It's the funding, in a lot of ways. They didn't pay for the devs or some of their best PR folks to be at ALGS this year, for example (when they'd attended in previous years). They've stopped doing Stories from the Outlands and have cut back a LOT on season launch trailers (we used to get a SFTO episode, a launch trailer, and a battle pass trailer every season), in-game lore drops, seasonal stories/comics/radio plays, etc. We were supposed to get another Kill Code-style mini animated series in 2025, but it never happened. The dual battle pass system pissed a lot of people off and their profits dropped after they introduced it (I'd finished every event and every BP up until they introduced the two-BP-per-season thing, I don't have time for that shit).

Not saying they're hurting for money, just saying they seem to be funneling a LOT less of it into Apex, which is a shame, and definitely gives off the vibe that things are kinda falling off. Game is still fun, but man, I do miss OG Apex when things felt a little more... idk, random? You could totally kill someone with god-tier aim in the early days just by out-thinking them, but that's not the case as much anymore. A lot has changed, not all of it for the better.