Why Respawn Isn't Releasing Solos For Apex Legends

Apex Legends fans who were hoping that Solos would become a permanent fixture in the game are in for a disappointment. According to a recent update from EA and Respawn Entertainment, it doesn't look like we can expect that to happen any time soon. One of the main reasons that this is off the table is the fact that the game was simply designed to be played with others.

"When we introduced Solos as a limited-time mode last year we saw it actually negatively impacted the game, especially when it came to new player retention," explained the post from Apex Legends Community Manager EA_David. "We've also purposely designed Legends and their abilities to compliment teamplay and squad composition, but when played Solo some Legend abilities become useless. These are just some of the reasons we decided not to include Solos in today's update."

However, EA_David made sure to let fans know that Solos aren't entirely off the table, adding, "We're still exploring ways to allow a Solo experience, but for now grab a friend (or two) and jump into the arena."

So there you have it. Solos aren't going to be added in the foreseeable future. Still, that doesn't mean that we'll never be able to play some kind of Solo experience that takes full advantage of each Legends' unique abilities.

Respawn isn't wrong about this, either. One of the reasons why we haven't seen a resurgence of Solo play in Apex Legends is also because it was remarkably easy for players to gang up on others. When Respawn tested out a limited-time Solos mode, several players reported being taken out by groups of four or more, with little to no disciplinary action from Respawn. It does seem that Respawn wasn't simply ignoring the problem, but rather found it difficult to police. After all, if a group of friends all queued up for a match at around the same time, it's pretty much a given that they'd end up in the same game together. Teaming up from there is almost a no-brainer for some folks, even though it's generally frowned upon or outright against the rules of Solo play in most battle royale games.

While players hoping for a dedicated Solos mode are likely to be disappointed by this announcement, there are some silver linings. In a move that many have been clamoring for, Respawn has made some big fixes to the latest character to join Apex Legends, Revenant.

Specifically, Revenant's Death Totem ability has been patched. Whenever Revenant is defeated, he will respawn at the spot where he dropped the Totem, ready to rejoin the fight. Players have had issues with the fact that Revenant only respawns with 1 hit point left. Following the new update, Revenant now respawns with up to 50HP, which should give skilled players more of a fighting chance.

As one player on Reddit enthusiastically responded, "Now we don't instantly die when we get teleported back [to the Totem]."

Speaking of which, it's unclear whether this fixes that weird teleporting glitch that happens occasionally with Death Totems, but hopefully Respawn took a look at that while working out the HP issues. Revenant is a really cool character with a lot of potential, but he has been causing problems for even the most seasoned Apex Legends players since his launch.

Fans may also be pleased to know that the previously limited-time Duos mode will be made permanent for Apex Legends going forward. In EA_David's patch notes, he wrote, "Starting on April 7th, Duos will be added to the game alongside Trios, as well a permanent map rotation that gives players the ability to play Duos or Trios on Kings Canyon and Worlds Edge." The reason for this is that the previous experimental runs for Duos have yielded much more positive results, both for Respawn and the fan community.

"Since the launch of Apex Legends, we've introduced Duos a few times as a limited-time mode, and overall it's had a positive effect on the game's health in regards to queue times and gameplay systems in addition to reinforcing teamplay (something that is paramount to every design decision we make for Apex Legends)," EA_David continued. "So with the 4.2 update we are excited to be adding it as a permanent mode alongside Trios (Duos will not be available in Ranked)."

As pointed out by Eurogamer's Emma Kent, a Duos mode honestly seems like it lends itself to Apex Legends much better than a Solo mode does, anyway. Kent mentioned that "the game's outstanding cooperative features (such as the ping system) can still be used" to great effect in a Duos mode.