Are Apex Legends skins overpriced?
In the past couple of months, we’ve seen a plethora of new cosmetics be introduced to Apex Legends. With both the System Override and Old Ways lore event, Respawn has designed many skins and other items like weapon charms. While new content is always appreciated, some players have criticized the developers for overpricing the new cosmetics. On top of this, there’s no real way to earn Apex Legends skins besides paying real money. How does this practice relate to other popular titles?
Looking at Apex Legends cosmetics more in-depth
In any event, there are usually around 20-24 event-specific Apex Legends cosmetics that can only be earned by paying real money. Of course, you can’t buy the skin specifically, you have to buy Apex Coins then buy the skin you want.
Unless you have some Coins saved up, each skin will cost you $20, or 2,000 Apex Coins, since you can’t buy anything for less than 1,200 Apex Coins. This pricing model has been widely criticized since this is the only way to obtain the skins in the event. Of course, this can be countered with the fact that Apex Legends is a free-to-play title. You don’t need to buy the skins in order to succeed at the game, which can’t be said for other games.
Speaking of other titles, let’s take a look at another free-to-play game with microtransactions. Call of Duty: Warzone released last month to rave reviews thanks to its innovation of the battle royale genre. Like Apex Legends, Warzone also features microtransactions that can only be purchased for real money. However, one big difference with Warzone is the price-per-item compared to Apex Legends cosmetics.
Click to enlargeThe above screenshot is courtesy of Reddit user OriginalFreud. The image compares what you can buy in Apex Legends and Warzone for roughly $20. As you can see, one ten-item bundle in Warzone costs around the same as one of the Legendary Apex Legends skins. Of course, many of the items in the Nikto Bundle aren’t too special. Though, the bundle still rewards you with an Operator skin, two weapons, and a few other in-game cosmetics.
To compare, Apex Legends is only offering one Wraith skin. While you can get lucky and earn the skin from an Apex Pack for free, it still doesn’t seem fair that Warzone is offering so much more for the same price. To go along with this, Warzone also offers other bundles that can be purchased for a very similar price but doesn’t diminish in quality. Take this week’s “Cleanup Crew” Bundle for instance.
Click to enlargeFor 400 COD Points less than the Nikto Bundle, you’re only receiving one less item. This is also right around the same price as the Legendary Wraith skin in Apex Legends, which just goes to show how overpriced it actually is.
Though, if we want to look at another free-to-play title, we’ll see more of the same. Let’s take Fortnite for example; there are a multitude of bundles in Epic Games’ battle royale that offer multiple cosmetics for only around $10-15. In addition to that, Fortnite offers skins that only cost $10 and look outstanding.
Click to enlargeIt’s clear that Apex Legends contains some of the priciest skins in the free-to-play market. Perhaps Respawn will consider changing the price points on some of Apex Legends cosmetics but it doesn’t seem likely at this point.
Images via Respawn Entertainment, Activision, and Epic Games
