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ANTHEM - failed Destiny clone from BioWare

Crane

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath
One of the most-anticipated blockbuster games of 2019 just crashed and burned — here's what's going on with 'Anthem'
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  • The first huge game of 2019 was supposed to be "Anthem," a brand-new game from EA's acclaimed BioWare studio
  • Instead, "Anthem" is the latest example of hype and marketing leading to extraordinary backlash.
  • Worse, after launch, the game has been plagued by major issues.



What went wrong with "Anthem"?

That's the big question in the first few months of 2019. The new game was a highly-anticipated blockbuster from EA's beloved BioWare studio. The storied studio is responsible for popular franchises like "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age," and spent decades earning good will with gaming's most evangelic fans.

But rather than celebrating, BioWare is now scrambling to fix its newest game and stem the barrage of negativity it's seen since the rocky, complicated launch of "Anthem" in mid-February.

Here's a step-by-step recap of how EA blew it:


1. "Anthem" was officially announced in June 2017 at E3, the annual video game trade show. Here's what that looked like:

A lengthy gameplay video — "captured in-game running in real time" — demonstrated what players could expect from the brand-new franchise.

"It's a dynamic world, where the unexpected is around every corner," an announcer explains as the gorgeous, detailed video plays.

That first look introduced much of the foundational aspects of "Anthem": Fort Tarsis, the concept of "javelin" suits, and the social, online-only nature of the game.

It also set a potentially impossible bar for the game to reach: Despite the trailer's insistence that it was captured from the actual game, there are massive discrepancies between the game demonstrated at E3 2017 and the game that launched in mid-February 2019.

Videos highlighting those differences have gone viral in recent weeks.

2. It was shown once again the following year, at E3 in June 2018, with a lengthy gameplay demo:

It was at E3 2018 where public sentiment on "Anthem" went from cautious interest to cautious worry.

BioWare, a studio known for its storytelling chops, appeared to be creating a so-called "loot shooter" along the lines of the "Destiny" or "The Division" franchises, a genre in which gameplay trumps storyline. Though lots of BioWare fans enjoyed the gameplay of Anthem's"Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age" games, what drove so many players to BioWare games had always been the rich worlds and the characters within those worlds.

BioWare repeatedly promised that those fans would still find something to love in "Anthem." There's even a marketing phrase tied to it: "Our World, My Story."

The idea was that the looting and shooting aspects of "Anthem" would be tied to the game's online-only open world. The story aspects would be tied to an area named Fort Tarsis, which is where you'd go between missions.

What fans mostly heard was that BioWare's latest game was focused on gameplay over story — a concern that turned out to be founded.

3. The first major sign of problems: The "Anthem" buyer's guide chart from EA.
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Just buying the game was more work than it should've been.
EA/BioWare
What you see above is an actual chart published on EA's official help channel. That any game requires a complex chart to explain to players when and how they can actually play the game is absurd.

That's worth stressing: No game should require players to consult a chart in order to figure out when they can play it.

By doing so, EA illustrated an ongoing issue with modern blockbuster games.

In an effort to diversify and increase profits while facing increasingly high production costs, many blockbuster games come in a variety of different editions. In the case of "Anthem," there was a standard edition for $60 and a "Legion of Dawn" edition which cost $20 more. Pretty simple so far!

Here's where it gets complicated: EA offers several different subscription services.

If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA Access, which is available only on Xbox One, you could start playing "Anthem" on February 15. If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA's Origin Access Basic plan, which is only available on PC, you also could start playing "Anthem" on February 15.

For everyone else, the game officially launched on February 22.

That applied even if you preordered the game and paid $80 for the special "Legion of Dawn" version and, more bizarrely, even if you pay for the more expensive tier of EA's Origin Access program. Huh?

It was, put simply, a mess — a mess that came with its own chart to illustrate how much of a mess it was. "Anthem" was taking flak before it even came out.

4. The public first got to try "Anthem" in early 2019. Things did not go well.
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EA/BioWare
Right around the same time as BioWare's owner, EA, released the buying chart, the "VIP Demo" for "Anthem" launched.

