For most Battle Royales these days, the key seems to be going free to play. Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Apex Legends manage to attract players by allowing them to play the game without having to spend money, relying on gameplay mechanics to keep them coming back for more. In order to make money, the games utilize a heavy microtransaction system through purchasable skins, cosmetics, and a Battle Pass.

Epic has really embraced this concepts and has continued to push massive crossover events with other brands like DC, Marvel, Star Wars, and others. The inclusion of iconic skins has helped make Fortnite have a much broader appeal, and has led its competition to attempt to replicate that success. Call of Duty: Warzone just announced a Rambo and Die Hard crossover, with likely more 80s action stars on the way. While Apex Legends doesn't have anything quite like that, the game is constantly adding new cosmetic items for players to check out, though not everyone seems to be too happy with the prices.

RELATED: Respawn Reveals Cut Bomb Mode for Apex Legends Arenas

While cosmetics in these battle royale games are purely optional and offer no gameplay associated benefits, Apex Legends players have noted that some of the legendary gear can carry a hefty price tag. For example, a typical legendary character skin costs 1,800 Apex Coins, which translates to $18. Naturally, during an AMA event on the Apex Legends subReddit, one player took the opportunity to ask Respawn's Director of Communications, Ryan Rigney.

Rigney turned to the studios monetization director for answers, who revealed that Respawn makes an effort to decouple gameplay and cosmetics so the game doesn't feel pay to win. As for pricing, its something the studio takes into consideration constantly, though with Apex Legends being free to play and content creation costs being fairly expensive going through multiple departments, the business needs to remain healthy. Part of the way the studio can work around these costs is through event rewards and the free Battle Pass track, which provides a different way to unlock items for those who can't or don't want to pay the typical cost.

It's certainly a fine line and there are thoughts on both sides. Some believe lowering the prices will push more people to buy them, while others believe there's no way to tell for sure that doing so would be financially viable. One player mentioned that they place more stock in the overall value of the bundles on offer and that for them, spending $60-$70 a year on the game is fine considering they get hundred of hours out of it.

While the debate regarding prices will likely rage on, the AMA sessions have seemingly proved to be fruitful. Apex Legends fans have gotten tons of new information about the game including plenty of development insights like why Respawn isn't planning on creating small Arenas maps, what some of the team thinks of the current character meta, as well as some wishlist items like adding a penalty system for those who leave an Arenas match early.

Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

MORE: Apex Legends' Arenas Could Use a Few Improvements, But It's a Good Step in the Right Direction

Source: Reddit