The developer of Apex Legends excuses for the exchange of insults with members of the community

A war of words broke out this weekend between Respawn Entertainment and some Apex Legends players participating in the game's sub game, following the decision to cancel some controversial microtransactions at the Apex Iron Crown event Legends. Respawn's general manager, Vince Zampella, apologizes to fans who have been offended during the exchange. on his own Twitter Account. "I apologize to all our fans who have been offended."

Respawn announced last Friday that it was going to change the way players can acquire legendary skins from the ongoing Iron Crown event in Apex Legends. Fans were unhappy that legendary skins only seemed to be accessible by buying randomized loot boxes and Respawn agreed.

The announcement of the revisions to the Apex Legends Iron Crown rewards system was made on the R / ApexLegends subreddit, and Respawn developers and community leaders were on the subreddit to answer questions from the players.

Things started to get out of hand when developers started responding to hate messages and comments in their own words. "I've been in the industry long enough to remember that the players were not complete with the developers, and it was pretty cool. At the time, I created many lasting relationships, "writes Drew McCoy, Apex Legends project manager, in response to a vitriolic commentary.

The developers' response has angered some members of the Apex Legends community. Subsequently, the subreddit began to receive threads from customers who said they would leave Apex Legends for good as a result of the weekend's exchanges. "Ass-hat" has also become something of a meme in the community.

Although other members of the community sympathized with Respawn's developer position and admitted that other members of the community may have gone too far, the situation was still tense in the Apex Legends community.

The full Zampella statement can be read below:

"On Friday, we informed Apex fans about how we changed the Iron Crown event. Part of the team then joined a discussion with our community about Reddit, and things went wrong. Some of our members have crossed a line with their comments, and this is not how we want Respawn to be represented.

I apologize to all our fans who have been offended. I will always be at the side of the team here at Respawn and I will help them denounce some of the toxic and unpleasant comments addressed to them, death threats to comments directed at their families and loved ones. But we should not contribute when we make comments and add what we want to prevent.

We must give the example. Last week, we did not do that and we will be better. Having a healthy and open relationship with our community is extremely important for all of us in Respawn. "

This is not the first time that an online verbal confrontation between a developer and the community of a game has consequences. In 2018, ArenaNet, developer of Guild Wars 2, fired two developers who had engaged in a fight exchange on Twitter with a Guild Wars 2 YouTuber.

We contacted EA for clarification on Zampella's statement, including whether any action had been taken against the developers involved in the online interactions this weekend.

Matt Kim is a journalist for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.