Apex Legends’ Final Fantasy VII Crossover Prompts Fan Outcry [Update]

Update 01/10/24 11:50 a.m. ET: Apex Legends’ crossover event with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is now live, and according to Eurogamer, the prices are lower than initially thought.

Before the event went live, fans of Respawn Entertainment’s battle royale believed event packs would cost 1000 coins (or $US10) each. However, it appears the first pack costs 100 coins (about $US1), and each subsequent pack increases in price depending on the number of items you already own. Eurogamer notes that if you have 16 to 35 items, “the cost of packs increases back to 1000 coins.”

Currently, the Apex Legends storefront shows that these event packs are “discounted” anywhere from 30 to 90 percent, with pricing becoming less generous as you acquire more items. One event pack will be given away for free to folks who log into the game before the crossover event ends on January 30.

Original story continues below:

EA’s popular battle royale shooter Apex Legends will kick off a brand-new crossover with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on January 9. The event brings cosmetics and gear inspired by the upcoming RPG sequel, including the iconic Buster Sword. However, Apex Legends fans are pretty pissed about the price of the in-game items, particularly one that will reportedly cost up to $US360.

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Developer Respawn Entertainment announced the event on the game’s official website on January 4, detailing everything that will be available from January 9-30. This includes a new game mode centered around Final Fantasy VII, materia that comes with its own buffs (like HP absorption and summoning capabilities), character skins inspired by Aerith and Yuffie, Twitch drops, and more. It’s a cool-looking collab, one that sees Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword slice and dice the various Legends with a limit break that looks like the Omnislash.

Unfortunately, despite how dope this all looks, Apex Legends fans aren’t too pleased with how much they’d have to spend to access the many FFVII Rebirth cosmetics. According to a sneak peek of the in-game store, individual packs of the event’s items cost roughly 1000 coins (or $US10). That’s already bad enough, since the game reportedly has insanely low drop rates.

The death box in Apex Legends is exactly what you might expect. They’re caches of equipment a player had before they were gunned down on the battlefield. The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth death box is inspired by Sephiroth’s One-Winged Angel look from the original game’s final battle, which looks pretty badass. There’s only one way to get it, though. You must collect all 36 crossover event items and since packs run you $US10, this little coffin of sorts is approximately $US360 to unlock. Fans think this price tag is pretty ridiculous, with quite a few of them memeing about what you could buy with that money instead.

The YouTube video announcing the crossover event on the official Apex Legends channel is inundated with criticism of the pricing.

“I loved the part where they gave us a chance to earn the heirloom for free and the chance is 0.00001%, and the entire event costing 360$ [sic],” user PatentPending47 wrote. “Truly an apex experience.”

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Kotaku reached out to EA and Respawn Entertainment for comment.