Only yesterday wasApex Legends, the newest title from EA andTitanfalldeveloper Respawn Entertainment, officially announced and released to the general public, followinga surprisingly accurate leaka couple of days prior. Despite its infancy,Apex Legendsalready seems to be picking up steam, though it could soon be getting the wrong kind of attention, as it’s been discovered that it’s violating General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU.
Basically, the Data Protection Regulation states that, in areas within the European Union, companies aren’t allowed to collect and share information about any individuals they are privy to, which is exactly whatApex Legendsis doing. Players quickly discovered that, within the game’s options, Usage Sharing (and subsequently data collection) is turned on by default, so if anybody has an interest in checking the game out, they need to ensure to turn this option off if they don’t want their data collected. It’s entirely possible that this is simply a mistake due to the game’s rather rushed release, meaning that this aspect wasn’t tweaked to abide by EU laws.
Unfortunately, mistake or not, EA is effectively in violation of the GDPR, and if the data it’s collecting can be used to identify players, the company will either be severely fined (at best) or the game could be shut down, which is the kind of publicity EA undoubtedly would want to avoid. EA has already been stirring up trouble within the EU, as it fought against Belgium’s decision to make lootboxes illegal (which the latestFIFAtitle had) though it has recentlygiven up that fight.
Apex Legendsbeing Respawn’s own take on the battle royale genre - one set within theTitanfalluniverse - has also led to some fans accusing EA of forcing Respawn into making the battle royale game instead ofTitanfall 3. While it does look likeTitanfall 3won’t be happening, Respawn was quick to mention that it actually had to convince EA to give the title a chance.
Apex Legendsis available free-to-play right now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
