The hack, which injected cheating software into the gameplay of prominent players such as DarkZero’s Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose and TSM’s Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen, raised questions about the security of Apex Legends and its anti-cheat measures.

Following a period of silence from both Respawn and EA, Respawn has now released a statement reassuring players that steps have been taken to bolster security.

They deployed initial updates aimed at fortifying the game’s defences and ensuring a secure gaming experience, with further measures promised in the future.

This announcement comes as a relief to many players who had expressed apprehension and even uninstalled the game in response to the breach.

The incident also prompted speculation about the vulnerability of Easy Anti-Cheat, the software used by Apex Legends to prevent hacking.

However, Easy Anti-Cheat conducted its investigation and confirmed that no Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability existed within its system.

This suggests that the vulnerability lies within Apex Legends itself, potentially stemming from its modified version of the Source Engine.

Despite these reassurances, questions linger regarding the extent of the breach and its implications for the wider gaming community.

An update from the @PlayApex team: pic.twitter.com/fuwKYmHFVP

— Respawn (@Respawn) March 20, 2024

Respawn’s statement only vaguely references “a few” professional player accounts being hacked, leaving open the possibility that more players were affected.

Additionally, concerns persist about whether the breach originated from the game itself or through targeted actions against individual players’ devices.

In the midst of addressing these security concerns, Respawn also faces other challenges, including recent layoffs as part of EA’s company-wide restructuring.

As they navigate these challenges, players can expect ongoing updates and improvements aimed at maintaining the integrity and enjoyment of their gaming experience.

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The video game company also disclosed that it would reduce its office space and some projects in order to focus on “strategic priorities.” The firm, which has released popular games like The Sims, EA Sports FIFA 23, Madden NFL, and Apex Legends, did not point out what titles, in particular, would be cut down.

EA’s recent large-scale dismissal comes after its financial statements revealed a $1.3 billion gross profit in the most recent fiscal quarter. The company also laid off over 200 QA testers earlier this month who were part of Apex Legends’ team.

EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned the numerous achievements of the company in the memo, citing EA SPORTS FIFA 23’s massive success as well as other titles like Apex Legends and The Sims.

Wilson also said that with the company’s rapid growth underway, it was important for EA to focus on strategic priorities in order to align their investments with opportunities that could potentially create the most significant impact.

These priorities include “building games and experiences that entertain massive online communities; creating blockbuster interactive storytelling; and amplifying the power of community in and around our games with social and creator tools.”

“As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams. These decisions are expected to impact approximately six percent of our company’s workforce,” Wilson continued.

He referred to the layoffs as the difficult part of the process and one thing they intended to handle with care and respect.

A filing with the SEC revealed that EA intended to cover impairment charges of between $170 million to $200 million. Out of this sum, intellectual property impairment will take up between $65 million to $70 million, employee severance and related costs will amount to $55 million to $65 million, and office space reductions will cost between $45 million to $55 million. In comparison, charges like contract cancellations will cost $5 million to $10 million.

Wilson did not state what departments would be affected but revealed that, where possible, the company would allow employees to transition to other projects. In cases where this is not achievable, they will be given severance pay in addition to health care and career transition service.

The staff was informed of the possible layoffs at the start of the quarter, and EA expects the restructuring plan to be “substantially complete” towards the end of September.

Besides EA, several tech companies have made considerable moves to downsize due to the market reversal and economic downturn of 2022. This year alone, over 500 firms in the tech industry have let go of more than 155,000 workers.

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The Chinese-owned organisation signed the roster of Endeavour – an EMEA team that competed in the 2021 EMEA Split One Championship, where they finished in sixth place.

After disappointing results at the Apex Legends Global Series 2022 Split 2 Playoffs, 2022 Championship and 2023 Split 1 Playoffs, IG have made the decision to pull out of the Apex Legends professional scene.

IG have since released their roster of Cameron “noiises” Walker, Jake “Jmw” Walters, Martin “Graceful” Wongphrom and substitute Brrynn “brynn” Corbet.

We have carefully considered our position and sustainability in the Apex Legends space and have come to the difficult conclusion to step away from the title. pic.twitter.com/DultEfJSyS

— Invictus Gaming (@invgaming) February 20, 2023

With North American organisations such as Team Liquid, G2 Esports, Cloud9 and Spacestation Gaming also choosing to leave the Apex Legends competitive scene, there seems to be a worrying trend appearing.

