Apex Legends player count soars, #NoApexAugust boycott flops

Some Apex Legends players tried to organize a #NoApexAugust boycott to get the developers’ attention. However, player counts have only increased since.

Apex Legends Season 14 is right around the corner, and hype for the game has been reignited within Apex’s massive player base. However, some longtime fans of Apex Legends have attempted to start a #NoApexAugust boycott campaign to get Respawn’s attention.

The point of this campaign is to convince Respawn that spending more time on polishing their game is important, and that working through some of the bugs in Apex Legends is just as important as releasing new content.

For people wondering how is #NoApexAugust going, here are some statistics on Steam peak population, the only platform with public player data:

A week ago: 336,273
Today: 343,481

I'm not siding with anyone here, just giving some numbers 🫡

— Apex (Legends) Status 🦇 (@_ApexStatus) August 2, 2022

Since the start of August, Apex Legends’ player count on Steam has only risen.

Granted, 7000 or so additional players isn’t a huge increase when compared to the over 330,000 concurrent players at peak hours, but it means the #NoApexCampaign isn’t going great.

We only have access to Steam charts here, but, considering that Steam is such a prolific platform for PC gaming, this increase in player count holds a lot of weight.

It’s also important to consider that the new content for Season 14 hasn’t even been added yet. Sweeping, game-changing buffs and nerfs are coming soon, along with a new Legend, Vantage, and a new and improved Skull Town. The player count is only going to go up with the new season’s introduction.

Why should we be boycotting Apex Legends?

Respawn Entertainment

While it may seem strange for avid fans of Apex Legends to boycott the game with the #NoApexAugust trend, what they’re asking for isn’t exactly unprecedented.

For example, Rainbow 6 Siege’s “Operation Health” paused the addition of new content to the game in favor of putting as much development time as possible into fixing long-standing bugs. Despite Rainbow 6 being light on new content for a while, Ubisoft’s focus on the long-term gameplay experience was well regarded by the Siege community.

Those who have rallied behind the #NoApexAugust movement are asking for the Apex Legends version of Operation Health. It’s hard to argue against Apex having its fair share of glitches, too like the levitating Seer ultimate.

The failure of the #NoApexAugust boycott doesn’t mean that these bugs will never get fixed. However, it does show that most of the playerbase doesn’t care enough about these issues to stop playing.