Like most modern multiplayer games both paid and free-to-play, Apex Legends gets a good chunk of its revenue from cosmetics. These can range from simple weapon charms that can be equipped to players' weapons to the elusive and expensive heirloom sets that show off each of the legends' unique personalities through special melee weapons. Respawn Entertainment's battle royale hero shooter has a lot of unique cosmetics in it, one category being recolored skins.
Recolored skins are just as their name implies. They are recolored versions of skins that were previously released in Apex Legends. While the developers do their best to produce cosmetics that are reflective of all the legends and weapons, there are times when they will take old skins and fit them with a new paint job. The early days of Apex Legends kept recolored skins to a minimum and exclusive to the weekly rotating "Featured" section of the in-game store. Nowadays, however, things have gotten a bit out of hand with the number of recolors being sold at unfair prices.
Recolors For Legend Tokens
As previously mentioned, a lot of Apex Legends' recolored skins are relegated exclusively to the "Features" section of the game's digital store. Players would first need to own the original version of a legendary character or weapon skin but once they had it, they could unlock the recolored variant with Legend Tokens - a free currency that can easily be earned by leveling up and playing the game (there are also certain events where recolors can be purchased with real money). As for the original skins, players can purchase them with real money or get lucky by opening Apex Packs. Though these packs can be bought, leveling an account in the game also awards players with regular Apex Packs that have a chance to contain either the cosmetics they want or Crafting Metals to purchase said cosmetics. If players didn't want to spend cash on the game, they could still save their Crafting Metals for skins they want.
Another great feature of original skins is that they would always be in the base loot pool; meaning they will never disappear from the game at any point. The recolored skins would constantly rotate on every week, but there was always a chance that they would come back to the in-game store eventually. When put together, the lure of gaining Apex Packs and seeing new recolored skins would incentivize players to log in to Apex Legends on a regular basis.
The More Recent Recolors Feel A Bit More Predatory
The current problem comes not from the "Featured" section of the in-game store, but from the almost weekly "Specials" section that attempts to sell recolored versions of skins that were previously part of battle passes or special events. Since battle pass and event skins aren't always available, their recolored versions also share the same limited-time status. Because of this, Respawn Entertainment and EA have seen fit to sell these particular recolored skins at a much higher price than they initially would. This could be acceptable for players who have never had the original skins or fancy a particular recolor, but many see it as a lack of creativity on the developers' part and the rearing of EA's nature to sell almost everything.
What's worse is that a lot of these limited-time recolor skins usually come bundled together, with Apex Packs, or as a part of a collection event. Adding Apex Packs and offering no option to buy these recolored skins individually supposedly justifies their increased price point. On the other hand, making recolored skins part of a collection event leaves players who wish to purchase a certain heirloom set or mythic skin no choice but to spend money on the recolors. A prime example would be the recent Wintertide collection event that included tons of recolors which players had to obtain to earn Wraith's "Apex Voidshifter" mythic skin and finisher set.
This is a real shame because Apex Legends used to be known for creating new and exciting cosmetics that would get players to check out the game and upcoming events to see what was new. Nowadays, the in-game store is just full of recurring skins and recolors that project how little effort Respawn Entertainment has been putting into the game lately. February 2023 will mark Apex Legends' 4th anniversary, so hopefully, the developers have something that will grab players' attention rather than another set of recolored skins.
Apex Legends is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch.