For the good of video games, Anthem needs to fail hard

[MGibster]

I am often surprised by how often and to what severity those of us who purchase video games allow ourselves to be abused by the industry. Games should be complete upon release. It's one thing if minor patches are needed or there are plans for updates in the future but the product I just spent $60 on should be a complete and playable game. Some games are deliberately designed to be grindy until you spend cash for micro transactions to make that problem go away. A problem that was deliberately introduced into the game in order to incentivize monetary purchases.

Stop pre-ordering games and stop purchasing loot boxes or spending money on micro transactions just for a little while. Maybe one or two months. See how the big game companies react to that.

Edit: And the ending to Mass Effect 3 was terrible. I mean really, really terrible.

 

[Deset Gled]

No, here is your accurate tracker for how Anthem is doing: Anthem is selling worse than Mass Effect Andromeda, which was a commercial success. But despite Mass Effect Andromeda being a commercial success, it didn't make enough money (or not as much as EA wanted) and EA still killed off the studio that made it: Bioware Montreal.

Copies sold is an important metric. However, it's not the only one. Here is an article about 15 different metrics game companies like EA use: https://gameanalytics.com/blog/metrics-all-game-developers-should-know.html Here's another article about metrics that less relevant to Anthem, but has a great bit at the beginning about different type of loyalty, and how loyalty is not the same as happiness: https://medium.com/@devtodev/25-key-metrics-that-track-user-loyalty-in-games-db8414c7a6ac

The link I shared in my previous post doesn't measure any of these, but it shows EA's response. It's the aggregate of all the metrics EA is looking at.

 

[Imaculata]

Copies sold is an important metric. However, it's not the only one.

True, but I consider it a pretty bad sign for Bioware. EA is notorious for closing studios that underperform. Anthem was received with mixed reactions, rather than the tidalwave of praise that they were hoping for. It's no Fall Out 76 level of disaster, but I've heard people say that Fall Out 76 actually has more content than Anthem. So, that doesn't sound good.

 

[Jester David]

Edit: And the ending to Mass Effect 3 was terrible. I mean really, really terrible.

And how would you have improved it?

 

[Jester David]

No, here is your accurate tracker for how Anthem is doing: Anthem is selling worse than Mass Effect Andromeda, which was a commercial success.

It's selling worse than Andromeda... in the UK and only counting physical copies. And, again, this is an example of a self fulfilling prophecy: people were complaining about how terrible Anthem would be from the first trailer (see this thread as an example) and them, surprise surprise, the game came out to poor reviews and low sales. I doubt any game could have combated the negative buzz and desire to see it fail as Anthem received.

 

[Zardnaar]

It's selling worse than Andromeda... in the UK and only counting physical copies. And, again, this is an example of a self fulfilling prophecy: people were complaining about how terrible Anthem would be from the first trailer (see this thread as an example) and them, surprise surprise, the game came out to poor reviews and low sales. I doubt any game could have combated the negative buzz and desire to see it fail as Anthem received.

These companies have to stop pissing off the fanbases its that simple. Wonder if Episode IX can be tanked. The companies involved won't change until they start losing money and/or making good product. There was a time (2002-2010) where Bioware basically did not make a bad game and they can't do that now. Same thing with 4E they made something fans didn't want.

Do you gamble your core fans for new ones? Might work but what happens if you lose the and fail to get new ones?

I only give EA around $24 a year via EA access on the Xboxone. That basically gives you delayed access to everything EA makes. At that price its not to bad. I'm not boycotting Anthem as I would not have bought it regardless (I don't play Destiny either).

Personally I would love it if EA went bankrupt, their assets would be sold off and other studios could get their hand on IPs EA is either sitting on or has messed up. I keep most of my old game here we have KoToR, DA, ME 1,2,3. Some of them I have bought multiple times including the DLC on multiple consoles (KoToR Xbox+ PC, ME 1,2,3, Xbox 360+One).

Go back a bit further and I still have Megadrive/Genesis cartridges of EA games.

There is no passion in the games anymore its just corporate schlock designed for idiots with bullet points research has indicated gamers want (and they don't it seems).

 

[Deset Gled]

These companies have to stop pissing off the fanbases its that simple. ... The companies involved won't change until they start losing money and/or making good product.

...

I only give EA around $24 a year via EA access on the Xboxone.

...

Personally I would love it if EA went bankrupt,

...

Some of them I have bought multiple times including the DLC on multiple consoles (KoToR Xbox+ PC, ME 1,2,3, Xbox 360+One).

With fans like you, why would EA ever change? You pay them money every year, buy some of their games multiple times, and talk up their product on the internet (free publicity and long term brand recognition).

You might want to read my earlier link about the difference between loyalty and happiness.

 

[Jester David]

These companies have to stop pissing off the fanbases its that simple. Wonder if Episode IX can be tanked. The companies involved won't change until they start losing money and/or making good product.

Which is a pretty big oversimplification.

After all, what pisses off the fanbase? Well, women and minorities seems to piss off a pretty vocal group. But excluding women and PoC hasn't exactly made gaming a great place.
Meanwhile, just producing fan-service and the same games again and again will piss off the fans who will quickly complaint that they already bought that game.
However, making very different games will also piss off the fanbase, who will complain that they're not getting games like ones they already bought.

In general, gamers want games that are new but not too new, familiar and yet try new things, that look beautiful but don't require them buying new computer hardware, that are large and worth the cost of a new game but not so long that they can't quickly finish it and move onto their next game, and that polished and free of bugs but that don't require updates or patches.

