Sorry if you’ve heard this before: Apex Legends is in a bit of trouble. The game’s player count has settled at a worryingly low number compared to previous seasons and years.
That much is increasingly evident on sites like Steam Charts, which show just how far Apex has fallen in 2024—from a peak of around 470,000 players on Steam at the beginning of the year until now, in which Steam Charts reports a 24-hour player peak of just 116,817 concurrent players. That’s about a 75-percent drop in one year, an almost unheard of number for a game that’s been as steady as Apex. Those numbers don’t take into account players on EA’s own launcher or console, but it’s a grim picture regardless. And most concerning, there’s not just one reason for this player drop.
First and foremost, there’s the content on offer. While Apex enjoyed an extended surge of popularity and players early in the year and in the spring when the devs introduced the new Evo upgrade system and also a brief uptick when a new map, E-District, came to the game, the offerings over the last several month have been lackluster, to say the least. There are plenty of cool skins to buy, but other than that, the latest season has been a story of recycled content: LTMs coming back to the game like the Winter Express and Final Fantasy‘s Materia Hop-ups, a Lifeline rework, the ability to dual-wield a couple of weapons that have existed in the game for years. A bunch of these are cool features, but they can’t match the excitement of elements that are truly new in the game.
Truly big new additions? One new character and one new map. While a new battle royale map is a massive undertaking that takes multiple years to complete, Apex players used to get a new legend every season. They used to get a new weapon every season, too; the closest we got to it in 2024 was wildly overpowered akimbo Mozambiques.
Then, there are the cheaters. Cheating and hacking has always been a bit of an ebb and flow in Apex, but the issue seems to have built over the last several months, culminating in last week’s debacle surrounding ImperialHal and other pros who had their accounts hacked and used to sow chaos on the ranked ladder.
The list goes on. The pro scene that often gives momentum to the playerbase has been on an interminable hiatus while waiting for the ALGS Championship. Ranked has grown beyond stale. Metas frequently overstay their welcome. It’s a bad time for Apex.
Does that mean the game is dead or dying? No, not at all. Because if you look at those same Steam Charts, you’ll see the game is actually in a very similar place to where it was in 2020. There has been a fairly steady decline in players over the last year or two, yes. But this is a place the game has been before—and it’s a place it can climb from again.
Importantly, going over 100,000 concurrent players on a daily basis is a situation most games dream of being in. Yes, it stings to see when you consider Apex‘s height, but it’s also not an unsalvageable situation. Content cycles can be revamped, game modes can be improved, and people can come back to this game. Situations like this one have happened before in this very game and it emerged better than ever. And as unlikely as it may seem, I truly believe Respawn Entertainment can do it once again.
Season 24 of Apex is due to start on Feb. 11 in a little over two weeks time. If Respawn wants to resurrect the game’s player count, it’s going to be a vital one to get right.
