Apex Legends Explains Why There's No Solos

As part of a recent update tied to the new The Old Ways event, which is largely tied to the character Bloodhound, Respawn Entertainment also updated some core parts of the Apex Legends experience. Specifically, the developers added both a Duos mode and a map rotation to the game permanently. Previously, the game was Trios only save for limited-time modes. But Duos isn't the only mode that's been tested before; Solos have also come and gone. But, as it turns out, folks will be waiting a bit longer for any permanent Solos mode -- if it happens at all.

"Now, what about Solos?" part of the patch notes for The Old Ways event reads. "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. 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. We're still exploring ways to allow a Solo experience, but for now grab a friend (or two) and jump into the arena."

In short? The game just isn't geared around a solo experience at the moment. So much of what makes Apex Legends, well, Apex Legends has to do with running around with a squad, even if that squad is just one other person. From the way the patch notes puts it, it sounds like Solos ultimately ended up causing more new players to quit, which is always a bad sign overall. What Solos might look like in the future as a potential permanent mode, it probably won't be what we've seen before.

Did you ever end up playing Solos during Apex Legends' previous event? How do you think Respawn should implement it? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Apex Legends is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Season 4 - Assimilation is currently ongoing across all of those platforms, as is The Old Ways Bloodhound event. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the title right here.