Anthem: Bioware's next Mass Effect-like IP

[Katchii]

Honestly it did. It was the singular move that actually saved SWTOr from very likely being shutdown.

Just to be clear, this is the only thing going F2P saved it from: getting shut down. It didn't improve the game at all, and arguably made it worse, but it's at least still online and putting out new content. The amount of new content is abysmal and the quality of that content is debatable, but HEY it's still online!

It's far better than the alternative of it going away completely, I agree, but let's not pretend that it really did much more than put it on indefinite life support. And the only reason it worked is because the base game and story are enjoyable, and the IP is freakin Star Wars.

I don't think Anthem would survive the transition, not in its current state, it needs a LOT more on offer.

[Greyvax]

After watching the BL3 gameplay reveal, i'd say that Anthem will be fully extinct on or before September 13th.

[SirCowdog]

I appreciate that and I wasn't trying to antagonise, more to present my view on SWTOR and its F2P so that people don't get their hopes too high up that "bioware did it before (save a game with a F2P re-launch) so they can/should do it again". That's all.

On the story aspect we can agree to disagree, that's just our own personal and subjective opinion.

Absolutely! F2P isn't some magic wand you wave in order to save a dying product. In many cases it's a last-ditch attempt to squeeze some monetization out of a failing game. Sometimes it has a positive effect, especially if the game was previously over-priced or had a bad business model to begin with. Or because it lets people try out a game that they never would have considered paying money for.

Unfortunately for Anthem, none of that will work. Anthem's business model is already fairly decent(buy once and play forever). But there's nothing within Anthem to attract people's interests. Play for free and do what? Some shallow, repetitive missions? The same 4 strongholds for shitty, uninteresting loot? To turn up the difficulty only to fight bullet-sponge enemies?

Meh all around, and this is coming from someone who paid only $15 to play it for a month. F2P can't squeeze blood from a stone.

[quras]

Just to be clear, this is the only thing going F2P saved it from: getting shut down. It didn't improve the game at all, and arguably made it worse, but it's at least still online and putting out new content. The amount of new content is abysmal and the quality of that content is debatable, but HEY it's still online!

It's far better than the alternative of it going away completely, I agree, but let's not pretend that it really did much more than put it on indefinite life support. And the only reason it worked is because the base game and story are enjoyable, and the IP is freakin Star Wars.

I don't think Anthem would survive the transition, not in its current state, it needs a LOT more on offer.

That I can very much agree with. It didn't make things better in any major way. Somethings got better, more content came through expansions and more SW story content with some neat additions but you are very much right in that the overall game didn't really get better. Class stories cut, bugs continued to stay around while new ones cropped up, content got worse and eventually story got worse. You are also right in that SW being what it is - likely one of the strongest IP's out there - thats why it was able to survive through the crap bioware designed.

I'm not entirely sure anthem could survive but I could see bioware pitching it as similar "comeback" story in moving it to a F2P model in that more money could be made while giving them more time as well. It might even cover that "relaunch" label to get some to return and some to just check it out.

[Katchii]

That I can very much agree with. It didn't make things better in any major way. Somethings got better, more content came through expansions and more SW story content with some neat additions but you are very much right in that the overall game didn't really get better. Class stories cut, bugs continued to stay around while new ones cropped up, content got worse and eventually story got worse. You are also right in that SW being what it is - likely one of the strongest IP's out there - thats why it was able to survive through the crap bioware designed.

I'm not entirely sure anthem could survive but I could see bioware pitching it as similar "comeback" story in moving it to a F2P model in that more money could be made while giving them more time as well. It might even cover that "relaunch" label to get some to return and some to just check it out.

If they decided to turn this into a fashion show with a TON more cosmetics and stuff on offer, I'm sure it would do fine in the short term while they worked on providing more actual content. I've personally never been one for loot grinders, so I've stopped playing since reaching max level and finishing all the story stuff, but I did honestly enjoy the time I spent in the game.

For people who like loot grinders, I'm sure that if the game went F2P with more cosmetics up for grabs, the game would stumble a bit but would ultimately just coast along and be "fine" but would probably be forgotten and be played by a niche of players just like SWToR without as many players. But before that happens, the game needs FAR more content and activities at max level.

[Onikaroshi]

After watching the BL3 gameplay reveal, i'd say that Anthem will be fully extinct on or before September 13th.

Eh, it'll be dead for me when the servers shut down, still the best gameplay imo in this type of game period. Content is just lacking a bit.

[quras]

Not much good news here on the anthem front nor good news for Dragon Age either now that I think about it.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-ag...lead-creators/

[Jtbrig7390]

Not much good news here on the anthem front nor good news for Dragon Age either now that I think about it.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-ag...lead-creators/

Whelp that's that.

Its becoming very clear that Bioware is just going to abandon Anthem and leave it to a slow death. Its also very likely DA4 will be rushed out the gate in a attempt to avoid getting the death blow from EA.

It sucks I feel for those who had no say on the matter but Bioware is on their way out. If DA4 fails (and it likely will) that's it for them.

And once again History Repeats itself.

