Anthem

[Neon Ignition]

The trip and stumble of Battlefield 5 shows that setting yourself up to avoid season passes etc is perfectly nice for gamers and playerbases but a poor reputation can cause severe damage. BF5 has largely gotten by due to the previous strength of the brand so my main concern for Anthem would be that it's coming in cold and if it doesn't hit the ground running it'll largely wrap up in any meaningful way in year one. Hell, at this point it's getting increasingly hard to trust EA will support Bioware let alone Anthem if it disappoints.

The main thing I have to admit though with Anthem that I like is that it's EA pushing a new franchise. This gen has been a slow circle round the toilet bowl for EA and they seem to have become so financials focused that they've forgotten that launching a run of hit and miss new franchises ultimately led them to have big names they can milk for years.

[Lebowski]

It's all designed to increase EA's revenue. Again Anthem isn't doing anything different here. There is an £80 version on PSN/Live, just as there is a £92 version of TD2 on Live/PSN. Whether it's cosmetics or not is semantics (although Anthem lists a legendary weapon). There are items in there that you can't earn otherwise. Multi-tiered versions of games has been around for years now.

I don't what the long-term plans are, but are we sure there's no going to be a Year 2 content pack to buy?

I'll refer to the full version being £80 but then I agree with Jim Sterlings. Games aren't $60 anymore...



Tbh I think there's a lot of Bioware fans that don't want another Live Service and would prefer a 30-50 hour game. But yes purchasable cosmetic could be good. However if they were purchasable direct for a local currency price, and weren't so overpriced then less people would complain. And to be honest those feel fair complaints.

That gun caught me out too but its listed as a bonus item in the base game too, SWBF2 locked one of the best guns to the premum version so i was warry and have looked into it.

so as i said its just a few skins and i have no interest in premium skins as earned skin are far more valuable to me than a premium ones, Take destiny my raid Armour or my forge Armour has pride of place in my loadouts as its earnt from beating challenging content, the premium armour in the eververse store holds no interest for me as its not earnt its bought. All a premium edition skin says to me is "you spent £XX.XX on that why".

[Lebowski]

Personally I'd wait until Anthem has been out for a while before making those sorts of statements. We can't really compare yet until we've seen the full scale of EA's business model. Although I think BLOPS 4 is one of the most offensive cocktails of egregious MTX going.

Its not a case of wait and see the dev's have said no season pass and all story content is to be funded by the skin store.

https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/1005993923515334656

[Digfox]

That gun caught me out too but its listed as a bonus item in the base game too, SWBF2 locked one of the best guns to the premum version so i was warry and have looked into it.

Whether the extra items are worth it to you or me is different. A lot of customers do care about cosmetics and will pay the extra. So whether it's the £80 version of Anthem or the £85 version of BLACKOPS. It's also very similar amounts going to each publisher irrespective of whether it has a season pass.

Its not a case of wait and see the dev's have said no season pass and all story content is to be funded by the skin store.

https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/st...93923515334656

No disrespect but numerous devs on twitter have said one thing and then the dev/pub does the opposite. But equally no dev is going to ever disclose full plans for a business model over Twitter. It's why we never heard about Lootboxes in the Division to begin with or all the other various strategies that are employed.

You can only truly gauge these things after release. EA are having to go softly, softly because of previous debacles. That said I am in agreement that cosmetics are better than lootboxes but it doesn't stop some criticisms being fair.

[fishbowlhead]

Just wait 6 months for the devs to fix the half finished release version that gets shoved out the door, and you get to see what sort or micro transactions they implement. Don’t like it, don’t need to buy it.

[Cassius_Smoke]

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/01/eas_posted_one_of_those_awful_early_access_information_charts_for_anthem

I don't know what I think to early access things like this. My gut says it just muddies the water a bit.

[Digfox]

Seems they are pushing their subscription services to get that week early access, whether it be 10 hrs or full game. I want to try the open demo that goes live later on today, although I imagine the servers might creak a bit.

[Neon Ignition]

Is it true that Anthem completely lacks PvP?
Short shelf life for very many if the case I'd imagine

[Lebowski]

Is it true that Anthem completely lacks PvP?
Short shelf life for very many if the case I'd imagine

Yeah loot games that focus on Multiplayer PVE over PVP tend to bomb, look at Diablo 3 if only their was a pvp mode in that game maybe it wouldn't of bombed so hard

[Neon Ignition]

I don't think I'd really stack the two considering the other factors at play in Anthems potential fortunes.

[Team Andromeda]

Yeah loot games that focus on Multiplayer PVE over PVP tend to bomb, look at Diablo 3 if only their was a pvp mode in that game maybe it wouldn't of bombed so hard

Monster Hunter and Borderlands 2 must have boomed hard too

[Lebowski]

Monster Hunter and Borderlands 2 must have boomed hard too

exactly

[Neon Ignition]

Don't get me wrong, hopefully I'll play the open demo today and it'll turn out to be great etc. But this isn't a game from an established franchise, or one from a (anymore) well regarded developer or even a decent publisher so the worse the package is the less it's worth getting invested in over other games coming out and the less well it'll do. There's definitely a market for PvE games but Anthem needs to at least hit more like Destiny 1 or Borderlands 1, I'd happily pay up and dedicate time for that. Unlike Capcom and Monster Hunter I don't think EA will wait 14 years for Anthem to crack the western markets.

[Digfox]

I don't personally mind that Anthem has no PVP but I think it's a fair point that for the type of game it is, it *might* have the potential to appeal to a larger group of consumers. And if you look at sales numbers games like The Division and Destiny, these have easily outsold the examples of Borderlands/Monster Hunter World (assuming both did c.12-14m each) even if both of these have been massive commercial successes.

I'm not sure isometric ARPGs like Diablo or Path of Exile are the best examples for PVP (although the latter has it).

[Team Andromeda]

Nobody said Monster or Borderlands sold better, the point is they sold in huge numbers and the likes of Monster Hunter World is one of Capcom best selling games in its history with over 10.7 million units sold in sales, not bad for a PVE game.

I would imagine EA will be more than happy with sales of over 4 million for Anthem