Anthem, 2019’s most talked about video game for all the wrong reasons. Limping into stores on release day and absolutely battered by its community as the weeks went on, Bioware’s ambitious stab at spinning straw into gold with a live service package has been nothing but a headache for the studio. Planned content drops have been left to simmer on the backburner while the studio has worked on fixing glaring flaws, communication with fans has been close to non-existent and the playerbase is a fraction of what it was on launch day.
E3 2019 didn’t provide much hope either, as Anthem’s presence was swept under the rug in favour of games such as FIFA and Apex Legends. Is EA finally ready to take Anthem out back and put it out of its misery? Not exactly. “IP lives for generations, and runs in these seven to ten year cycles,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson told GameDaily.
So, if I think about Anthem on a seven to ten year cycle, it may not have had the start that many of us wanted, including our players. I feel like that team is really going to get there with something special and something great, because they’ve demonstrated that they can.
Currently, Bioware Austin has been given the lion’s share of post-launch work on Anthem. According to Wilson, he reckons that one of the major stumbling blocks that Bioware discovered was that they were marketing a game that was at odds with what their dedicated audience was craving. Anthem isn’t exactly a standard Bioware game if you compare it to the likes of Mass Effect or Dragon Age. “What the Bioware teams are thinking about is that we’re going to build a lot of different types of games,” Wilson said.
We’re going to have our core Bioware audience that’s been with us for a really long time. There are kids today who are 12 years old who weren’t around when Bioware started making games…and they have different expectations of what a Bioware game should be in the context of the world they’ve grown up in.
Maybe Anthem can be a game that lives up to its potential, but it’s not going to be happening any time soon. It’s a pity, because for all of the valid criticism thrown at it there is a solid foundation of action and control that deserves better.
Last Updated: June 21, 2019
CrAiGiSh
June 21, 2019 at 08:30
Oh EA … you are such a special child now …
Pariah
June 21, 2019 at 16:04
Child? It’s a special college graduate at this point. As in it’s studied how to be fucking special and graduated with top honours.
CrAiGiSh
June 21, 2019 at 16:04
XD
Kromas
June 21, 2019 at 16:04
From Trump University.
Kromas
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
At this point they only have 2 ways of saving it. The Fallout 76 method of keeping everyone updated weekly and listening to feedback and actually using said feedback to make valid changes to the game or the No Mans Sky Method of just shutting up for a year then launching an update that satisfies their community and then doing it 3 more times till people start forgiving them.
Pariah
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
I feel like the NMS method was better, tbh. It’s also the better survival game.
Kromas
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
That is a matter of opinion. I feel Fallout 76 does a better job.
Llama In The Rift
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
At least i can play NMS on my own…plus Hello Games has like what, 10 people working on NMS?
So i concur…they did it way better.
Pariah
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
Heh, there’s a bit of irony in that. NMS was supposed to be MP on release and that was one of the more serious promises that Shaun broke. Fast forward a few years, and despite there being pretty good co-op in the game now, here you are saying you can just enjoy it on your own and that’s a positive.
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
Wait. Is he trying to say it’s the fault of fans of previous Bioware games that this Bioware game wasn’t well received, because it’s not like those games and they expected it would be, even though it was perfectly clearly from the get go that it wasn’t?
Here I thought people enjoyed EA’s patented surprise mechanics.
https://i1.wp.com/www.thetruthaboutthelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/grade-a-bullshit.jpg
Original Heretic
June 21, 2019 at 14:50
Oh look a dead horse. Wonder how fast we can still make it go.
Gareth Lagesse (eXCheez)
June 21, 2019 at 09:27
Bioware games are intended to be played by 12 year old kids? Has Mr Wilson ever played Mass Effect or Dragon Age?
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
June 21, 2019 at 16:05
Stopped reading after the words “Andrew Wilson”.
Allykhat
June 21, 2019 at 16:05
Comms would be a big one. More engagement too. The Subreddit had the first “major” post about updates and such recently, no CM engagement at all and I dont think the post even broken 300 replies.
At this rate, they need to pull an NMS/Hello Games style revival. Just shut up, take a year to fix the game and then rerelease it with a major DLC/Content drop. Interest in Anthem is abysmal right now and the only way to bring that even slightly back would be meaningful content without a price tag attached to it.
I got the game with Origin Access and I felt cheated… I honestly feel sorry for people who dropped retail on Anthem.
Llama In The Rift
June 21, 2019 at 08:56
Wilson: We need more Instagram Filters for the Cataclysm event Pronto!!