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Apex Legends cross progression isn't coming in 2021

According to Respawn, there are technical and legal challenges that stand in the way of cross progression coming to Apex Legends before 2022.

TJ Denzer

August 9, 2021 11:40 AM

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With Apex Legends having crossplay, many players would also like it to have cross progression so that their hard work and collection of characters and cosmetics doesn’t fall by the wayside if they play on a new platform. According to Respawn Entertainment, the team is dedicated to creating a cross progression system that will be added to Apex down the line. However, various technical and legal constraints (the latter centered around regional rules of digital content ownership) mean cross progression isn’t going to arrive this year.

Apex Legends Director of Comms Ryan Rigney shared this information in an AMA on the Apex Legends Subreddit over the weekend. When asked whether cross progression would join crossplay on Apex Legends soon, Rigney’s short answer was “next year,” that year being 2022. The longer answer can be found below and includes the fact that it’s not just a technical matter. Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts also have to navigate the very unstable landscape of regional digital content ownership laws and use. In other words, they’d have to make sure they aren’t breaking any rules by region before they released such a thing.

Crossplay came to Apex Legends in Season 6 back in October 2020, allowing players on PC and consoles to throw down across the battle royale landscape. As such, cross progression has also been a regular ask as players want to move between platforms to keep playing without losing the stats and collectibles they’ve amassed along the way. Respawn Entertainment has committed to making cross progression a reality nonetheless, but it also seems very clear that it’s going more of a challenge to implement than crossplay was for the team.

With cross progression pushed back to 2022 at least in Apex Legends, stay tuned for further updates on the feature and its launch date. In the meantime, you can check out ranked in the new Arenas Mode and the Champion Seer as Apex Legends Season 10 - Emergence kicks off.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.