I have to imagine that Anthem isn’t the top priority at Bioware at the moment, however I would also imagine that there is a real risk of bailing, and being seen as pulling the cord on two projects in a row. They’re going to stick with it but the updates will be slow in coming, is what it sounds like.
I logged in last night and was pleased to find that it’s still super easy to get match made for a GM2 stronghold run on Xbox. At least some folks are hanging in there - I still enjoy this more than The Division 2.
rei
3248
I don’t call out people who still enjoy the game as deranged or misguided despite all its failings or those that find some positives in it like some QT3ers here so could you kindly stop repeatedly implying my state of mind in hating it? Of course it’s unhealthy. I played 700+ hours of it recovering from surgery.
KevinC
3249
A complete redesign of the gameplay loop is what is needed. They already have the art assets and the gameplay nailed so they don’t have to start from scratch, but the game really does need an overhaul.
My confidence is low, but I think revamping the game in one big splash is the right approach. I don’t think small incremental updates and adjustments are going to get much of anyone to come back at this point.
rei
3250
The lack of enemy and mission variety is what kills the tiny nugget of gameplay “feel” that everyone says is its sole redeeming quality. I despise Anthem because of its “GAAS.”
KevinC
3251
Surely you knew Anthem followed the GaaS model before you picked it up, though? If that’s the reason you despise it, why did it you dive in in the first place?
rei
3252
I’m a big BioWare fan and did not follow any of the pre-hype, making of, or interviews or watch any of the press before launch. So no, I was unintentionally following a media blackout on it because I had no interest in it. I only picked it up on a friend’s recommendation because he preordered. I had access to it already from subscribing to Origin Premier in October for Battlefield V so I didn’t specifically buy the game. I’m profoundly disappointed being in service to the GAAS model crippled its storytelling.
KevinC
3253
I dunno, I think what got in Anthem’s way had more to do with Bioware’s incompetence than what business model they went with.
Thanks for the explanation of how you ended up in AnthemLand. :)
This is pretty much my take. If they pull the cord on Anthem, then Anthem is completely dead as a potential IP, and Bioware’s reputation along with it. EA have a lot invested in Bioware.
If they fix it, then it potentially becomes one of those media-ready “redemption stories”.
That said, short of basically demolishing the game right down to the foundations aside from the movement mechanics, and rebuilding a new game atop it, I don’t see what they could do to “save” it.
Rock8man
3255
I think a better Bioware redemption story would be a new Dragon Age or Mass Effect that gets great reviews. Much better than stories about “hey, this Anthem thing really pulled together after all”.
This.
Anthem is dead. It’s a bad game built on concepts that sounded cool but which were poorly executed. There’s just nothing about this that makes me think that Bioware/EA’s best use of money and resources lies in trying to fix it. Put it on an ice floe and push it out to sea.
I would be surprised to hear that EA/BioWare is working on rebuilding Anthem instead of working on DA/ME/something else. I’m reasonably confident they can do both, just as I mentioned, the new stuff probably gets priority.
Well yes. Plenty of rumors that DA4 is in pre-produciton.
The question is resource allocation. Anthem was a project management failure from the top down and at every step. So which project gets the best project managers? Code teams? QC testers? That a company can do many of those things at once is probably a given. But given that they put all their focus on Anthem for a while and delivered what they delivered suggests that if they really are hellbent on rescuing an historically bad game, they’d be best served by not splitting that development focus one bit.
As well as a new Mass Effect, according to Casey Hudson. But all that other stuff is details - every other company in the world, or at least every other company that runs more than one project concurrently, deals with this problem. Plenty of games have had challenging beginnings and made something of themselves, and I don’t see why Anthem necessarily has to fail. I don’t see how it must necessarily succeed either, but I’m willing to wait and see on that.
insert ‘why not both gif’ here.
rei
3261
Is there a stat sheet yet?
rei
3263
I love that they’re just starting now.
Start the conversation, he says.
The game crashed and burned 15 months ago.
Parks and Rec… Fortnite… Seinfeld… No Man’s Sky…
Oghier
3266
They’re about a year in. The community manager in the subreddit cleared things up. Still a long ways off, though.
