ANTHEM - failed Destiny clone from BioWare

[cvv]

They're just starting the conversation. Hello nuAnthem 2025.

 

[Silly Germans]

Does Anthem have a single player campaign or is it only mmo crap ?

 

[Myobi]

Any money spent on Anthem would be a waste. Better off using it on SWTOR at this point, at least it has a huge name backing it.

Fuck, sorry for the late reply, but that only became funny after knowing you actively play Fallout 76, to be fair though, Fallout 76 at least does release updates, extremely entertaining updates, you don’t even need to play it or own it to have fun with it.

Ah, EA was right all along, live-services are the future ~

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Any money spent on Anthem would be a waste. Better off using it on SWTOR at this point, at least it has a huge name backing it.

Fuck, sorry for the late reply, but that only became funny after knowing you actively play Fallout 76, to be fair though, Fallout 76 at least does release updates, extremely entertaining updates, you don’t even need to play it or own it to have fun with it.

Ah, EA was right all along, live-services are the future ~

How is it wrong? SWTOR is a massive cash cow.
https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/01/...llion-dollars-and-ea-is-pleased-most-pleased/

Anthem looks like it will never stop being a failure, and it doesn't have one of the most well known brands in the world to prop it up.
Also worth noting that SWTOR is the only game Bioware has right now that is even making them any money.

 

[cvv]

How is it wrong? SWTOR is a massive cash cow.

Welllll...WoW is a massive cash cow. Or Hearthstone. Something that brings in 500+ million every year.

A billion in 10 years is p. good but the game did cost 200 million to make plus you have to keep paying the Austin studio.

Anyway that's why all those big publishers have such a boner for live service. Once you make something you can keep selling it to retards indefinitely. Smart money leaves single-player slave labor to poorfag Polaks, Czechs and Ruskis.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Welllll...WoW is a massive cash cow. Or Hearthstone. Something that brings in 500+ million every year.

A billion in 10 years is p. good but the game did cost 200 million to make plus you have to keep paying the Austin studio.

It's a massive cash cow compared to anything else Bioware has put out, especially recently. Doubly so when you remember it was created by their so-called 'B' team who they treated like shit when they tried to help fix Anthem. I'm not even sure if Bioware would still exist if it wasn't for SWTOR at this point.

A billion in 10 years is p. good but the game did cost 200 million to make plus you have to keep paying the Austin studio.

Anyway that's why all those big publishers are so into live service. Once you make something you can keep selling it to retards indefinitely. Smart money leaves single-player games to poorfag Polaks, Czechs and Ruskis.

I've argued this before and I haven't changed my position: live services is too much of a gamble. Nearly all of them fail because there's only enough room for so many.
Look at Anthem: total failure. It will likely never recoup development costs. Why would anyone want to play Anthem when they could go play much better games like Warframe?
Unlike single player games which have far less replayability in general and are only played through once by most people, live-service games tend to last for hundreds if not thousands of hours.

Essentially, unless you're capitalizing on an already very popular IP your odds of hitting gold with a live services game are near zero. The market is saturated, you won't attract people from other already established games and having a small population means your game is dead. Look at all the live-services type games that are basically nothing but graveyards with 2-3 games still standing(MOBAs, battle royales, hero shooters, card games, etc.,)


How well do you guys think Grim Dawn would have done as an online-only game and had to directly compete with Path of Exile and Diablo 3?

 

[Myobi]

EA was right all along

How is it wrong?

Perdona pero se no parle de Inglese.

Indeed, it was, and while sadly I haven’t played it much myself since I’m sort of burned on MMORPGs, I did think that it was a pretty decent video game, but honestly you don’t even need to go that far… even these “failures” such as Anthem & Fallout 76 are making them money, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[rusty_shackleford]

EA was right all along

How is it wrong?

Perdona pero se no parle de Inglese.

Indeed, it was, and while sadly I haven’t played it much myself since I’m sort of burned on MMORPGs, I did think that it was a pretty decent video game, but honestly you don’t even need to go that far… even these “failures” such as Anthem & Fallout 76 are making them money, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1. I highly doubt Anthem is making money.
2. FO76 is making money because of its low cost of development. Most of the work was in converting the engine to a multiplayer game engine, and world design. Nearly all of the assets were already created.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Both games also profit from the B2P model - fans pre-order and pay $60 before they know that it's trash.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

fans pre-order and pay $60 before they know that it's trash.

basically every AAA game benefits from this
people who pre-order digital games should be ostracized

 

[cvv]

I've argued this before and I haven't changed my position: live services is too much of a gamble.

I wish it was so but is it really? I've never looked into MMO revenues coz I don't give a shit so I thought SWtOR was a flop. I thought ESO bombed or LotR or Conan or most of the others MMOs. But many of them are still going and apparently they're making a lot of money. I thought F76 is supposed to be a giant empty meme but apparently millions of Bethestards are actually playing it.

That's the advantage of something like ESO. It can afford a dumpster fire launch and people shitting on it for like 3 years straight because they know their life cycle is 20+ years. Same for F76 or Anthem. For a single-player dev like CDPR the idea that they'd launch a game, get laughed out of the room and spend years fixing it with next to no revenue stream would be absolutely hilarious. For live service devs it's just another Monday.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I've argued this before and I haven't changed my position: live services is too much of a gamble.

I wish it was so but is it really? I've never looked into MMO revenues coz I don't give a shit so I thought SWtOR was a flop. I thought ESO bombed or LotR or Conan or most of the others MMOs. But many of them are still going and apparently they're making a lot of money. I thought F76 is supposed to be a giant empty meme but apparently millions of Bethestards are actually playing it.

