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Apex Legends Team Deathmatch gets a speedy and vital update

Apex Legends Season 16 brings Team Deathmatch to the Respawn Entertainment shooter, but matchmaking issues within the COD-like mode are frustrating players.

Legends hiding in a gunfight in Apex Legends on PS5

February 16, 2023 Respawn Entertainment has addressed feedback regarding Team Deathmatch in Apex Legends and has tweaked the game mode. The headline and body of this article have been updated to reflect this.

Apex Legends Season 16 introduces players to a wealth of new content, but it’s the brand-new Team Deathmatch mode that really shakes up the game.  However, Apex’s spin on the tried-and-tested mode seen in competitors like COD has got off to a rocky start. Developer Respawn Entertainment is seeing players unable to play the game properly, as players quit and matchmaking issues get worse.

Players over at the Apex Legends subreddit are diving into the new Team Deathmatch mode – well they’re trying to. Redditor ‘Nobat211‘ frustratedly vents: “Who the hell came up with the idea of round-based TDM? The mode is barely out and people are already quitting en masse once they start losing.”

Detailed in the Redditor’s post, an image of a TDM lobby depicts uneven matchmaking, with the opposing team holding only three squadmates. Players leaving a rough match experience plagues every FPS out there, but the consequences in Apex Legends are impacting match flow – as opposed to COD where most matches will continue despite losing teammates.

“When all of the enemy teammates leave [you] don’t automatically win, you just get voided,” explains Redditor ‘The_Real_Mushroom’. Modes like the popular LTM Control have utilised match-fill tools before. However, another player claims “it never worked” and the issue remains in their matchmaking experiences.

Who the hell came up with the idea of round based TDM? The mode is barely out and people are already quitting en masse once they start losing. from apexlegends

Alongside complaints focused on matchmaking, others like ‘ImKrispy‘ are suggesting that Respawn should restructure the mode to take on a more traditional approach. “Just change it to 5v5 50 kills 20 min limit, easy fix,” the Redditor says.

The decision to anchor Apex’s Team Deathmatch on round-based battles is providing divisive, as the mode’s longer duration doesn’t appear to provide quicker firefights like COD. Apex player ‘Shotgun5250’ expresses that “it winds up being a 20+ minute match at the end if everyone stays, which is like twice the length of a TDM game in any other game.”

Developer Respawn Entertainment is aware of the feedback players are providing, with new tweaks set for the game mode. “We realised having three rounds made matches feel too long. Starting now, matches will just be one round. With the removal of multiple rounds, we’ve also increased the kill count required to win games from 30 to 50,” explains the developer.

Though the game’s UI will be updated to “reflect this change at a later date”, Respawn promise other fixes are coming to fix match-fill issues and to add a “penalty” for leaving the match early similar to Control mode.

With the Apex Legends Season 16 release time dawning on us, Respawn Entertainment is already on the case when it comes to resolving Team Deathmatch complaints. So, get equipped with the best Apex Legends classes and ensure victory is a breeze as new updates begin to roll out.