kerzain
3347
How has the 2.0 overhaul been going? Is Anthem worth picking up for $9 with the expectation that 2.0 will turn it into a real game?
With the shakeup today, I consider the future development in doubt until we get a statement of some sort (may have been one already, for all I know)
kerzain
3349
I didn’t realize how significant those people were to the overall health of Bioware projects, so I was just curious how far along 2.0 might have been before this stuff. Good info, thanks.
rei
3350
None of 2.0 has made it into playable form. Only a dev diary or two. It’s probably dead considering Darrah was basically responsible for Anthem shipping at all. Dailey hasn’t had anything major to show either since the game existed for its first two years without any changes.
MrTibbs
3351
This Tweet seems to imply it’s still a thing, but I we’re nearly two years out from when Anthem launched, so getting the game back on track and trying to capture interest will be a tall order.
The playthrough to the ‘endgame’ is worth that. I expect you could get it for a month for the $5 EA sub. And that might be coming to Gamepass. Hard to keep up.
Dejin
3354
It’s on Xbox Game Pass right now, because of EA Play. I assume it should show up on PC Game Pass shortly along with the other EA titles.
I did pick it up cheaply a while back…6 bucks I think, with the Hope 2.0 will be worth playing. I loved the game at launch, but played on a EA ultimate sub.
Grifman
3356
That’s really strange, Hudson just came back awhile ago. Have to wonder what is going on.
JD
3357
Schreier over at Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-08/electronic-arts-to-decide-fate-of-anthem-game-this-week
This week, EA executives will review the latest version of Anthem Next and decide whether to expand the team or abandon the project, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. The Anthem Next team includes about 30 people, BioWare said last year. People familiar with the project said it will need to expand to at least triple that in order to produce new content and continue attempting to overhaul the game. EA has not yet indicated whether it’s willing to commit that kind of budget to revive a maligned game.
Wow. If true, I just can’t see them spending the money to relaunch to the level it needs. Frankly, I’m surprised they haven’t outright killed it yet.
It’s been two years already? God.
KevinC
3360
I’m not a game developer but this just seems to point to a really grotesque and inefficient content pipeline:
The engine is already there, the game is already there. They need to change up character progression, the loot system, and that sort of thing, but not build a game out of whole cloth. So why on earth would that require ninety people??? The existing 30 people is larger than a lot of dev teams.
How long have those 30 people been working on Next? Good grief.
It has been obvious that the team needed to expand for it to be properly developed for a long time now.
I mean, how does EA make its money back from that investment? I actually like Anthem for what it is, there just needs to be more of it. But that seems like dumping money in a big hole at this point.
Mr Anthem meeting with his EA bosses to discuss his future with the company
Yeah, I agree. Theoretically they could pull a Diablo 3 or whatever Ubisoft pulled off with several of its games like Rainbow Six Siege or For Honor and others, but I figure they’d have much better luck just making a new game and trying to make it a success from the get-go.
Either way the new game will probably leverage the bits of Anthem they like. The question is just whether they call it Anthem Next or Completely New Franchise 1 :)
Ok, or Mass Effect V.