Team Liquid were the first of the North American-owned esports organisation to pull the pin, with CEO Steve Arhancet taking aim at the ALGS and its organisers stating that Liquid “strives to only participate in games where the developers support the teams, so the teams can support their players in turn”.

The latest NA outfit to leave the competitive scene is Spacestation Gaming, with CEO Shawn “Unit” Pellerin saying that “without a fair rev share partnership to help with sustainability, it’s hard to justify continuing to invest”.

We are going to miss Apex Legends and watching our team compete, it really is one of the most entertaining esports.

Unfortunately, how the esports market is currently, without a fair rev share partnership to help with sustainability.. it’s hard to justify continuing to invest.

— Unit (@Unit_Shawn) February 13, 2023

Going into the EMEA Split 2, some 10 of the 30 teams that will participate are unsigned rosters.

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This occurrence is quite unusual for the Apex Legends community and the esports community at large. It is typical that players receive all their prize money almost immediately after tournaments. However, this particular matter of concern has sprung up for about four to five-month

This delay of payment caught public interest after the Australian player from Moist Esports, Ben “Wxltzy” Walton, revealed that he was going to compete at the Split One Playoffs LAN event, without being paid his previous winnings in July 2022 at the ALGS Championship LAN.

Esports commentator and co-owner of Full Squad Gaming, Jake Lucky, confirmed on December 28 that the players have finally been paid their winnings, which is suspected to be a result of the spiralling public attention it was garnering.

Yesterday Apex Pro Wxltzy complained about not being paid from the teams last LAN ($18,000 owed by EA/PGL)

Happy to say with the help of some public attention that the lads have been paid within 24 hours of posting

— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) December 28, 2022

Reports also suggested that most of the players who were paid first and shortly after the public outcry were the players who had made the complaint to co-event organisers PGL, and those who had taken to their social media pages to disclose the situation.

The Danish in-game leader, Casper “Gnaske” Prstensgaard, from European esports outfit Pioneer, said on Twitter: “Finally got my prize money from the championship. Only took 5 1/2 months Fuck you @pglesports for making me spend hours solving this shit and the endless disrespect I received from your staff.”

“Only when I provided the legal actions I was gonna pursue did you do shit.”

Gnaske said that regardless of finally being paid, they still ran at a loss, as the value of the money has declined from all the months wasted without payment.

“During this time the currency conversation rate dropped heavily which lead me to lose around 2850 USD…”

Reports revealed prior to the Apex Legend event early this year, all participating players were asked to sign a “Prize Winner Declaration and Release” which stated payments of the winnings will be done three months after.

However, with how things later unfolded, it took more than just three months before the players were rewarded for their winnings.

Following this controversy, other players, coaches, and Apex Legends teams such as DarkZero and Cloud9 have also reported not being paid winnings in a much earlier event, the Split Two playoffs, which were in May 2022 in Sweden.

Gnaske urged players who are still affected to make a public outcry and make sure to constantly send them an email in this regard.

“Spam email them, it’s worked for everyone who’s been paid so far,” he said.

Currently, neither of the game organizers, EA nor PGL, have made any public statements reporting what the reason was for the delayed payment and why some other players from an earlier event are still yet to be paid.

This silence, however, has driven speculation that the organisers had no intention of paying and may only be doing so now because it was made public.

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The most prestigious professional tournament for Apex Legends esports will feature a prize pool of $5 million (￡4.32 million), three international LAN tournaments and several modifications to the competitive setting from the previous year’s season of play.

The forthcoming ALGS will feature competition on two different levels: the ALGS Pro League, which is reserved for fully-fledged professional Apex Legends teams, and the Challenger Circuit, which is reserved for semi-professional clubs.

In addition, there will be a total of three LAN contests held during the event. The first live arena competition of the year, the Split 1 Playoffs, will take place in the early months of 2023 and it will be preceded by the Split 2 Playoffs in the spring of that same year.

The Year 3 Championship, which will be the most significant Apex Legends LAN event of the year, is slated to take place in the summer of 2023.

There is currently no information available regarding the locations of these LAN events.

Even though the basic structure of the ALGS will continue to be two Pro League divisions, followed by playoffs, the format of the circuit is going to undergo some revisions in the near future.

The number of teams in the Pro League in each region has been capped at 30 to guarantee the highest level of play. In the second year of competition, each region featured 40 different teams.

