Respawn doubles Apex Legends' battle pass price in systemic overhaul

Change is coming to Apex Legends once again. But instead of tweaking characters or providing new modes, Respawn is shifting how the battle royale's battle pass works in the game's larger ecosystem.

Beginning with the upcoming Season 22, the three-month passes can only be purchased with real-world money. Players could use in-game AC currency to buy said passes, but that process will be phased out.

Further complicating matters is that each Season will be split into two battle passes. The first Premium pass will cost $10 per half season, while the Premium+ pass (which offers extra in-game rewards) will be $20.

So unless players stick with the free track, they may pay $20 or $40 for a full season. Per Respawn, the change was done to make things "more approachable and realistic for our global player community."

To show what the change to its season passes will look like, Respawn posted a graphic below showing old and future rewards for the Free, Premium, and Premium+ tracks. Under the half-season change, players seem to get more rewards for buying both passes than the original "one per season" format.

Graphic explaining Apex Legends' revamped battle pass rewards.

Developers are changing their season passes, but to what end?

Last year, 2K took a similar two-track season pass approach with NBA 2K24. Like with Apex, that game's Pro and Hall of Fame passes were respectively $10 and $20, though it offered Pro players a chance to trade up if they forked over another $10.

Before that, Bungie bumped up the price of Destiny 2's season passes from $10 to $12. This new change from Apex may further signal a larger shift to come in how season passes are priced and in-game seasons become structured.