EA just cut Apex Legends map without warning, but there is a good reason

After seven years of seasonal updates, Apex Legends can't let players do what they want all the time. While it has never vaulted weapons or characters, presumably because players might have spent their hard-earned money on cosmetics for each, the battle royale game's six maps rotate in and out of use each season. For Season 28, we've been duking it out on World's Edge, Broken Moon, and E-District. The recent Aftershock event switched things up to Olympus, Storm Point, and World's Edge. However, developer Respawn has now removed Storm Point, in a surprise move.

Players expect maps to switch up twice a season. The current cadence sees the maps change over at the beginning of a season and at the midway point, in preparation for the second ranked split. This usually accompanies a major update and is a refreshing change for players who grind out countless hours every week.

However, Apex Legends has surprised us all by removing Storm Point just two weeks after reintroducing it. In a small update, EA says that the map is causing crashes on certain devices when it's active. It's unclear whether or not you have to even be playing on Storm Point for the crash to impact you, or which devices are impacted, but Respawn is playing it safe while it tries to fix the issue.

"We are temporarily removing Storm Point from map rotation on all modes and will be replacing it with E-District (daytime) while we continue to chase a permanent fix for a crash occurring on specific devices when Storm Point is active," the update reads. "We will provide more updates on this matter once we have them."

There's good news, though. Not only will the game crash less often for affected players, we're getting E-District back. After years of championing World's Edge as the best Apex Legends map thanks to its competitive environments and streamlined layout with perfect choke points, E-District took the crown immediately upon release. It's rare that a map will check all the right boxes straight away (I'm still waiting for the Broken Moon update that makes it click for me), but E-District had everything off the bat.

From the dense city fights in its cramped POIs, to the verticality across the map and great rotation options, it works smoothly from a competitive standpoint. Design-wise, its cyberpunk stylings hit the spot, too. I prefer the original night-time aesthetic to the daylight that permeates its narrow streets these days, but beggars can't be choosers.

Respawn is actively working on a fix for Storm Point's technical problems, but there's no timeline for when it will return. I expect E-District will see out the season, though. Hopefully, all players will have a smoother experience thanks to the change, and we'll see a patched-up Storm Point back on our screens before too long.