Despite being a free Steam game, Apex Legends has long maintained a place among the top sellers on Valve’s platform. Its new Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth crossover event, however, appears to have pushed it to even greater heights, despite criticism from players around the potential cost of the event’s cosmetics. Since the kick-off of the Apex Legends FF7 event on Wednesday January 9, the battle royale game has already risen to claim the top spot on Valve’s Steam charts.
The Apex Legends FF7 Rebirth event celebrates the upcoming 2024 game, which launches Thursday February 29 on PlayStation 5 but is yet to see a confirmed release date for PC. Nevertheless, there’s clearly an appetite for the game, as the new crossover event in EA’s free Steam game has seen it fly up the charts.
At the time of writing, Apex Legends sits atop Steam’s global top sellers list by revenue, having leapt up five spaces ahead of PUBG, Counter-Strike 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Valve’s own Steam Deck.
Similar statistics can be seen in the United States, where it jumped 11 spots to claim the top place ahead of the Steam Deck, and in the United Kingdom, where it’s up 17 spots and sits in second place just behind the portable gaming device.
The event has already caused quite some consternation among the Apex Legends player base due to its pricing, which sees limited-time cosmetics locked behind purchasable loot boxes that drop them in a random order. These include a Sephiroth-themed cosmetic for the crate left behind after you die, which players quickly dubbed the “$300 death box” due to it requiring all other event cosmetics to be unlocked first.
While the pricing for the boxes isn’t quite as high as initially speculated, it’s still an expensive event. The boxes are priced at 1,000 Apex Coins, which costs $9.99 / £8.99, and contain one event item along with two standard items. Your first box is free, however, and the second comes at a 90% discount, meaning it’s just 100 coins.
From there, you get a gradually reducing discount as you unlock more of the event’s 36 cosmetics, meaning you can expect to pay 28,900 Apex Coins to unlock them all – that’s approximately $289 / £260 to get your hands on everything. Alternatively, by purchasing larger coin bundles you could get 29,700 Apex Coins for a total cost of $259.97 / £230.97.
Items up for grabs include the Buster Sword R5 Mythic cosmetic that Respawn says “will not be coming to the Mythic shop after the event ends,” along with the One-Winged Angel Death Box inspired by Sephiroth that’s awarded for unlocking the complete 36-item collection.
Alongside this, six legend skins inspired by characters from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth can be bought individually through the in-game store, each priced at 2,150 Apex Coins (approximately $21.48 / £19.33, or $19.99 / £17.99 if bought in a higher coin bundle).
Players appear to be speaking with their wallets, then – whether they’re just interested in these Apex Legends cosmetics, or attempting to show their support for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PC. The event has also seemingly impacted the game’s Steam rating, however – typically sitting at a ‘mostly positive’ 79% score, Apex Legends has fallen to a ‘mixed’ 62% user rating over the past 30 days, potentially owing to the high cost of some of the in-game, FF-themed items.
If you’re diving in, you’ll want to check our Apex Legends Season 19 tier list to see which For those of you who fancy a break from the chaotic world of online multiplayer, we’ve picked out the best single-player games to sort you out.
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