That's the advantage of something like ESO. It can afford a dumpster fire launch and people shitting on it for like 3 years straight because they know their life cycle is 20+ years. Same for F76 or Anthem. For a single-player dev like CDPR the idea that they'd launch a game, get laughed out of the room and spend years fixing it with next to no revenue stream would be absolutely hilarious. For live service devs it's just another Monday.

The MMOs you mention had significant work put into them to fix (most) of their issues and slowly clawed their way back after years of effort by the developers. They're anomalies, most MMOs just end up shutting down when they fail.

 

[Myobi]

1. I highly doubt Anthem is making money.
2. FO76 is making money because of its low cost of development. Most of the work was in converting the engine to a multiplayer game engine, and world design. Nearly all of the assets were already created.

Yeah, I doubt it is making them much, if any at this point.

Regarldess, it already made them a fuck ton of it... so, meh =/

 

[sullynathan]

I've argued this before and I haven't changed my position: live services is too much of a gamble. Nearly all of them fail because there's only enough room for so many.

Are you factoring in mobile games, which are live service, or are you ignoring them?

 

[J1M]

I think it is wonderful that EA is still employing 30 people on Anthem. They don't want us to have any doubt that this is the most expensive game flop in history.

 

[ADL]

Well this is a messaging nightmare. They made it seem like they had just started a team

 

[J1M]

Well this is a messaging nightmare. They made it seem like they had just started a team

And nothing to show for it. Anthem Live Team sounds like an EA pension fund where they move unproductive, but connected, individuals who can't be fired.

 

[Hellion]

Apparently they're adding pirates. Everything's fixed now, best game ever.


https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-20-concept-art-reveals-new-pirate-faction/

Anthem 2.0 concept art reveals new pirate faction
"We want to share more on factions and the part they play in the future."

(Image credit: Bioware)
Christian Dailey, studio director at Bioware Austin, recently revealed concept art of the Pirates of the Blood Wind, a new pirate faction coming to Anthem 2.0—an entirely reworked new version of the unsuccessful loot-shooter.

In addition to this, Dailey also shared concept art for locations, including the pirate hideout:





Previously Dailey posted he purposefully held off on talking about work on Anthem, saying "these last few weeks I did not feel was the right time to start talking about Anthem. I wanted to give space for more important conversations in the world to take place, many of which are still going on."

He also mentions that future blog posts on development would focus on some of the changes around loot and gear. Dailey said he is aware of the many questions players currently have and hopes to address them soon.

This is the first glimpse at how the Anthem focus team is doing since the blog post back in May. Dailey seems to be working on a new post, so I'd expect some more substantial info in the near future.

I guess no-one's told them that piracy is wrong.

 

[ADL]

Whatever this ends up being, I'm interested given that I already got it for five bucks.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Pirates feel a bit thematically redundant since there are bandits and scavenger roachpeople already, but I guess it's another region and these groups might not be everywhere. Being sky pirates gives an opportunity for air combat as well

 

[ADL]

Pirates feel a bit thematically redundant since there are bandits and scavenger roachpeople already, but I guess it's another region and these groups might not be everywhere. Being sky pirates gives an opportunity for air combat as well

I don't know where I read this but something was said about the rework being focused on aerial content so combating sky pirates sounds pretty likely and fun. It sucks that it took the game flopping miserably to figure out that the verticality was the best part of the game.

 

[Gerrard]

Before changes to loot and gear I'm more interested in hearing about the changes of the game's network model that locks your input when there are some server/connection issues.

 

[ADL]

https://blog.bioware.com/2020/07/31/anthem-update-loot-equipment-goals/

Satisfying Loot Experience

A good player experience depends on the loot system being extensible and robust, and a lot can go wrong. A lot did go wrong. We fell short here and we realized that building something new from the ground up was going to be required – starting with taking a long look and understanding the best in class of the many great games that inspire us. Based on this research, along with your thoughts and feedback, we planned some high-level goals and changes we wanted to try:

• Respect Your Time
  • Increase the frequency of Loot Drops
  • Loot is viable more often; All items are better and more competitive, but there’s still a chance of getting something exceptional
  • All loot rarities have strategic value throughout progression

• Embrace Choice
  • You can pursue specific loot without relying on randomness alone; Quests; Specialized Vendors; Unique Loot Tables
  • Modify your loot, including rerolling inscriptions and leveling up items

• Create a Rewarding Loot Experience
  • Loot feels exciting and more noticeable when it drops, and is celebrated when collected
  • Rare enemies (aka “walking treasure chests”) create exciting moments to get a burst of loot all at once

• Keep it Accessible and Immediate
  • Reveal and equip loot right away
  • Complete revamp of the equipment sheet – including a detailed stat sheet (not shown)
  • The equipment sheet can be accessed from anywhere, allows you to easily see what you have equipped in each slot

• Reliability of Equipment and Rewards
  • Each item has an inscription “budget”, based on its Power and Rarity
  • No more useless items because they were missing must-have inscriptions (see “Increased weapon dmg by +225%”)
  • Exceptional items are about getting the exact types of bonuses you want, instead of maxing values on every bonus

• Scale for the Future
  • Your power cap can be easily increased, and the loot system scales accordingly
  • Advanced telemetry data allows us to identify trends and make meaningful balance changes

mp4 of an example loot drop https://eaassets-a.akamaihd.net/blo...loads/2020/07/sequence_01_3Web_compressed.mp4

 

[Rahdulan]

That looks like they're going to over-correct the loot just like Diablo 3 did with update 2.0 when everything started raining legendaries so they became salvage trash.

 

[Myobi]

Seem some nice changes, just wondering why this took so fucking long.