The idea of the "VIP Demo" was to reward people who pre-ordered "Anthem" with an early taste. Additionally, if you were a paid subscriber to either of EA's subscription programs, you also get access to the demo.

In so many words: The only way into this demo was with money.

And that's exactly why people were so mad when the demo was busted for the majority of the weekend it was available. Many were unable to get past the login screen seen above; others were forced to restart the game after it hit an "infinite loading" bug where a loading screen showed progress until, nearing completion, it froze indefinitely.

Before the general public could even play it, the game had hit another major snag with potential fans.

5. By its mid-February launch, the hype for "Anthem" among gaming's most ardent fans had turned into snark. It was received poorly by critics.
5c4f22252bdd7f38e45325f1-750-422.jpg
EA/BioWare
"Anthem" has a Metacritic average of 60 based on over 60 reviews from a variety of publications. The studio's last game, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," was widely regarded as a disaster — it has a Metacritic average of around 70.

Put simply: Critics had a resoundingly negative response to "Anthem."

As Business Insider's Kevin Webb wrote in his review:

"It has the impressive budget and production value you expect from Electronic Arts, a major publisher. It's a brand-new franchise with ongoing support from BioWare, the celebrated creators of the 'Mass Effect' series. 'Anthem's' most important hook, the mechanized 'javelins' that let players fly and explore the game's massive open world, are awesome in design and amazing to see in motion.

And yet, I'm not sure if all of that makes 'Anthem' a fun game. While I've mostly enjoyed the 10 hours I've spent with 'Anthem' so far, I couldn't fight the feeling that parts of the new third-person shooter felt more like work than play."

6. Post-launch bugs have taken the situation from bad to much worse.
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EA/BioWare
Initially, some folks were claiming that the PlayStation 4 version of "Anthem" was outright killing — or "bricking" — their consoles. The reality wasn't quite that bad, but the version of "Anthem" on PS4 does indeed have a bug that powers down the console.

Hilarious as that may sound, it's potentially dangerous for the data on a PS4.

That's because modern game consoles are essentially PCs. And what happens when you suddenly, without warning, pull the plug from a PC? The next time you turn it on, the computer lets you know not to do that again.

The same thing goes for the PlayStation 4. Some users had to restart their consoles in Safe Mode just to get things running correctly again. This is far from normal, in case that wasn't already clear — games don't force consoles to restart, let alone major console games from major publishers like EA.

7. EA got in its own way by releasing "Apex Legends" near-simultaneously with "Anthem."
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"Apex Legends/Electronic Arts
"No one really knew how much it would take off," BioWare lead producer Mike Gamble told Business Insider in a phone interview last month. Gamble, the lead producer on "Anthem," was commenting on the curious timing for the release of EA's other title, "Apex Legends," right before his own game's long-planned launch.

Since its surprise announcement and launch on February 4, "Apex Legends" has attracted more than 50 million players. It's a bonafide hit across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC — in fact, "Apex Legends" is growing even more quickly than "Fortnite."

It's safe to say no one could've expected this kind of reaction, even in the wake of the "Fortnite" phenomenon.

But what does the massive, sudden success of "Apex Legends" mean for "Anthem"? Major blockbuster titles like "Anthem" typically take tens of milions, sometimes even hundreds of millions, of dollars to create over several years. After all that time and money though, there is far, far more conversation about "Apex Legends" righ tnow than there is about "Anthem."

8. BioWare has more "Anthem" in the works, and is focused on fixing bugs in the meantime.
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Loading.
EA/BioWare
BioWare laid out a 90-day roadmap for "Anthem" that details a variety of upcoming additions to the game. Additionally, there appear to be plans for even more content beyond those first three months.

It remains to be seen if BioWare can turn the fate of "Anthem" around, or if it even makes sense to continue putting resources into the game — especially in comparison to the massively popular "Apex Legends," also published by EA.

"'Anthem's' launch represents a commitment we're making to you: we're just getting started," BioWare head of live service Chad Robertson wrote on the BioWare blog on February 22. "This is just the start of a rich Live Service we'll be creating together."

Get the latest Microsoft stock price here.

