Apex Legends is getting a Fortnite-inspired Battle Pass when the game's inaugural season kicks off in March, and players can learn everything they need to know about either right here. Having blasted its way past its battle royale competitors since its February 4 launch, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment is gearing up to add much-requested content to the game to retain the attention of its fast-growing playerbase.

Growing with an unprecedentedly exponential rate surpassing even that of longtime genre domineer Fortnite, the Titanfall spin-off, Apex Legends, has quickly asserted itself as a force to be reckoned with in the battle royale space with over 25 million unique players. Respawn seems to be looking to strike while the iron is hot, promising its newfound masses that a Battle Pass system and seasons are on the near horizon. However, details of how each will work have been released in a slow trickle and are scattered throughout numerous official resources.

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Apex Legends Battle Pass Explained

Fortnite pioneered the Battle Pass system, and the monetization model has been quickly adopted as industry standard for many full-price and free-to-play titles since then. Looking to capitalize on its success and give its ravenous players a reason to keep playing beyond the next victory or Apex Pack (Apex Legends' fairly straightforward take on loot boxes), Apex Legends will also soon be inheriting its own version of the seasonal mechanic. Apex Legendsofficial FAQ states that players will be rewarded for unlocking new Battle Pass tiers with "a mix of exclusive seasonal cosmetics and Apex Packs," thankfully promising that new Legends "will not be included" as Battle Pass-restricted unlocks. As for when the Battle Pass will arrive, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella confirmed that it will be made available in March, alongside Apex Legends' first batch of "new Legends, weapons, loot, and more." A specific date, however, hasn't been revealed yet.

Apex Legends Seasons Explained

Also confirmed by Zampella - as well as laid out in the fancy 2019 roadmap above - is that March will additionally mark the launch of Apex Legends season 1, and the gradual release of the aforementioned Battle Pass and assorted lethal goodies will coincide with its start. Given the actual, seasonal breakdown, it's possible that Apex Legends season 1 could launch on the first day of spring - March 20. Popularized by online shooters like Overwatch and Rainbow Six: Siege, competitive seasons provide players with quarterly updates that usually adhere to a theme while giving developers time to continuously produce a drip-feed of content in order to keep players engaged. In the wake of Fortnite's highly successful adoption of this release schedule, the battle royale genre lives and dies based on the quality and volume of curveballs games devs can throw at their player-bases each season, and it appears this will be no different for Apex Legends.

If that tentative roadmap is anything to go on, Apex Legends players will have quite an assortment of content to look forward to throughout 2019. The most remarkable takeaway from all this is that the Battle Pass is currently slated to not lock non-paying players out from obtaining new Legends, much in the same way that Caustic and Mirage can currently be unlocked through earned Apex Tokens instead of purchased Apex Coins. In an industry inundated with loot box duplicates and pay-to-win elements (both of which Apex Legends soundly rejects), it's commendable that Respawn looks to limit its in-game economy to cosmetic-only items. Only time will tell what specific items players can hope to buy and unlock in Apex Legends' Battle Pass, and until then players of the game will be counting down the days, deaths, and sweet victories until Apex Legends season 1 kicks off this March.

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