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Initial launch sales are much more impactful for a single-player game frankly, because I have to imagine a sizable amount of those buyers resold it after they were done with it (and GaaS is built on the long-tail).
EA's expectation was "we can get X% of players back, plus X% of new players" and the math wasn't looking good seemingly.
Some people expect Broward to pull "NMS" 180 turn around.
Turns out not everyone is as committed like Hello Games.
Turns out not everyone is as committed like Hello Games.
Sold well at launch but died fast. It didn't meet EA's 5M~6M target for sales in the first month and a bit and interest dropped off very fast, to the point where people were talking about a F2P relaunch not long after the game was released.
I think the big problem with Anthem in this respect was monetization. Even assuming the game didn't critically bomb like it did, I never once was remotely interested in putting more dough into it for the extremely lackluster and limited vanity items they cycled through in their store.
The fact that EA shut this down probably tells me that although the devs might have had great ideas for how to rework the game portion of Anthem, there probably wasn't a satisfactory monetization rework in place that would justify pouring a ton of resources into a redemption story.
yeah that was the idea. unfortunately, you have to make a game players want to play first.
Selling well isn't enough for live service games especially AAA ones with higher budgets, you need a steady stream of of player engagement to keep money coming in from sales
Remember when it was revealed that this game was codenamed "Dylan" because it was going to be the Bob Dylan of video games?
As someone who put a ton of time into Anthem, this was the right move. The game is done, it's been done for years, better to move on and stop wasting developers' time on faffing around with UI mockups that were never going to revive the game's reputation.
The thing that I feel is often misunderstood in these circumstances from the takes i am seeing online is that with Anthem, the issue isnt that "they needed more time", they were working on this game for like 6 or so years to my memory.
The problem is that out of those 6 years, they didnt know what this game is even going to be for at least 4 and a half of them. Its a management and direction issue.
The problem is that out of those 6 years, they didnt know what this game is even going to be for at least 4 and a half of them. Its a management and direction issue.
the amount of potential this game had was outstanding. to see it flop hurts. rest in peace Living Flame/Lightning Strike Strom javelin :(
Anthem Next was announced a year ago. You're telling me in the past year they've accomplished nothing that could be patched into the game, rather than just thrown away with this announcement?
I have no stake either way, as I haven't played the game. But if behind the scenes they did accomplish something, then why not patch in some of it as a final gesture?
I really don't see how this could have ended up differently. 30 people working on it over 2 years while all updates are pretty much suspended? This was never going to bring the results needed to materialize, it was a waste of money, time and talent and I don't know why they even tried it. A rework like this needed an all hands on deck approach, it needed money and a large team. EA/Bioware obviously (and wisely) wasn't willing to do that, but keeping 30 people around to do prototyping for 2 years is just completely illogical unless they were literally counting on a miracle. They were doomed from the start.
This.
And the same happened with Andromeda.They had 5 years and they ended up making the game in less than 2 years.
Is this game worth playing as a solo experience? I know I'm not expecting a masterpiece but it can't be that bad
For someone who just started this(10-12 hours), what's so bad about it? Love the mechanics but is it that there is little content? Will I just be fighting the same few enemies over in over what looks like the same landscape?
Where did they go wrong that I'll be seeing as I play on?
Where did they go wrong that I'll be seeing as I play on?
I hope the developmemt of DA4 and next Mass Effect will go well. It's been a long long time since BioWare had a development cycle without issues.
In the end it just ended up being Anthem of Video Games.
In the end it just ended up being Anthem of Video Games.
Feel bad for the team working on it.
But...happy that more people will be working on Dragon Age.
But...happy that more people will be working on Dragon Age.
Yep. Covid or no Covid this wasn't going to be quick and easy.
People were able to work on this and get paid through the wurst period of a pandemic. They didn't waste a cent.
I think this had been a multiple stage discovery, no? Consoles showing "Project Dylan" here and there, and the flat reasoning getting confirmed a bit later?
Project Dylan. What an absolute fucking waste. Every once and a while I think I should at least finish the story content.
Then I ask myself, "why?"
Then I ask myself, "why?"
It fails more as a GaaS game than a single-player game, to be honest. It's an okay game just playing for the story, it's really the gear progression and endgame and social hub aspects that hurt it the most.
If DA4 flops like actually flops ME4(like if DA4 is a 75 game but sells beyond expectations that's not going to count as a failure to me) isn't even going to happen. I can't imagine EA giving that much leash to Bioware like if DA4 flops Bioware just gonna try to announce another years away project at the TGA again while ME4 is the next chance? Unlikely to me.
You are downplaying it though. Doesn't matter if you thought they were going to do it. That doesn't mean that COVID didn't fuck up their plans. Some of y'all are seriously underestimating how much this has impacted game development.
As far as I'm aware, there's been nothing shown, described, or hinted at, other than UI mock-ups. That's why I asked if you were aware of any other news.
I think that what most likely happened was that a moderately-sized team sat down and started rethinking and redesigning core game systems, while small groups of them were tasked with UI reworks and similar changes, to be slotted into the rethought core systems when they were ready. If that's the case, then there's nothing to patch into Anthem as it stands. The earlier report that EA were going to be reviewing progress on Anthem Next also stated that they were at the point where the Anthem Next team would need to expand in order to make further progress - that suggests to me that the expansion, if it got the go-ahead, would have marked the real beginning of tangible development work on Anthem Next.
So that's all speculation, and I'm not telling you that's what happened, but if it did, then yeah, that'd mean they accomplished nothing that could be patched into the game.
Not much, EA had a skeleton crew on it. I don't disagree that Covid definately fucked things up even worse. As it has been probably responsible for so many delays already and delays yet to come.
The world and IP has promise, hopefully it can be resurrected one day (not this game but a sequel/refresh)
What do they mean by " We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today." ?
Simply keep the servers on ?
Simply keep the servers on ?
*sigh*
The absolute waste of potential.
The thing I really couldn't stand about Anthem is that you could see a far, far better game there.
The absolute waste of potential.
The thing I really couldn't stand about Anthem is that you could see a far, far better game there.