Respawn Sunsets Arenas, Adds TDM & Playlists To Apex Legends

Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment announced today that it will be sunsetting the game’s 3v3 Arenas mode once Season 16: Revelry goes live on February 14. This news comes just a week after it was announced that Respawn will also be sunsetting Apex Legends Mobile. But while diehard Arenas fans and Apex Mobile players may be heartbroken, all is not lost. A beloved feature from the mobile game is finally making its debut on console and PC: Team Deathmatch.

For the first three weeks of Season 16, a 6v6 TDM mode will be available to play 24/7. Starting March 7, however, TDM will be replaced with Mixtape. Mixtape is a permanent playlist that cycles through three different game modes on a rotating schedule: Control, Gun Run, and TDM. The game’s standard duos and trios battle royale modes will remain untouched, but unlike Arenas, Mixtape will not have a Ranked mode–for now, anyway.

TDM will take place on the following maps:

• Skull Town
• Party Crasher
• Habitat 4

It’s worth noting that both Party Crasher and Habitat 4 were originally Arenas maps, so it’s possible players may see other Arenas maps, like Encore, make their way to TDM.

Although the new Mixtape mode may come as a surprise to some players, those who are familiar with Titanfall 2 will feel right at home, as Apex’s Mixtape Mode functions identically to Titanfall 2’s Mixtape mode, albeit with slightly fewer game modes.

It’s unclear when exactly Respawn first started working on Mixtape mode, but a weapon charm from an old Prime Gaming loot drop may hold the answer. Back in July 2020, Prime Gaming . rewarded subscribers with a weapon charm featuring a cassette tape with “sick beats” written on on side of the tape, and “the dark side” written on the other. That weapon charm’s name? Mixtape. This seems to suggest Respawn was at least considering Mixtape mode back in 2020, if not actively working on it already.

Though they may be sad to see Arenas go, four years with no TDM mode has left players chomping at the bit for a Team Deathmatch mode, so any frustration is likely to be met with an equal amount of excitement from players who want to just zone out and shoot stuff. There’s also an added bonus: All the sweaty bald Wraiths who insist on solo-dropping 400m away to get seven kills before dying immediately now have an opportunity to get the lone wolf, kill-based gameplay experience they so clearly desire. At the very least, the introduction of TDM should cut down on the amount of lone wolves hanging around in public battle royale lobbies.

Plus, this may not be the last we see of Arenas–it could easily return as an LTM or be added to Mixtape mode later on. But if you’re a dedicated Arenas sweat, you may want to spend the next week making the most out of the 3v3 mode before it disappears.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available to play on Android and iOS devices, but will be sunset on May 1, 2023.