Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[Katchii]

There's no text chat because PC is an afterthought.

Which is still pretty bogus because you can hook up a mouse and keyboard to a console just fine.

I personally don't care all that much, but I do find it weird because pretty much every other game like this has it, why can't this one?

I'd like to see an honest answer as to why they felt text chat couldn't or shouldn't be in a game like this.

[Big Thanks]

Which is still pretty bogus because you can hook up a mouse and keyboard to a console just fine.

I personally don't care all that much, but I do find it weird because pretty much every other game like this has it, why can't this one?

I'd like to see an honest answer as to why they felt text chat couldn't or shouldn't be in a game like this.

there was a post on videogames sub forum about this...or was it off-topic? Cant remember.

1 sec....

Edit:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...in-video-games

There you go, the reason why Anthem and possibly every game from now on wont have text chat.

[kaid]

There's no text chat because PC is an afterthought.

At least for this game that appears to be true. It is very very very very much setup as a console game everything about it points that direction. Honestly if the voice chat in game works well enough it may not matter that much but I did find myself trying to chat and not being able to is always a bit off putting.

[Big Thanks]

At least for this game that appears to be true. It is very very very very much setup as a console game everything about it points that direction. Honestly if the voice chat in game works well enough it may not matter that much but I did find myself trying to chat and not being able to is always a bit off putting.

Its not Biowares fault though...i mean...they could have spent extra money to develop chat for the disabled...but maybe is too costly? I dont know.

[Sixnalia]

Which is still pretty bogus because you can hook up a mouse and keyboard to a console just fine.

I personally don't care all that much, but I do find it weird because pretty much every other game like this has it, why can't this one?

I'd like to see an honest answer as to why they felt text chat couldn't or shouldn't be in a game like this.

I imagine it's a mix of reasons.
The most popular reason given is usually the recent law that requires text to speech and speech to text accessibility if a text chat is in a game that releases after the deadline.
However, voice chat technically violates the law if it has no accessibility options too.

Another possible reason is the engine.
Frostbite was already a bad engine for RPG elements as it was built originally for shooters.
The only frostbite engine game with text chat is Battlefront/2. (To my knowledge)
And it was met with endless complaints because of how bad it was.

EA studios dont seem to share much work either.

So Anthem would need to build text chat, and all the accessibility features from scratch in the engine, to my knowledge.


People bringing up Apex Legends, they're using Source Engine.
And the text chat's accessibility features are only for PC.
So the console version is breaking the law being referenced as well.

Last note. Bioware's shooters often avoid text chat.
Mass effect 3 and andromeda multiplayer didnt have them.
So they probably have a stance that text chat is always a backseat thought.
But the law in place, combined with needing to build the text chat and accessibility features in Frostbite is a good set of excuses in their mind to justify not doing it.


I'd prefer to have text chat, personally.
I have a habit of muting most randoms.
Especially if they do things like not use push to talk, mouth breathe, eat on mic, sound like a sesame street character.
Misophonia 5000

[Big Thanks]

@Sixnalia

According to the US accessibility law...expansions and major DLC's fall into this law.
Meaning World of Warcraft will need both text-to-voice and voice-to-chat on the next expansion.
crazy stuff

[Katchii]

there was a post on videogames sub forum about this...or was it off-topic? Cant remember.

1 sec....

Edit:

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...in-video-games

There you go, the reason why Anthem and possibly every game from now on wont have text chat.

I remember the thread and the news reported in it. I'm saying the validity of that statement is kind of called into question when the new BR game Apex launched yesterday as well and includes text chat. Kind of makes it seem like they were just blowing smoke.

[Lindon]

To be completely honest, I don't think the lack of a text chat is going to be much of a problem. I'm mainly basing this on the fact that over my my maybe 500 hours played in Destiny 2 (which has text chat), i've probably only seen it used 5-6 times. All of which were gibberish/toxic flaming.

I won't deny that having a text chat is better than not having it.

[Big Thanks]

I remember the thread and the news reported in it. I'm saying the validity of that statement is kind of called into question when the new BR game Apex launched yesterday as well and includes text chat. Kind of makes it seem like they were just blowing smoke.

Probably this:

Games that enter development after that date (Dec. 31) must now be fully compliant. Unreleased games already in development must be as compliant as possible, although the IGDA said the progress of a game’s development might be taken into account in case of a complaint. Meanwhile, games released before Dec. 31 that receive substantial updates after that date must also be compliant. That last one will likely affect many online games that release major DLC or expansions, like “Fortnite,” “Destiny 2,” or “World of Warcraft.”

Otherwise they risk paying fines.

[kaid]

Its not Biowares fault though...i mean...they could have spent extra money to develop chat for the disabled...but maybe is too costly? I dont know.

Destiny was really weird at launch as well. Social game that the only way to arrange and socialize was to do so via third party apps. It may be some ratings issue they are trying to avoid or something but destiny was freaking weird like this as well. We shall see how this goes but I do kinda see that they are just patterning it at least at the start for destiny and how they handled it.

[Big Thanks]

Destiny was really weird at launch as well. Social game that the only way to arrange and socialize was to do so via third party apps. It may be some ratings issue they are trying to avoid or something but destiny was freaking weird like this as well. We shall see how this goes but I do kinda see that they are just patterning it at least at the start for destiny and how they handled it.

