Haven't kept up with Anthem. How bad has it failed and why? I really thought it would surprise people and be Bioware's comeback
I replied to this in the E3 thread, but I guess this thread is more appropriate.
Here's a nice long article on what went wrong with Anthem. haha.
https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964
I don't know exactly how it has performed sales wise. I think it has done ok on that front. But, it has been a failure in terms of critical reception and fan reception/expectation.
One of the main points of that article is how Anthem was failed by the leadership and culture at both Bioware and EA ( but mainly Bioware this time ). They spent 6-7 years working on this game but doing so in a way that wasn't very fruitful. Constantly redoing the core concepts of the game, lack of communication amongst team members and leadership and among the various Bioware offices.
Flying itself ( arguably the best and most unique part of the game ) had been constantly added and removed and added and removed. In fact, when the head EA guy came to test the game, flying had been removed and the EA head said the game sucked, this isn't what they promised him. So then they added flying back in.
Indeed, when Anthem was revealed at the Xbox E3 show 2 years ago, it wasn't even called Anthem until right before the show. and a lot of the people working on the game didn't even know what kind of game it was until they actually saw the E3 demo. IOW, that E3 demo was basically a proof of concept video and not actually a game that was far along in progress.
So, after spending 6-7 years spinning their wheels, in that final year or so of production, they had to crunch major time to try to make a game that matched the concept shown in the E3 demo. And to do that, they actually diverted resources and talent away from the Dragon Age 4 project, which resulted in that project getting shelved and then rebooted.
IOW, Anthem was a huge mess in development. And after release, it has been a mess as well. There were a TON of bugs plaguing the game. so much so that some players were demanding refunds because the game just felt so broken and unfinished and untested ( cuz they didn't really have time to test the final product ).
And core issues, such as quality loot drop rates, still haven't been fixed almost 3 months later. and that's kind of important for a looter shooter.
at launch, Bioware had an elaborate "roadmap" planned for future content and events in the game, stuff that was supposed to start in earnest in April and May. but a few weeks ago, that roadmap was delayed indefinitely, which is never a good sign.
And now I'm seeing retailers put it on sale for 50% off already. So I don't know if that's a sign the game hasn't been selling well at retailers and they are trying to clear inventory.