The 30 teams that will compete will be selected as follows: 22 teams will be invited directly, and the remaining eight teams will be chosen based on their performance in a preparatory preseason qualifier.

The teams that have been invited to compete in this year’s event were also disclosed. In the Pro League, renowned esports teams from all over the globe will compete against one another.

Some of these teams include Fnatic, Team Singularity, Detonator, Natus Vincere, 100 Thieves, TSM, Team Liquid, G2 and Alliance.

As a component of the environmental variability meant to foster greater engagement amongst both players and viewers, there are going to be Regional Finals on the final day of every regular season Pro League split.

The top 20 squads out of each region’s Pro League will compete in these games, which will be played in the match point structure that Apex esports aficionados are already used to from major events such as the ALGS Championship.

The winner of the final battle will have their spot locked down for the LAN.

In addition to that, the Challenger Circuit, which is the second-tier tournament, has been modernised. The schedule of the events will determine whether the champions of each Challenger Circuit game will secure an automatic berth to the Split Two Pro League or to the Last Chance Qualifier.

The ALGS has been steadily gaining a significant amount of interest ever since its first season, which began in the year 2020. Esports Charts reports that more than 630,000 viewers watched the conclusion of the ALGS Year 2 competition in June of last year.

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According to the unconfirmed reports, Amazon made a bid for the gaming company earlier on and planned on announcing its offer to acquire EA not long after. The gaming company was reportedly exploring options to help them along with Ubisoft, and the rumored deal with Amazon could provide the extra hands the game publisher needs.

If the offer is confirmed, Amazon will automatically have a significant spot in the esports industry as a result of acquiring the company that developed popular esports titles like Battlefield, Apex Legends, Madden NFL, FIFA and several other titles. EA notably owns several big studios like DICE, Respawn Entertainment, and BioWare. The company also has a distribution platform online called Origin.

The news led to the mobile gaming company’s hike in stock price, which was reduced when contradictory comments from CNBC sources revealed that there was no acquisition in the works between the two companies.

The information, via a CNBC reporter, claimed insiders disclosed that there were no plans to acquire EA by Amazon. He said, “I have talked to some people who would actually know if there’s something going on, and they say there’s nothing going on.”

The new information could be in a bid to stop the previously bloated stock price of EA in order for the company’s bidders not to be placed at risk. Only time will reveal if the deal actually falls through. However, if it’s successful, both parties will benefit from it.

While the company has remained financially stable in recent years, EA has not had the best of times due to harsh criticism directed at many of the developer’s franchises by dissatisfied fans. If the Amazon acquisition happens, the multinational company will gain the rights to EA’s notable franchises.

As a result of the number of films and television shows based on video games, the multinational company will be able to coordinate the EA titles with its future plans for its streaming platform, Prime Video. EA will also benefit from the sizable influx of cash generated by the acquisition and gain several solid networks due to the technology company’s leverage in the industry.

Several takeovers and acquisitions occurred this year in the gaming sector, starting with the proposed $68.7 billion acquisition by Microsoft of Activision Blizzard. Not long after, PlayStation announced that they had acquired Bungie and Embracer Group, notably buying out several IPs and video game companies. Take-Two and Zynga also reported a $12.7 billion merger.

Prior to the rumors of the Amazon-EA acquisition, the CEO of Acquisition Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, revealed that the company was contemplating a merger with the Apex Legends developer, which would have made the duo a sizable entity. The news was made before Microsoft made moves to acquire Activision Blizzard.

EA also reportedly held talks with companies like Apple, Disney, and Comcast-NBC Universal concerning a possible sale. The news claimed that insiders revealed that the gaming company had made several moves to secure a sale and had “only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft–Activision deal.”

It continued: “Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow [CEO Andrew] Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”

Andrew Wilson, the CEO of EA, was reportedly asked about the possibility of the company being acquired by another entity during a quarterly earnings call with EA’s investors and shareholders.

The CEO claimed that the company was in a great position at the moment and he was “very confident and excited” about the company’s future. He, however, did not rule out the possibility of outside offers to acquire the company.

Wilson concluded his speech with, “Our objective always and my objective as CEO of this company is always to take care of our people, our players, and our shareholders. And should there ever be a way for us to do that differently than the way we’re doing it today, I, of course, have to be open to that. But I would tell you today; we feel very, very confident and excited for our future.”