I still dont know if i will buy Anthem.
Text chat is a pretty major thing for me since i will probably have no real life friends playing this.
And the "social" experience is what gives me strenght to play looter games where i will sink a lot of hours.

Do you know if there is any kind of system to keep the group?

For example, you complete a "dungeon", it goes pretty well and you say to yourself "damm i wish i could keep this group".
Is there a feature for that?

[Katchii]

Probably this:



Otherwise they risk paying fines.

Which still doesn't really answer the question because Anthem was in development WELL before December 31, 2018.

I'm not saying it's not a valid reason, just that the reasoning seems a bit overblown or overstated. Seems fishy to me.

I am curious though how long standing MMO's like WoW and FFXIV will address this.

[Big Thanks]

Which still doesn't really answer the question because Anthem was in development WELL before December 31, 2018.

I'm not saying it's not a valid reason, just that the reasoning seems a bit overblown or overstated. Seems fishy to me.

I am curious though how long standing MMO's like WoW and FFXIV will address this.

Me 2. Im very curious.

No text chat is a deal breaker for me sadly.
I only need 2 things in looters.

1)Text Chat
2)A system that lets me keep the group of randos i just met (without having to add them individually to friends list)

Voice chat is too personal with randoms...specially when you want to get rid of them awkward

[Jastall]

I understand your stance, but saying SWTOR crashed and burned is completely false. It failed as a subscription MMO, or at least failed to perform up to EA's standards, but it's a pretty thriving F2P MMO and has been profitable for years.

If Anthem "suffers the same fate" that would mean it "failed" as a blockbuster game, but would still end up being a long term, slow burn but profitable game with a loyal fan base that supports it enough to make it worthwhile to keep the servers running and get updates every so often. From a business perspective, that's not really that bad. From a consumers perspective, I wouldn't call that great, but it's certainly not a failure.

It crashed and burn in the sense of being the next big MMO, which is definitely what EA was expecting of it given the absurdly massive budget allocated to TOR. You don't throw 150M$ (if memory serves) at a game and expect a slow burn, mitigated success. You expect the kind of smash hit WoW was, or at least something that doesn't go F2P after a year.

That's the context I'm talking about, I should have made it clearer. Anthem may be a slow burn success (hell it's kind of what I want out of the game, not a smash hit but not a total disgrace either), who knows? But EA most likely expects something bigger than Destiny, which I'm 99.9% sure they won't get. How they will react to that remains to be seen.

[Edge-]

But EA most likely expects something bigger than Destiny, which I'm 99.9% sure they won't get. How they will react to that remains to be seen.

They're currently hoping 6M copies in 6 weeks (so a month and a half or so). That's achievable and similar to Destiny expectations IIRC, but I don't imagine it will be easy hitting that number unless the game really hits the ground running. If it stumbles, which is very likely as most games like this stumble out of the gate, then they'll likely miss that target.

[kaelleria]

They're currently hoping 6M copies in 6 weeks (so a month and a half or so). That's achievable and similar to Destiny expectations IIRC, but I don't imagine it will be easy hitting that number unless the game really hits the ground running. If it stumbles, which is very likely as most games like this stumble out of the gate, then they'll likely miss that target.

Destiny ended up selling that in a week. If it's a smooth launch, they should hit that no problem.

[Edge-]

Destiny ended up selling that in a week. If it's a smooth launch, they should hit that no problem.

Possibly. Destiny had a lot of positive hype leading into it IIRC - there were some concerns, but the quality of Destiny 1 around that time had a lot of folks confident the sequel would be better.

Meanwhile, EA/BW are fighting back against a wave of generic "EA BAD" hate, lootbox mania, and all kinds of other issues.

So I think it's far from a sure thing, even if they long smooth. But a smooth launch will definitely go a long way in helping them hit those targets.

[kaelleria]

Possibly. Destiny had a lot of positive hype leading into it IIRC - there were some concerns, but the quality of Destiny 1 around that time had a lot of folks confident the sequel would be better.

Meanwhile, EA/BW are fighting back against a wave of generic "EA BAD" hate, lootbox mania, and all kinds of other issues.

So I think it's far from a sure thing, even if they long smooth. But a smooth launch will definitely go a long way in helping them hit those targets.

This is true... If they continue with the transparency they've had and deliver meaningful content updates within a month that will also help.

[Gorsameth]

Yeah Destiny 2 was riding the coat tails of Destiny 1 and finally bring a 'good' looter shooter to PC. It also sold on battle.net so people could buy it with WoW gold.
I don't see Anthem pulling in D2 numbers at launch.

[Katchii]

It crashed and burn in the sense of being the next big MMO, which is definitely what EA was expecting of it given the absurdly massive budget allocated to TOR. You don't throw 150M$ (if memory serves) at a game and expect a slow burn, mitigated success. You expect the kind of smash hit WoW was, or at least something that doesn't go F2P after a year.

That's the context I'm talking about, I should have made it clearer. Anthem may be a slow burn success (hell it's kind of what I want out of the game, not a smash hit but not a total disgrace either), who knows? But EA most likely expects something bigger than Destiny, which I'm 99.9% sure they won't get. How they will react to that remains to be seen.

Agree with everything you said.

Though sadly, SW:ToR ballpark estimates puts it at ~$300 million total cost for development and marketing. Marketing isn't included in development cost reports, but estimates have it at ~$100 million for marketing with the game costing ~$200 million for development.