Apex Legend’s viewership has been trending downward quite quickly on Twitch this year, and TSM streaming star ImperialHal believes there are three things to blame, two of which revolve around seasonal patch releases.
First, he said Respawn takes too long to release them. Three months is a long time for anyone, he explained, especially for dedicated Apex players like him who play the battle royale day-in, day-out, so the content becomes stale. Then, he added that when a seasonal update finally drops, a lot of the time there’s “not really a new thing,” arguing one new character doesn’t cut it because it’s “usually fucking trash.”
“You can’t have like three months of the same thing and then you have an update and the only thing you change is one character,” he said during his stream on Aug. 20. “That’s what Apex does. They just draw out the game as long as possible.”
In his mind, if a player who has already moved on is thinking about returning for a new season and all they see is one hero has been reworked, they have no incentive to come back.
Hal’s third and final point is Apex’s viewership is “very dependant” on its competitive scene, and at the moment, it’s lagging behind other battle royales like Fortnite. He believes the solution is to incorporate something like Fortnite’s Cash Cups— a tournament with a cash prize open to players of all skill levels and happens frequently.
Related: ImperialHal, NICKMERCS show how important co-steaming is for Apex esports
Apex’s viewership decline is very real. In 2021, it averaged 78,755 viewers, according to SullyGnome. 2022 wasn’t too far off the mark with 75,177 average viewers. But so far this year, it’s dropped to 51,102.
The numbers in the past month are also much bleaker at 42,717.
It’s something ImperialHal has been concerned about for a long time now. He’s also been vocal about the Apex ranked changes, claiming it’s impacting numbers too, and at this rate, it seems like the slump will continue for the time being.
