Apex Legends is not available on the Switch, but it lacks an important feature: cross-progression

Apex Legends is the latest major platform switch port. After years of availability on Xbox, PlayStation and PC, EA has finally brought the Battle Royale shooter to Nintendo’s handheld console, adding fresh golf players and a new, on-the-go option for existing Apex Legends fans. But there is a noticeable problem with the Switch port: at the moment there is no transverse progression, which effectively makes the Switch port a non-starter for dedicated players.

At the launch, the new Nintendo Switch version of Apex Legends offers a platform platform, which means you can play with and against players on Xbox, PlayStation and PC, in addition to other Switch players. But any progress or purchases made by players on the other platforms cannot be transferred. Effective, Apex Legends players on the Switch start from scratch.

Despite the “Season 8” brand covering Apex Legends, there is no continuity for players in the Switch version – so much so that players have to play the tutorial before they will be able to fall into a full game.

In an interview with Nintendo Life, Chad Grenier (Respawn’s acting director for Apex Legends) said that cross-progression is planned for the future, but with the proviso that ‘we are a way to present it.’

Grenier explains that there are a mix of issues that prevent Respawn from offering cross-compliance, with contractual, legal and technical issues to sort out. “This is a complex challenge for several users that we need to solve or put together, because there are legal and contractual things to navigate with purchases on other platforms and their transfer, as well as some technical challenges.”

Apex Legends is by no means the first major game to encounter this issue. Unfortunately, the lack of cross-progression is more common than not for most platform games, both on the Switch and on other platforms.

Ear Watchfor example, has been struggling for years with the lack of platform progression and gameplay, despite the emphasis Blizzard is opening up on cosmetic content.

Control has been transferred to many platforms since its launch, including Amazon’s Luna, a cloud-based version for the Nintendo Switch, and a next-generation version for PS5 and Xbox One. But there is no crossroads between these titles – once you start Control on a PS4, this is where your savings get stuck forever, even if you want to stream it from an internet service or play with most popular graphics on a next-generation console.

Obviously, there are real technical and legal issues here. Ear WatchThe skins are strongly linked to the outdoor economy, all of which are bought through platform-specific stores, which can make things difficult. ControlThe lack of next-generation savings is related to updates to the game engine that have prevented Remedy from providing continuity to existing players.

But there are also a myriad of games in 2021 that show that a better way is possible. Fortnite and Rocket League is the gold standard here: simply sign up for Epic’s free play games on your platform, and all your goodies await you. You can play with friends on any platform (well, except iOS), from any platform, with all your skins, emotions, items and unlocks.

And even recent Ubisoft games have added cross-play and cross-progression through Ubisoft Connect, allowing players to play expansive RPGs such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on one system and continue on another.

In 2021, offering cross-country progress and cross-country play will increasingly become a table interest for big games. With massive titles that can take tens, if not hundreds of hours, of players’ time, it simply does not make sense to close progress to a single console or platform.

And it’s double that for free games like Apex Legends, who live or die based on their multiplayer community and the money they can earn from selling cosmetic items. If you can download games for free on any platform, it’s crucial that the time and money players invest in getting those digital rewards is consistent across the same platforms, because collecting those items is the most important rewards structure of those games.

Bungie found out about it a while ago, when it passed Destiny 2 to a free play title – this now enables players to sync their in-game items on whatever platform they play (even if Bungie is still working out platform-based gameplay).

The whole point of a game like Apex Legends on the Switch is to give players another way to play the game. Of course, it can attract some new players, but for many others it is a way to spend even more time on a game they already like. But by locking things like heroic characters or objects that players have carefully unlocked through time or money on a single platform, the game is still stuck in an outdated model of game design.

Players have a limited amount of time. And why would you open up? Apex Legends to unlock all your old equipment when you pick up your switch when you can make progress with your Fortnite battle pass – a much more substantial unlocking that is not tied to one system – instead?