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Will Bioware Tell Players They’re Killing Anthem?

VertigoOA

Banned
Anthem’s failure is mostly unprecedented.

It didnt just lose a percentage of players. It lost ALL its players.

They’re clearly not releasing content. The cataclysm gimmick is some garbage weather system that is only a seasonal waste of time not worth playing.

Please let us know to that our hdd space is being wasted ... thanks Bioware
 

Stimpak

Member
I sidestepped this game entirely.

Not too surprised that all or almost all players have left.

BioWare hasn’t been good since Mass Effect 1.

I don’t know what happened. I grew up playing their games and now I avoid them like the plague.
 
I sidestepped this game entirely.

Not too surprised that all or almost all players have left.

BioWare hasn’t been good since Mass Effect 1.

I don’t know what happened. I grew up playing their games and now I avoid them like the plague.

I know that variety is the spice of life and different strokes for different folks, but how do people who like ME1 not like ME2? For me it was just like ME1 but bigger/better. It’s been awhile so maybe I’m foggy on it though.
 
I know that variety is the spice of life and different strokes for different folks, but how do people who like ME1 not like ME2? For me it was just like ME1 but bigger/better. It’s been awhile so maybe I’m foggy on it though.

Easy. Those people wanted to play an RPG.

Me? I enjoyed the ME trilogy and understand they have faults, especially 3. But I enjoyed them mainly because I liked the characters and the setting.
 

zeorhymer

Member
Didn't all of the creative team leave Bioware or at least the Anthem team?
I know that variety is the spice of life and different strokes for different folks, but how do people who like ME1 not like ME2? For me it was just like ME1 but bigger/better. It’s been awhile so maybe I’m foggy on it though.
I liked ME1 for the story. The RPG items/weapons were too cumbersome and a lot of the items were not needed. I loved ME2 as it made a blend of RPG and action with less emphasis on items and more on personal skills.
 

CJY

Banned
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Lone Wolf

Member
I know that variety is the spice of life and different strokes for different folks, but how do people who like ME1 not like ME2? For me it was just like ME1 but bigger/better. It’s been awhile so maybe I’m foggy on it though.
I love both ME1 and 2 for different reasons. They are in my top 5 games. 3 in my opinion was awful.
 

Stimpak

Member
I know that variety is the spice of life and different strokes for different folks, but how do people who like ME1 not like ME2? For me it was just like ME1 but bigger/better. It’s been awhile so maybe I’m foggy on it though.
Mass effect 2 wasn’t a bad game, but it didn’t do what made me love Mass Effect 1.

They reduced the role playing aspect too much for me.

No armors, no meaningful character builds, and, they tie your morality to your speech skill. If you don’t have enough good points you can’t use that option.

That killed the role playing aspect of mass effect to me.

In mass effect 1 I felt as if I was commander Shepard.

In mass effect 2 I felt I was along for the ride.
 

FStubbs

Member
I didn't know it was doing this bad. Is this the biggest bust in gaming history in terms of dollars?

Given EA's track record Bioware has to be pretty close to the axe.
 

Varteras

Gold Member
EA's fault in this was not having better oversight on the project and identifying that there was a serious problem when the game was in pre-production for half a decade. Bioware is not some victim of EA, though. Bioware was a victim of its own senior team members being complacent and incompetent. It was a general manager, Aaryn Flynn, who mismanaged Bioware's teams and projects.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
I really don’t know how you can save this game. It’s not like they just can just drip feed quality of life changes and add another one their garbage strikes.

Bioware literally would need to drop a sequel sized expansion for free. It’s still only half a game.

What’s upsetting ... probably the best PLAYING game Bioware has ever made.
 
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Varteras

Gold Member
I really don’t know how you can save this game. It’s not like they just can just drip feed quality of life changes and add another one their garbage strikes.

Bioware literally would need to drop a sequel sized expansion for free. It’s still only half a game.

What’s upsetting ... probably the best PLAYING game Bioware has ever made

I feel the only road for Anthem to take in order to be "saved" is to pull a Final Fantasy 14. Make incremental changes to the existing game but announce plans to completely rebuild it. Then re-introduce the new version of Anthem which will replace the existing version and have it be everything we were told it would be from the start. An Anthem 2.0 if you will. All existing owners automatically get upgraded to the new version. A big marketing campaign will be needed to hammer home the idea that this is basically Anthem reborn. Do I think that will happen? Probably not. The more likely scenario is that EA and Bioware decide to just let the game die.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
I feel the only road for Anthem to take in order to be "saved" is to pull a Final Fantasy 14. Make incremental changes to the existing game but announce plans to completely rebuild it. Then re-introduce the new version of Anthem which will replace the existing version and have it be everything we were told it would be from the start. An Anthem 2.0 if you will. All existing owners automatically get upgraded to the new version. A big marketing campaign will be needed to hammer home the idea that this is basically Anthem reborn. Do I think that will happen? Probably not. The more likely scenario is that EA and Bioware decide to just let the game die.