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In celebration of Pride month for the LGBTQ+ community, the Electronic Arts company used their official twitter account to advocate for the fair treatment of people in this community, adding that they are entitled to enjoy human rights.

“As a company, we are united that Trans Rights are Human Rights. Women’s Rights are Human Rights. Our support is unwavering for our people, our players, and our LGBTQ+ communities.”

A link to a blog post explaining the company’s opinions on Pride Month and efforts to help the LGBTQ+ community was also included in the tweet. The announcement followed an internal meeting on May 24, during which Electronic Arts reportedly stated that the company would not take a public stance on these topics unless the narrative had a “consistent perspective.”

EA’s decision to not make any comment earlier this week led to a controversy. Employees threatened to walk out because the corporation refused to take a public stand in support of trans rights and the right to abortion.

The plot was revealed in a post sent to EA’s corporate Slack group, in which employees expressed their dissatisfaction with the company’s opaque plans to promote LGBTQ+ causes in June.

Over the same message, staff threatened a walkout if the company did not take adequate steps to support the blog post about impending Pride celebrations.

“If we see the company rainbow-wash their logo without making any substantive statement in support of trans people being abused nationwide in the US and elsewhere, especially after stating that the company doesn’t want to make any statement not supported by the diverse viewpoints of our 13,000 employees, we collectively walk out on Friday, June 3rd,” the message read.

“Just slapping a rainbow on our logo in June without any broader action will be unacceptable.”

Most people believed the corporation needed to make a clear announcement in regards to anti-abortion and anti-trans laws sprouting up across the United States, even though the company replied with an internal email outlining its aims and expectations for employees during Pride month.

EA’s subsidiaries show support for the LGBTQ+ community EA’s early silence was not followed by all personnel. Vince Zampella, the Head of Respawn Entertainment, issued a tweet advocating for trans rights and applauding the company’s progress in this regard.

“Trans rights are human rights. It is as simple as that. Respawn has grown on the principles of diversity, equality, and inclusion and strives to uphold those values. Let’s be better humans.”

The same day, Vice President of Franchise Creative for the Sims at Maxis, Lyndsay Pearson, tweeted a similar message.

“Women’s rights are human rights. Transgender rights are human rights. Maxis and @TheSims value diversity, equality and inclusion in our core and we strive to bring this to life through our teams and our work. We see you and we stand with you.”

The following day, Resprawn Entertainment took to their official Twitter handle to tweet in this concern.

“At Respawn, we strive to be inclusive in the games we create and how we treat our employees and our players. Inaction is a choice and hurts those we care for.” Also, a photo of some of Apex’s LGBTQ+ characters were displayed, along with the remark “Trans rights are human rights.”

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As a game which put thousands of players head-to-head, it soon became clear that there were big differences in players’ relative skill levels within the game. A simple solution to that would be the implementation of a ranking system, but such an upgrade was nowhere to be seen – until now.

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On the EA website, the team responsible for developing the new Ranked Leagues mode took the time to explain how the feature will work and what it will bring to the Apex Legends player base.

As with any ranked mode, the Apex Legends Ranked Leagues feature will group players in six different tiers – Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Apex Predator – depending on their skill and game knowledge.

In the announcement, it was revealed the ranking system will start off with a score-based approach, with a better system to be implemented after a short testing period. This also means Apex Legends ranked mode will see several soft-resets to the scoring system until the right ranking format is found.

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While the ranked mode is nothing new to a multiplayer game, Apex Legends has decided to approach it with a unique outlook. The previously mentioned scoring system will determine the rank of players according to their Ranked Points (RP). Each player will ‘wager’ their RP to play in a match and, depending on their performance, will walk away from the match either empty-handed or with more RP.

RP cost per match
Bronze matches: free
Silver matches: 1RP
Gold matches: 2RP
Platinum matches: 3RP
Diamond matches: 4RP
Apex Predator matches: 5RP

RP rewards
Kill: 1RP (up to max 5RP)
Top 10 finish: 2RP
Top 5 finish: 4RP
Top 3 finish: 7RP
Winner: 12RP

This means a player can potentially win a maximum of 17RP per game minus the cost of the entry fee.

Talking about ladder movements, the Apex Legends team revealed that every player will start off in Bronze and work their way up. At the launch of the ranked mode, players will not be able to get demoted (e.g. if a player reaches the Gold rank, they cannot then fall back into Silver). Nonetheless, demotions between divisions will still be implemented, meaning a Gold I player can fall into Gold II, for instance.