[Edge-]

Not much good news here on the anthem front nor good news for Dragon Age either now that I think about it.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-ag...lead-creators/

I mean...it's not really surprising though. As with most games like this, there's a core team that works on development and then a team that handles live-services while the core team moves to other projects. The Edmonton folks are the core team and many already rotated off, so more leadership is similarly rotating over to DA while the handful of folks left at Edmonton and the Austin team handle live service.

It looks worse because of the state of the game, but this isn't an indication that they're abandoning ship or anything. At least not yet. But it's definitely a missed opportunity for an "all hands on deck" move that could potentially win back some player trust.

[Makabreska]

Ofc it's gonna be abandoned. Why EA big wigs would risk pumping resources into a failed game that is bleeding players? Onto another "live service" title!

[Gorsameth]

A better question would be, can we trust the leads of Anthem to not fuck up Dragon Age?
Anthem has been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, did they learn from that? We shall see.

[kaid]

I mean...it's not really surprising though. As with most games like this, there's a core team that works on development and then a team that handles live-services while the core team moves to other projects. The Edmonton folks are the core team and many already rotated off, so more leadership is similarly rotating over to DA while the handful of folks left at Edmonton and the Austin team handle live service.

It looks worse because of the state of the game, but this isn't an indication that they're abandoning ship or anything. At least not yet. But it's definitely a missed opportunity for an "all hands on deck" move that could potentially win back some player trust.

That is sort of my question. It is very possible that those guys stayed on longer with the live team just to get some of the major crash bug type stuff sorted out and that largely has happened. Still issues with disconnection type errors but a lot of the original hard power down your PS4 type stuff is sorted out. So if they were not slated to be part of the live team it seems not unreasonable for them to transition to their new project. The couple devs I know who work there had already started shifting to their new project during the prelaunch week of anthem. Now if these guys were supposed to be guys on the live team that could be a much bigger issue. Still they have been actively hiring for the anthem team so I think I will hold off panic on this announcement as it may very well just be the normal flow of dev into live post launch staffing.

[dope_danny]

A better question would be, can we trust the leads of Anthem to not fuck up Dragon Age?
Anthem has been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, did they learn from that? We shall see.

After DA2, ME3, Inquisition, Andromeda AND Anthem the bigger question is why would you expect otherwise? its been a sliding gradient of increasingly shittier quality since 2011.

[Video Games]

Where is the earnings call so i can make fun of ea some more?

[Yunru]

Where is the earnings call so i can make fun of ea some more?

You can read it here if you wana read this non-sense:
Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2019
Financial metrics:
• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.163 billion.
o Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be
approximately $56 million.
o Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(49) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $170 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.56.
• The Company estimates a share count of 303 million for purposes of calculating
fourth quarter fiscal year 2019 diluted earnings per share.
Operational metric:
• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.170 billion.
In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18%
are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and
plan for future periods:

https://ir.ea.com/financial-informat...s/default.aspx

[Edge-]

You can read it here if you wana read this non-sense:
Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2019
Financial metrics:
• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.163 billion.
o Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be
approximately $56 million.
o Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(49) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $170 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.56.
• The Company estimates a share count of 303 million for purposes of calculating
fourth quarter fiscal year 2019 diluted earnings per share.
Operational metric:
• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.170 billion.
In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18%
are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and
plan for future periods:

https://ir.ea.com/financial-informat...s/default.aspx

That's expectations, the actual call is next week.

[Makabreska]

A better question would be, can we trust the leads of Anthem to not fuck up Dragon Age?
Anthem has been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, did they learn from that? We shall see.

If EA would actually for once stop giving those incompetent people such free reign and no supervision, then MAYBE we can get a decent game.

[Edge-]

If EA would actually for once stop giving those incompetent people such free reign and no supervision, then MAYBE we can get a decent game.

I can't begin to describe how delightful it is to see people complaining about EA not micromanaging and forcing decisions on a developer. My, how far we've come : 3

[Baconeggcheese]

Not much good news here on the anthem front nor good news for Dragon Age either now that I think about it.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-ag...lead-creators/

Was reading the reddit post that these articles all spawned from and apparently those dudes weren't even supposed to be on Anthem in the first place. They were just in triage mode with the state of the game and pulled an all hands on deck to try and salvage it.

Not at all surprising, but it does show where their priorities are.

A better question would be, can we trust the leads of Anthem to not fuck up Dragon Age?
Anthem has been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, did they learn from that? We shall see.

I dunno how much overlap there would be between DA players and Anthem but I would have an incredibly difficult time supporting DA after how they've treated Anthem thus far and their current track record.

They abandoned the last ME, and Anthem was a shit show of development... unless I was a massive fan of the series I'd just ignore DA4 until it comes out and proves itself.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't begin to describe how delightful it is to see people complaining about EA not micromanaging and forcing decisions on a developer. My, how far we've come : 3

Its freaking weird, we literally just had people singing Apex's praises and how EA being hands off could make an amazing game and now we have the opposite.

Though who knows what game we would have gotten if they didn't have to impress that one EA dude with nothing more than just flying and graphics.

[Edge-]

Though who knows what game we would have gotten if they didn't have to impress that one EA dude with nothing more than just flying and graphics.

Probably an uglier game where we wouldn't be able to fulfill Iron Man fantasies. It amuses me that some of the best parts of the game came from EA telling BW that the demo they showed off was hot-garbage and they needed to fix it ASAP.