It's here a week earlier than predicted, but Apex Legends fans are hardly going to complain about the Aftermarket Collection Event hitting the game on October 6. With it will come 24 new cosmetics, a new Flashpoint limited-time mode, and best of all, crossplay between PC and console users.
Crossplay was discussed earlier in the summer at the EAPlay event, promising to bring Apex Legends fans from Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Origin all under one roof. Now that we're less than a week out from the arrival of the Aftermarket Collection Event, developer Respawn Entertainment has provided us with an update that details just what to expect when crossplay goes live.
Respawn wants to make clear from the start that this crossplay feature is going to be a beta test first. Crossplay functionality will be on by default "while we collect data, test the feature at scale, and most importantly, listen to you, the fans, for feedback," said game director Chad Grenier. Crossplay will be available for PS4, Xbox One, and Origin users initially, with Steam and Switch users getting it later this year.
Grenier also wanted to make sure people were aware of how matchmaking would work with respect to crossplay. There will essentially be two queues: PC queue and console queue. If a bunch of Xbox One and PS4 players form a squad and head into a match, they'll be placed in the console queue. But if even one player is playing on PC, the whole squad gets matched in the PC queue regardless of how many PS4 or Xbox One players are in the squad. This is to ensure that PC's mouse and keyboard players don't invade the console queue and start picking apart controller users.
If this doesn't sound good to you, then crossplay can be turned off in the options. More details on how to form crossplay groups or turn off crossplay altogether can be found on EA's Apex Legends blog here.
The Aftermarket Collection Event will also bring in 24 brand new cosmetics including Caustic's new heirloom, as well as the limited-time Flashpoint game mode. The fun starts October 6 and runs until October 20.
Source: Respawn Entertainment