SEE ALSO: 'It's been a long road to get here': BioWare's Mike Gamble on the launch of 'Anthem,' and what the team learned from that rocky demo
 
Last edited:

Rahdulan

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So basically, only thing saving Athem from getting what it deserves is the fact Fallout 76 is still fresh on everyone's mind?
 

Perkel

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The actual gameplay of Destiny 2 was fucking bullshit because a lot of the game was actually really good. The writers, artists, (non-gameplay) designers, etc., did a top-notch job and it's bullshit that it was attached to such a shit game.

??

You talk about D2 story and stuff outside of gameplay itself which is great to be better than gameplay ?
What kind of planet you live on because it is not the earth.

The amount of pathos in D2 in on so high that makes me want to vomit.
Game just doesn't know how to execute proper storytelling and there are shitload of moments where you supposed to care or something about something and you only roll your eyes. Only thing gud about D2 is gunplay which is great and vistas. Everything else is just trash. Mostly because it establishes "legend" before actually being "legend".
 

J1M

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Bioware has three additional acts worth of content planned for Anthem. The Act 1 content will be fully unveiled by the end of March. The money men at EA are certainly not giving up on having a destiny clone in their stable yet.
Should be released right after that planned content for Mass Effect Andromeda DLC.
 

Echo Mirage

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Activision gave up on having Destiny in their stable. So the likelihood of EA keeping Anthem alive and on a drip feed of shareholder cash is almost zero.

It is funny when you think on it. By the time Anthem was released Destiny had already lived and died across two games and DLC. But EA and Bioware had spent too much time and money to abort the project.
 

Seethe

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Removing your support items massively increases melee/combo/proc/ult damage.



Reason: since patch game scales damage of combos/ults/procs and melee based on average item level you have equipped, but if you don't have item equipped at all it does not take that slot into account in calculation at all, meaning by removing the low level support item boosts your average item level for purpose of the calculation.

To remove your support item you can create a new fresh loadout - it starts without support item equipped.



Edit: and yes as one poster figured it out - this means if you equip ONLY legendary items you will basically do most damage with ult/combos/melee/procs. Technically - you can like equip only one legendary item and nothing else and wreck, but of course that's not very feasible due to HP and some components being good as is.



Also, my personal thoughts on this matter: lol, Bioware pls... y u do these things? C'mon man...


Ouch
 
Joined
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Intentionally handicapping yourself actually makes the game easier? Wow, it's like every scaling system ever implemented. Can we finally realize its a shitty system to use now?
 

fizzelopeguss

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Activision gave up on having Destiny in their stable.

What? Citation needed. More than likely Bungie had no interest in renewing their partnership with Activision. Which can be inferred from the tone in their public statements.

Barely an earnings call went by where activision wasn't mentioning how dissapointed they were in D2.
 
Joined
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Activision gave up on having Destiny in their stable.

What? Citation needed. More than likely Bungie had no interest in renewing their partnership with Activision. Which can be inferred from the tone in their public statements.

Barely an earnings call went by where activision wasn't mentioning how dissapointed they were in D2.
That's true, but Activision also has insane projections for all of their products. Anything less than record sales usually gets them to indicate disappointment. Bungie stated that they were happy with Forsaken's sales, and while both companies claimed the split was amicable, Bungie allegedly had a huge "we're free!" party after the deal to split was finalized. Activision has been in financial trouble recently, so between that and their expectations, they were probably more than happy to part with Destiny for a quick cash infusion. Meanwhile, Bungie seems happy to have gotten away from their corporate overlords and control a franchise that remains profitable. Irrespective of any opinions on the quality of the game, Destiny 2 doesn't seem to be a "dead game" or any such hyperbole.

Anthem on the other hand....
 

Dexter

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Messages
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Blaming the engine is bullshit when they have access to the source and are an arm of the same company that develops the engine.
Warframe uses an in-house engine that was created for the fucking singleplayer game Dark Sector by a handful of people.
This. Warhorse took Cryengine 3, an engine just as narrowly specialized for simple, corridor FPS, and turned it into a complex, open-world RPG with simulationist AI. It's an Eastern Yuro indie dev with like 5 programmers working for a potato soup a week.

