Apex Legends devs are fed up with players harassing them

Respawn Entertainment took to Twitter this week with A declaration condemning the “increased harassment” its employees have faced due to the variety of issues plaguing the popular Battle Royale shooter Apex Legends.

In the statement, Respawn said that while it “loves to hear feedback” from the community, attacking developers isn’t healthy constructive criticism. The studio went on to say that it will strive to “nurture a respectful and collaborative environment” for its employees and players. “We welcome community feedback, however, the line between constructive feedback and harassment from our development team cannot be crossed,” Respawn said. “We want to remind our players that we have a zero tolerance policy for threats and harassment from our developers. We will take appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of our team. »

An existing live service game within the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends has seen a number of changes in the three years it has been on the market. New game modes, more playable characters, additional gear options – the battle royale shooter isn’t what it used to be, though the bones largely remain the same. As is customary in game development, things break when new things are introduced. Audio, for example, has apparently been broken for years. Matchmaking has frustrated the community so much, casuals and pros started blaming each other to ruin the game. Then there are the bugs, which impact everything from exploration at hit detection. In short, Apex Legends is in a constant state of adaptation as Respawn fixes game issues.

But while Respawn may be aware of the multitude of problems affecting Apex Legends, that hasn’t stopped hardcore stans from demanding the team fix things now, not later. All over the internet, from Twitter to the game’s official subreddit, players are complaining about pressuring Respawn for “stop pretending“The game is working well. It is a vocal community. It’s full of people willing to rip off developers who are just doing their job. I mean there is a whole Reddit post calling players “entitled”. Honestly aisn’t that the truth?

While years of harassment prompted Respawn to make this statement, some in the tweet dotted mentions at Apex Legends content creator Jacob “HisWattson” McMillin as a potential culprit. An outspoken Twitch streamer Apex Legends pro for the US division of the Brazilian esports organization FuryHisWattson was reportedly caught saying he “hates” Apex Legendthe head of security Conor “Hideouts” Ford earlier this month in DMs with noted Apex Legends hacker AutismGaming. With screenshots in the light, EA then allegedly blacklisted HisWattson from tournaments, perhaps because of his language. SoundWattson made his intentions clear in replies to his tweets, saying he wasn’t going to “just hit [EA/Respawn] on Twitter” and that his choice of words was “wrong” because he was angry. Still, people didn’t take too kindly to HisWattson express openly its supposed developer hate.

And that’s the thing: you don’t have to say you “hate” the people who make games to criticize the game itself. Game development is hard enough as it is, with shareholders blowing down people’s throats, imposing impossible deadlines to line the pockets of executives at the expense of the well-being of their employees.. Piling on developers, attack them for things out of their control, right. Seriously, people really need to learn to relax and respect others.

Kotaku has reached out to HisWattson and Respawn for comment.