the most famous criticism being during the Iron Crown event. Respawn later admitted that they had “missed the mark” with the pricing and MTX system.
During the Fight or Fright Halloween event, EA decided to throw players a bone by offering a “free” Lifeline heirloom, but things aren’t quite what they seem as you’ll need to collect all of the event cosmetics first and fans are not happy about this either.
For all the things Apex Legends gets right, it’s clear there’s still work that needs to be done in the shop. Luckily, the gameplay is top-notch and players are still able to enjoy the game without spending a dime.