Apex Legends players on Reddit were planning to boycott the game during the month of August, calling it the No Apex August movement. However, the boycott failed so spectacularly that the game’s player base saw a huge increase in August.
Around mid-way through Season 13, many players felt the game was going stale. Issues around hit-regs, server tick-rates and cheaters were plaguing the experience for most players. Some of them were so sick of things that they planned a boycott of the game during the month of August. They called it The No Apex August movement and created a hashtag around it.
The Redditor that suggested the boycott received a lot of Reddit clout for their post. A few streamers hopped aboard the boycott train as well. The plan to boycott Apex Legends received so much attention that esports news journals, community contributors and content creators covered it on their platforms. It looked a lot like the movement might actually make an impact and affect the game's player count. Until details on Season 14 came around, at least.
What is No Apex August?
The state of Apex Legends in Season 13 wasn't great. Mid-way through the season, many players expressed discontent at the developer's apparent negligence towards the game. There were a lot of problems with the game. These problems included bugs, glitches, and technical issues like server-lag and hit-regs. One particularly irritated player made a post on Reddit seeking a planned boycott of Apex Legends for an entire month. This post gained a lot of traction and thus, the No Apex August movement was born.
Did #NoApexAugust work?
To put it lightly, no it didn't work. For all the ruckus it created in the media, the boycott failed spectacularly. Apex Legends saw a record number of concurrent players on Steam during the month of August. We're not just talking about a general increase here. The player base grew by 25.81% during August. Did players just not get the memo or did everyone just forget about the boycott?
Why did it fail?
Part of the reason the players were planning the boycott in the first place was the poor state of the game. Many were struggling to make it through their Apex Legends matches without facing technical issues, bugs, and glitches. However, over time the developers addressed some of these issues and began promoting Season 14. The Season 14 update, which released at the beginning of August brought along plenty of positive changes to the game. Players seemed excited enough by the Season 14 content that they forgot all about the boycott. The biggest lesson that can be learned from the short-lived No Apex August movement is that a game's Reddit community is significantly smaller than the full player base.