As expected, Ranked Leagues will also reward players for their time and effort. Every player will receive a Series 1 badge at the end of the series, with more rewards to be added in the near future.

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Since ruling EA’s controversial practice illegal months ago, developers like Blizzard, Valve and Take-Two had removed loot boxes from their games, but Electronic Arts has not budged.

Big titles including; Star Wars Battlefront 2, FIFA 18, Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were all found to be in violation of the country’s gambling legislation.

Perks collected in loot boxes are almost always random and players don’t know what they’re buying. The Belgian government considers them a game of chance and therefore subject to gambling laws.

Following the company’s refusal to heed to the commission’s ruling, Belgium’s public prosecution office has begun its own investigation.

Given the controversy with loot boxes around the globe and arguments that they are creating a gambling pathway for underage customers, this could be a landmark case — one in which Electronic Arts may in fact welcome for final clarification.

During a conference call with share holders in May of this year, Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Wilson, stood firm on the company’s position — that loot boxes in FIFA are not a form of gambling.

“Firstly, because players always receive a specified number of items in each pack, and secondly we don’t provide or authorize any way to cash out or sell items or virtual currency for real money,” Wilson said.

“We’re working with all the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories, [and] have established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling,” Wilson said at the time.

Loot boxes continue to make headlines throughout the gaming world.

The biggest market in the world, the United States, has a number of state legislators and even the US Senate investigating the issue, while the UK and New Zealand have given the practice the tick of approval.

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman broke the news over the weekend at the 2018 NHL All-Star press conference, confirming they will unveil an official e-League later this year.

The NHL’s e-League will feature professional-level competition for NHL 18, developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports, one of the largest gaming companies in the world. NHL 18 is the latest entry in an annual franchise which is considered the premier hockey video game in the world.

The series is under official license from the NHL to use the league’s colors, player names and likenesses, stadiums, and team names in the game, so it is the most appropriate game for the NHL to use for its esports foray.

Further details, including whether the NHL have an official partnership with EA to launch their new esports league, are presently unknown.

However, Bettman did confirm more news will come before the end of the regular season “when [they are] ready to launch.”

The news of NHL’s esports initiative, while surprising, has been hinted at in past meetings and buyouts for at least two years now.

Canadian sports journalist Elliotte Friedman confirmed in his 31 Thoughts column that the NHL discussed moving into esports at the Board of Governors meeting in December 2016.

“Ignore this at your peril, and the NHL isn’t. No one from the league will comment at this time, but it looks like the plan is to start small — then morph into something much bigger,” Friedman wrote of the NHL’s plans.

One NHL franchise, the Philadelphia Flyers, currently own an Overwatch League esports team called the Philadelphia Fusion and the Colorado Avalanche also have an unspecified stake in another OWL team.

The NHL joins the NBA and NFL as the latest North American sporting organization to enter the booming esports market, predicted to become a $2.3 billion industry by 2022.

The NFL have secured lucrative deals with both Disney and EPSN to broadcast the Madden NFL 18 Championship Series, another annual video game franchise developed by EA Sports with official NFL backing.

Meanwhile, the NBA has its own partnership with Take-Two Interactive, the publishers of the world’s most popular annual NBA series, NBA 2K, to launch the NBA 2K league in May. 17 of the NBA’s 30 teams have pledged their support for the inaugural esports season.

How will NHL 18 translate an esports league?

NHL 18 is one of EA Sports’ most underrated annual sporting game franchises in terms of quality and online popularity.

The multiplayer component of the game has a large portion of hockey fans who buy the game every year for the 6-on-6 team modes, which can easily be organized to play with or against friends and random opponents, and the netcode is significantly better than many other modern-day sporting games at the moment.

The game itself is solid, but it is up to the NHL to structure it right and make watching competitive virtual hockey just as thrilling as watching it live.

The ideal scenario for its long-term success would be to have the majority of the 31 teams support the e-League from the get-go, but we’ve also seen the NBA 2K League’s smaller amount of sponsors work out just fine for its inaugural season.

The NHL aren’t too far behind their basketball and football counterparts in diving into the esports industry at just the right time and we can definitely see its e-League attract a more mainstream audience to the overarching esports scene.

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