Plus it's p. obvious there are piles of brontosaurus shit all over DAI and Anthem completely unrelated to the engine. All this talk about Frostbite is largely whining and blame shifting.
I wouldn't understate how much a closed-off engine with shitty tools can screw with a game's development. Consider that Unreal/CryEngine and Unity are all relatively open engines (open to the public and every hobbyist to screw around with) and have worked on things like tools and user experience for decades in some cases (since 1998/2002/2005 respectively) with a lot of input from outside developers they licensed it out to, while Frostbite is an internal engine developed by DICE for the sole purpose of rendering and playing Battlefield e.g. a Multiplayer shooty game on a relatively large singular map with 64 players and all the other studios that were likely forced by EA to use it, because "muh in-house" had to develop all their own tool-sets for their particular genres themselves. It's hard to know how horrible Frostbite really is though as a non-EA employee.
 
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Codex Year of the Donut


Blaming the engine is bullshit when they have access to the source and are an arm of the same company that develops the engine.
Warframe uses an in-house engine that was created for the fucking singleplayer game Dark Sector by a handful of people.
This. Warhorse took Cryengine 3, an engine just as narrowly specialized for simple, corridor FPS, and turned it into a complex, open-world RPG with simulationist AI. It's an Eastern Yuro indie dev with like 5 programmers working for a potato soup a week.

Plus it's p. obvious there are piles of brontosaurus shit all over DAI and Anthem completely unrelated to the engine. All this talk about Frostbite is largely whining and blame shifting.
I wouldn't understate how much a closed-off engine with shitty tools can screw with a game's development. Consider that Unreal/CryEngine and Unity are all relatively open engines (open to the public and every hobbyist to screw around with) and have worked on things like tools and user experience for decades in some cases (since 1998/2002/2005 respectively) with a lot of input from outside developers they licensed it out to, while Frostbite is an internal engine developed by DICE for the sole purpose of rendering and playing Battlefield e.g. a Multiplayer shooty game on a relatively large singular map with 64 players and all the other studios that were likely forced by EA to use it, because "muh in-house" had to develop all their own tool-sets for their particular genres themselves. It's hard to know how horrible Frostbite really is though as a non-EA employee.

CDProjekt made their own game engine and developed both Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 using it in less time than it took to create Anthem.
 

SerratedBiz

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Bioware is back on damage control as they once again become active in communicating with their fans, as opposed to the blackout that had been happening ever since the enhanced loot -> shitty loot debacle.

Game must really be on fire if they're scrambling like this.

 

Gerrard

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It has voice chat.
CDProjekt made their own game engine and developed both Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 using it in less time than it took to create Anthem.
But didn't you hear, CDPR stole UE3 source code because some of the system folders have the same names. Some retard here on the codex used to claim so (I honestly don't remember who it was, it was years ago) so it must be true! :lol:
 

Plaguecrafter

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Bioware is back on damage control as they once again become active in communicating with their fans, as opposed to the blackout that had been happening ever since the enhanced loot -> shitty loot debacle.

Game must really be on fire if they're scrambling like this.



:thisisfine:
 

Night Goat

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I can't wait the first headline claiming "Bioware is dead". I was waiting for Anthem release just for this moment.
If only Apex wasn't around it would be even more glorious for EA
Apex won't be around much longer. It was briefly popular because it had no barrier to entry and was aggressively shilled, but now that the honeymoon's worn off it's hemorrhaging players. I'm basing this on Twitch viewers in the absence of other metrics, but since it's zoomerbait this is probably fairly accurate.
 
Joined
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Codex Year of the Donut
I can't wait the first headline claiming "Bioware is dead". I was waiting for Anthem release just for this moment.
If only Apex wasn't around it would be even more glorious for EA
Apex won't be around much longer. It was briefly popular because it had no barrier to entry and was aggressively shilled, but now that the honeymoon's worn off it's hemorrhaging players. I'm basing this on Twitch viewers in the absence of other metrics, but since it's zoomerbait this is probably fairly accurate.
making a business model out of a group of peoples(children) that typically have a near-zero attention span probably isn't a great idea tbh
 

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