And at best we’d see that as early as holiday.

They had to abandon their roadmap cuz it’s just not happening. Most likely scrapped.

There’s no way they’re making any decent revenue from cosmetic items in the game. Difference with other games is that they still had players that stuck around, or these games actually charged subs and for expansions.

I don’t see this happening for free. I imagine it’s all been axed or it’s a paid expansion. No fucking way

I still think it’s insane that fallout 76 has done a better job with the post release free content support than both anthem and division... and has a stronger playerbase than both currently.

LOL
 
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Zannegan

Member
It may be more of a revenue trickle than a stream, but why cut it off entirely? Besides, it may find new life as a f2p title/gateway to EA's subscription service. For the most part, they've already sunk their money into it, may as well keep milking it for what (little) it's worth. *shrug*

Also, this may be wishful thinking, but I think EA might at last be seeing the bill for their shadier monitezation and advertising practices. It's not the glorious smackdown some hope for, but it really feels like every EA announcement is an uphill battle when it comes to generating hype, and that is a slow and painful death for a game publisher. They must thank their lucky stars for fifa.
 
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njean777

Member
I really wish they would pull a FFXIV type of move on this game, but knowing EA they won't. I liked the way it played, but hearing that it had very little content made me stay away and not invest any time. I luckily got it for free with a graphics card, but still haven't played it past the first mission just to see how the game performed.
 
Thank god i didnt go further than the ea access trial lol.

The game wasnt even needed. They shouldve just made a fire single player game with an mp mode on the side.
 
I was never attracted to this game.

If I play a BioWare game, I want a good story RPG with turned based or clunky combat (..,like Mass Effect-clunky or KOTOR-turn based).

Multiplayer, crappy sounding lore, actiony, live service, ...it didn’t have what I want from BioWare. I really wanted a good Mass Effect game, and they give me this. I couldn’t support that so I didn’t buy.
 

Ennosuke

Member
Awful game and at this point I feel confident enough to say that Bioware is an awful developer as well. Already looking forward to see what kind of train wreck DA 4 is going to be. I mean the have already rebooted it once. I get, that game development is difficult, but their project management and vision for their games are just some of the worst in the industry, especially when you look at the manpower and history for that studio.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i can't see them killing it off completely.

the game is bad and it's dead (in terms of player count). if EA do decide to reboot it then good luck to them because it'll be a really tough + expensive job to convince people to come back. i think it's probably best if they admit defeat, cut their losses, and learn from the mistakes.

what i think will happen is they'll release an update that will add some kind of half assed offline functionality then kill the servers. or maybe that is too optimistic...would they really just kill the servers and fuck everyone over who bought it? that could be a good reason for legal action to be taken against them. or maybe not (i'm not a lawyer lol).

the least they can do is spend a bit of time to give people something to do offline if they are gonna shut down the servers. running servers cost money so i can't see them keeping them up for long.
 

nowhat

Member
Already looking forward to see what kind of train wreck DA 4 is going to be. I mean the have already rebooted it once.
And the sad thing is, the original concept for DA4 sounded really neat, I at least would have been interested to try it. But if they're going for a more Anthem-like model... hard pass, and that's from a quite diehard DA fan.

But there's one thing you guys seem to be missing here. The real reason why Anthem failed was... player expectations:

 

Ovek

7Member7
No they will quietly let it die for quite some time and when they announce that no more content is coming and they are winding down the servers... surprise a new Mass Effect tease!
 
Mass effect 2 wasn’t a bad game, but it didn’t do what made me love Mass Effect 1.

They reduced the role playing aspect too much for me.

No armors, no meaningful character builds, and, they tie your morality to your speech skill. If you don’t have enough good points you can’t use that option.

That killed the role playing aspect of mass effect to me.

In mass effect 1 I felt as if I was commander Shepard.

In mass effect 2 I felt I was along for the ride.

ME3 had a hardcore following for it's MP. Nobody expected it to be as good as it was, and looking back it was easily the best thing about ME3.

It was constantly supported with new playable races, unique classes, maps, weapons for free. You had unique builds per class with dozens of variations dependent on what species you played that class with. You could play as Drell, Volus, Geth, Asari, Krogun, Vorschaa, Salarians, Turians, Protheans, Quarians, Humans, N7 spec-ops. It was easily one of the most in depth co-op MP games on the market that had an infinite amount of potential moving forward.

Anthem appealed to people who loved ME3 mp.
 

GreyHorace

Member
Who'd have thought that Bioware would fall so hard from their perch atop the RPG mountain? There was a time I thought they could do no wrong. What happened?

