Steam Deck Apex Legends Problems and Solutions

Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts did an excellent job releasing Apex Legends in 2020. This award-winning free-to-play battle royale Hero Shooter video game features legendary characters with powerful abilities, squad gameplay, stunning graphics, enhanced weapons, and more. Despite its success, it seems that some Steam Deck users are experiencing problems with Apex Legends. If you’re encountering issues with the game on your Steam Deck, don’t worry. While the Steam Deck is a powerful handheld gaming console for playing PC games, it may have conflicts or issues when running certain titles. It’s always best to identify the specific reasons for the issues and then work on resolving them to prevent recurrence. Let’s get into it without further delay.

Steam Deck Apex Legends Problems and Solutions

It’s worth mentioning that plenty of first-person shooter video games like Apex Legends and more titles are having several issues on Steam Deck such as the mouse bug, deck-verified issues, conflicts with the anti-cheat support for Linux, launching the game without controller support, Steam Deck login error, etc. Whereas some Steam Deck users are facing startup crashes with the game, in-game lags, hiccups, FPS drops, stuck on screen, in-app purchase errors, etc.

1. Apex Legends Not Launching or Not Loading or Crashing

First of all, Apex Legends not launching or crashing at startup issue on Steam Deck becomes one of the common problems among players that need to be fixed. It looks like that due to several possible reasons, your game starts crashing during launching or exits while loading. Luckily, there are a couple of workarounds mentioned below that can come in handy.

• Try restarting the Steam Deck device to remove temporary system glitches. Press the Steam button from the left side of the Steam Deck. Then select Power > Choose Restart. Once the device reboots, check for the issue again.
• You can also force restart the Steam Deck device by pressing and holding the Power button for at least 3 seconds. If it remains unresponsive, try long-pressing the Power button for around 10 seconds to reboot the system again forcefully. It’ll help the device to work freshly.
• An outdated SteamOS version can mostly cause several issues with the game running on Steam Deck, You should check for the available update by pressing the Steam button on the left side of the Steam Deck. Then go to Settings > Head over to the System tab. Select Check for Updates on the right side. If there is an update available, tap on Apply. Now, wait for the software update to complete. Once done, tap on Restart to apply changes.
• Try checking for the Apex Legends game update on Steam Deck and install the latest patch version because an outdated version can always have multiple issues whatsoever. Open your Steam Library > Under the Apex Legends library page, select Manage. Choose Properties > Select the Updates tab. Make sure to select Automatic updates > Reboot the Steam Deck. Whenever a new update is available for Apex Legends, it’ll automatically install.
• You should also check for the low storage space on your Steam Deck because not enough memory can cause multiple conflicts with the game’s launching. To do so: Just press the Steam button on Steam Deck > Go to Settings > Choose Storage. If the available storage space becomes low, delete or uninstall unnecessary apps/games from the console to free up some space.
• Make sure to remove and reinsert the microSD card into the Steam Deck device if you’ve installed Apex Legends in it. This method can also help you to run the game properly by removing connectivity glitches. To do so: Gently remove and insert the MicroSD card into the memory slot on the bottom side.
• You can also try resetting or formatting the MicroSD card on Steam Deck via the Settings menu to delete corrupted or missing games. To do so: Press the Steam button on Steam Deck > Go to Settings. Choose System > Select Format SD Card. It may take a couple of minutes to complete the format. Once done, reboot the Steam Deck and then reinstall or move the Apex Legends game.
• It’s highly recommended to forcefully change the Proton version on the Steam Deck because it can impact the game launching or performance a lot. To do so: Select Apex Legends from Library. Go to Settings of the game > Go to Properties. Choose the Compatibility option in the left sidebar. Make sure to click on the checkbox and select Proton Experimental. You can now select the version you want to use.
• If the above methods didn’t work for you then it’s better to uninstall and reinstall the Apex Legends game on your Steam Deck. The chances are high that reinstalling the game might fix several conflicts or issues with launching and stuttering. To do that: Press the Steam button on Steam Deck to open Settings. Scroll down in the sidebar and select Storage. Select the Apex Legends game that you want to uninstall. Now, press the X key to Uninstall the game. Wait for the game to be deleted completely. Once done, make sure to reinstall the Apex Legends game via Steam Store.
• You should also perform the factory reset method on Steam Deck to delete all the data and settings to the default state. It can also help you to fix crashing issues with the game. To do so: Press the Steam button on Steam Deck to open Settings. Under the System menu, scroll to the bottom and select Factory Reset. If prompted, make sure to confirm & proceed. The process may take some time to complete.

2. Error While Purchasing In-App Items

It’s highly recommended to wait a while and try purchasing the item again inside the Apex Legends game to check for the issue. You should also try doing it during off-peak timing, such as when the active number of users decreases. The higher number of active players may cause servers to go down or response to be slow. Otherwise, try using another payment method like debit/credit card, Steam Wallet, etc. (except for PayPal) to check if that helps or not.