Apex Legends developers explain why they removed Extended Energy Mags

Respawn Entertainment, developers of Apex Legends, made a number of balancing changes in the Grand Soirée Arcade Event update. But, one change in particular may surprise frequent players, so the devs have provided an explanation.

This change was of course, the removal of extended energy magazines — which bumped up the ammo count of guns like the Devotion, Havoc and Triple Take.

By default, these weapons only have 36, 24 and 5 rounds in their magazine, respectively. The extended energy mags were added to the game mid-way through 2019 to give these weapons somewhat of a buff.

But, in a surprise move, Respawn removed the attachment in the Grand Soirée Arcade update, and adjusted the base mag size of the Devotion and Havoc. Their base magazines have been increased to offset the removal of extended mags, to 44 and 32 respectively.

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In the patch notes, Respawn acknowledged that it may seem odd to remove them, but that it would make more sense “with the release of Season 4.”

They also explain that they “made a mistake and shipped a change that wasn’t intended to go live until Season 4.”

Volt SMG coming in Season 4?

Of course, this immediately sparked speculation among fans on Reddit about what this means for Season 4. The most obvious answer is a new energy-based weapon.

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The Volt SMG has previously been leaked by data miners, so that is one potential option. However, why Respawn have removed extended energy mags in anticipation for this gun remains unclear.

So far, the R-99 SMG has reigned supreme in Apex Legends. Possibly, Respawn are aiming to shake this meta up with the Volt,but if it’s already very powerful with no attachments, extended mags might push it over the edge into being ‘overpowered’.

It must be noted that this is far from confirmed. Currently, we know almost nothing about what will be included in Season 4.

Leakers previously suggested the new Legend would be Rosie or Revenant, but a new model for ‘Forge’ was found in the post-update game files. We know that there will be at least one new character added to the already diverse roster, alongside one new weapon… but exactly what they will be is unknown.