I think we can all point to the obvious answer. Their acquisition by Electronic Arts is I think the turning point when everything started turning to shit. I've read numerous interviews by people who've worked in the company and they never place the blame on EA, instead placing the blame upon themselves. Quite frankly, I think it's complete bullshit. I refuse to believe that the people who made classics like Baldur's Gate and KOTOR could be so incompetent to mess up.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
Who'd have thought that Bioware would fall so hard from their perch atop the RPG mountain? There was a time I thought they could do no wrong. What happened?

I think we can all point to the obvious answer. Their acquisition by Electronic Arts is I think the turning point when everything started turning to shit. I've read numerous interviews by people who've worked in the company and they never place the blame on EA, instead placing the blame upon themselves. Quite frankly, I think it's complete bullshit. I refuse to believe that the people who made classics like Baldur's Gate and KOTOR could be so incompetent to mess up.

They made Dragon Age Inquisition... it was easy to see how they messed up. That game was horrible. At least Anthem actually plays good. Their dating simulator rpgs have lost their appeal in a world that cdpr exists.

Only mistake EA made was buying Bioware. EA doesn’t deserve the blame... Bioware is just a mess. The situation has been well documented. EA was a bit too hands off if anything... to think Bioware was some AAA pedigree ... this was a situation where EA should’ve been the big corporate bully that people assume they are. They didn’t have a tight enough grip to curb Bioware’s amateur hour bullshit.

They’ve used frostbite on 3 games already. They shouldn’t still blame it as a bogeyman for their incompetence

EA has gone on record to say they will support whatever Bioware has planned for the game. I’m actually leaning towards EA killing them off — because it’s deserved
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
EA needs to just shut it down and while this will never happen, they should offer people who bought this game some sort of compensation, even of it's just free EA Access or something. Game was an absolute disaster.
 

GreyHorace

Member
Only mistake EA made was buying Bioware. EA doesn’t deserve the blame... Bioware is just a mess. The situation has been well documented. EA was a bit too hands off if anything... to think Bioware was some AAA pedigree ... this was a situation where EA should’ve been the big corporate bully that people assume they are. They didn’t have a tight enough grip to curb Bioware’s amateur hour bullshit.

They’ve used frostbite on 3 games already. They shouldn’t still blame it as a bogeyman for their incompetence

EA has gone on record to say they will support whatever Bioware has planned for the game. I’m actually leaning towards EA killing them off — because it’s deserved
That there, as I said, I refuse to believe. It sounds to me like corporate spin so that EA remains blameless for Bioware's numerous failures under their watch. And the sad part is Bioware is going along with the deception so that their overlords won't shut them down (which seems an inevitability given Anthem's horrible reception).

And really? Amateur hour? The studio that created Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic and the first Mass Effect? Amateurs don't make games like those. It's telling that all the massive screwups that Bioware has committed have happened under EA's watch. From shortened development times (Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3), PR disasters (the way they handled the ME3 ending debacle), and loss of talent (the founders leaving, as well as key people in charge of Dragon Age and Mass Effect). This is EA we're talking about, a publisher notorious for killing studios (as well as greedily sitting on a wealth of gaming IPs that are currently in limbo, which pisses me off to no end).
 

Despera

Banned
And the sad thing is, the original concept for DA4 sounded really neat, I at least would have been interested to try it. But if they're going for a more Anthem-like model... hard pass, and that's from a quite diehard DA fan.

But there's one thing you guys seem to be missing here. The real reason why Anthem failed was... player expectations:


DA Origins was decent. 2 was bad. DA: I was terrible... I have absolutely no faith in that series at all going forward.

Also, Anthem simply looked like it had great potential based on initial showings. High production values and fun coop with characters flying through gorgeously dense environments. Expectations will naturally be a bit high here.

Then they revealed the actual gameplay loop... and it put me to sleep. Same old same old with a new coat of paint. My expectations went to shit after that and I'm not surprised at all the game ended up being a failure.

Here's hoping Bioware gets back on track soon.
 
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wipeout364

Member
I think it’s best if they just kill it, just keep it on life support for the few people playing it that are maybe buying the garbage they are selling in the store.

The real question is where do they go from here, they already have Dragon Age under way. Do they go to Mass Effect, an Anthem sequel or do they get put on Star Wars detail?

If I was EA management it would be a Star Wars game no doubt about it. I would never greenlight a sequel to Anthem(and I mean Never) and I would redirect the studio to Mass Effect after the Star Wars license ran out. I would tell BioWare that if they screw up the Star Wars game they are getting shut down.
 

VertigoOA

Banned
Bioware of old is done. Just keep the old republic team to have them keep Anthem on life support and old republic then axe the “a” team.
 
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