The Holo-Day Bash event is back in Apex Legends for 2020, running through the whole of December, and has brought back the fan-favorite LTM, Winter Express. Although players are loving the mode, there has also been some controversy over the cosmetic bundles added to the store.
As with each new event in Apex Legends, a handful of both new and returning cosmetics are back, available to purchase as bundles in the in-game store.
Although there are new skins for Legends like Loba and Revenant, and some incredible new weapon skins, there is some disagreement with how the bundles have been put together.
Certain weapon skins are clearly aligned with specific Legend skins, and were shown off together in the Holo-Day Bash trailer. But, these weapon and Legend skins have conspicuously been split up – appearing to force players into buying two bundles if they want the matching skins.
This was first highlighted on Twitter and Reddit, with posts going viral about the seemingly deliberate move to mix up the weapon and Legend skins.
For example, if a player wants to have both Loba’s Legendary skin and match it with the legendary Spitfire skin in the same style, they will need to buy two bundles – while the Crypto skin matches with the P2020 skin in Loba’s bundle.
“I was willing to pay the 25 bucks for the Loba skin WITH her gun. I’m not gonna break my wallet trying to buy both,” one player commented on Reddit. Other players called the bundles “anti-consumer.”
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“It’s bullsh*t for people who bought the collection event last year, too,” another player said. “The new weapon skins are paired with old legend skins, and new legend skins are paired with old weapon skins.”
If anyone’s confused, those weapon skins are clearly matched with Legend skins, but are conveniently in different bundles.
Holo-Day Bash event is great, but we feel this is wrong.
The trailer even showed off the Legends with their matching weapon skins: pic.twitter.com/9UDoa3WQu5
— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) December 1, 2020
Season 7 has already had a couple of other monetization-related issues in Apex Legends. The most notable was due to a change to the battle pass system, which made it harder to level up at the same rate as past Seasons. Players accused the developers of doing this to encourage more people to buy levels.
Then, there was another issue after the price of the Legendary Hunt skin bundle was increased from 6,000 Apex coins to 7,300 without warning. However, Respawn later clarified that this was a mistake, and would refund the difference to anyone who had paid the higher price.
It’s unlikely the arrangement of these bundles are a mistake however, or will be changed. But, feedback from players may make the developers consider their bundle arrangements more carefully for future events.