TLDR:
- There will be two Battle Passes per season, each with 60 tiers of rewards.
- Battle Pass rewards are divided into Free, Premium, and Premium Plus.
- Players can no longer buy Battle Pass using Apex Coins. They must spend real-life money.
- The Premium version is priced at $10 for each Battle Pass now, while Premium Plus costs $20 for each.
- Exceptionally, players can receive the first Premium Battle Pass for Season 22 for free if they log in during the first two weeks of launch and complete a set of challenges.
It’s been a while since the last time we witnessed an overhaul in Apex Legends with the introduction of classes for Legends. With Season 22, you are about to experience one of those big overhauls again, but this time around, Electronic Arts is behind the steering wheel instead of Respawn, and you probably know where that could end up!
Season Pass in Apex Legends is about to host some real changes, with benefits to both Electronic Arts and those who used to get satisfied with free rewards without spending a penny. However, if you have been a heavy spender in Apex Legends, you might not like all the changes.
First and foremost, Electronic Arts breaks the Battle Pass in half, and instead of delivering one Battle Pass per season with 110 levels of rewards, it will now release two different Battle Passes per season with each featuring 60 levels. The rewards have now been upgraded and you get better rewards overall with both Battle Passes compared to what you used to achieve with the older model, however, this upgrade won’t be free.
While you could have owned the entire Battle Pass with Premium rewards for nearly $10 or 950 Apex Coins, the Premium version of Battle Pass for each split will now cost $10, which means you have to pay $20 for both Battle Passes to collect all the rewards offered in 120 levels.
Things are even worse for Premium Plus, which will now replace the older Premium Bundle Pass. This top-tier subscription now offers better rewards too, but each split will cost $20 now, which means you have to pay $40 per season to sweep everything that Electronic Arts has to offer. Previously, you could own a Premium Bundle for nearly $30.
This is not the end of it though. As of Season 22, players can no longer buy Battle Pass using Apex Coins. So, you always have to spend fresh money off your credit card. This is by far the most frustrating change in the new Battle Pass system.
Most of the dedicated players used to buy Battle Pass once for 950 Apex Coins and then collect 1300 Apex Coins from the Battle Pass rewards, which would allow them to buy the next season’s Battle Pass using the in-game currency without spending any real-life money. This is the same model that Fortnite uses as well.
The image above showcases all the reward changes with the new Battle Pass system. Electronic Arts will now offer 2,600 Apex Coins in the Premium version of the new Battle Pass, but you know that you cannot spend it on Battle Pass anymore. So, you must pay at least $20 per season from now on, if you want all the rewards.
It doesn’t require rocket science to figure out that you have to spend $80 per year on Apex Legends to own Premium rewards, and $160 per year to get all the unique items.
Now, Electronic Arts has decided to give away the first split of the Premium Battle Pass for free in Season 22, but under one condition: Only if you log in during the first two weeks of Season 22’s launch and complete a set of unannounced in-game challenges, you will be able to get the first Premium Battle Pass of the season for free.
The Apex Legends community did not like this new change at all, as expected. Not only the subreddit of the game is full of highly upvoted posts complaining about the new changes and talking of the game’s death, but also the Steam page of Apex Legends is now getting review-bombed as well.
It doesn’t seem like these complaints could change anything in the near future though, unless the new Battle Pass system brings less revenue for Electronic Arts than the older model.