Really, video game fans (like comic and RPG fans) tend to be a bunch of entitled whiners who complain every time a company doesn't read their mind.

There was a time (2002-2010) where Bioware basically did not make a bad game and they can't do that now. Same thing with 4E they made something fans didn't want.

You're picking a very, very specific time. Which seems deliberate to exclude the game released right before that was merely okay, like Neverwinter Nights. And it tends to forget the side games, like Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and even Jade Empire.

Or something like the first Mass Effect, which a lot of people liked but had a HELL of a lot of problems. Really, if it were released now, people would complain just as much about ME1 as they are about Anthem if not more.
I can almost picture it now:
"It's a shooter, not an RPG! BioWare should stick to what they know story based RPGs."
"It's barely even a shooter, as the aiming includes some BS RPG aspects borking your accuracy."
"The cover-shooter gameplay makes it an unoriginal ripoff of Gears of War."
"The characters are boring and mostly walking encyclopedia/ codex entries."
"Companion characters are useless and spend most of their time dying."
"The planet missions are garbage and the driving controls are horrible!"
"The side quests are repetitive and add nothing to the story, with the rachni one clearly being cheap way to reuse an enemy model."
"Too many of the side quests reused the exact same map."
"The morality system is binary and simplistic"
"The lock picking minigame is stupid and unrelated to picking locks. It feels tacked on."
"Where the eff was the tutorial? You're pretty much dumped into the game without explanation."
"The inventory system is horrible and a chore."
"The elevators are slow. Clearly hidden loading screens. Why are load times such an issue, BioWare?"

 

[Zardnaar]

With fans like you, why would EA ever change? You pay them money every year, buy some of their games multiple times, and talk up their product on the internet (free publicity and long term brand recognition).

You might want to read my earlier link about the difference between loyalty and happiness.

I bought the old Bioware games multiple times before EA acquired them.

 

[Zardnaar]

Which is a pretty big oversimplification.

After all, what pisses off the fanbase? Well, women and minorities seems to piss off a pretty vocal group. But excluding women and PoC hasn't exactly made gaming a great place.
Meanwhile, just producing fan-service and the same games again and again will piss off the fans who will quickly complaint that they already bought that game.
However, making very different games will also piss off the fanbase, who will complain that they're not getting games like ones they already bought.

In general, gamers want games that are new but not too new, familiar and yet try new things, that look beautiful but don't require them buying new computer hardware, that are large and worth the cost of a new game but not so long that they can't quickly finish it and move onto their next game, and that polished and free of bugs but that don't require updates or patches.

Really, video game fans (like comic and RPG fans) tend to be a bunch of entitled whiners who complain every time a company doesn't read their mind.


You're picking a very, very specific time. Which seems deliberate to exclude the game released right before that was merely okay, like Neverwinter Nights. And it tends to forget the side games, like Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and even Jade Empire.

Or something like the first Mass Effect, which a lot of people liked but had a HELL of a lot of problems. Really, if it were released now, people would complain just as much about ME1 as they are about Anthem if not more.
I can almost picture it now:
"It's a shooter, not an RPG! BioWare should stick to what they know story based RPGs."
"It's barely even a shooter, as the aiming includes some BS RPG aspects borking your accuracy."
"The cover-shooter gameplay makes it an unoriginal ripoff of Gears of War."
"The characters are boring and mostly walking encyclopedia/ codex entries."
"Companion characters are useless and spend most of their time dying."
"The planet missions are garbage and the driving controls are horrible!"
"The side quests are repetitive and add nothing to the story, with the rachni one clearly being cheap way to reuse an enemy model."
"Too many of the side quests reused the exact same map."
"The morality system is binary and simplistic"
"The lock picking minigame is stupid and unrelated to picking locks. It feels tacked on."
"Where the eff was the tutorial? You're pretty much dumped into the game without explanation."
"The inventory system is horrible and a chore."
"The elevators are slow. Clearly hidden loading screens. Why are load times such an issue, BioWare?"

And thats why Mass Effect 2 and 3 are regarded as better games mechanically, ME 3 story not so much. And also why ME2 is generally regarded as the best one as well.

I think for some franchises you do have to cater to the fans to some extent, they are your customers.

Think Knights of the Old Republic, generally regarded as the best Star Wars game of all time, one of the best RPGs of all time, great story etc. Doesn't hold up so well now graphics wise but its still fun to bust out on occasion, I rebought it on steam so I don't have to dig my old Xbox out in order to play it.

My wife she was into Dragon age, I loved ME 1,2, and 3.

EA can't make a good game anymore it seems, Bioware can't make a good RPG anymore. I mean why is Bioware making shooters when they are good at RPGs? Obviously they are chasing the money but that is not gonna help out if the game sucks and sod all buy it. Fallout 76 is another example its rubbish, so is ME: Andromeda and I basically got it for free (well via EA access).

Battlefield 1 is OK, along with the other Battlefields, single player Star Wars battlefront II was OK/entertaining if short, and I also played ME 1,2,3 recently. Thing is I got all of that on EA access and its roughly what I value EA now- $24 a year. Once upon a time I paid $90 (in 1994 IIRC) for Jungle Strike a single EA game. EA made a few more dollars off me with ME DLC, but overall I think I have paid them maybe $70 or so over the last 2-3 years. If they made decent stuff that number would be a lot more hell I spent $300 last year on D&D. I would not pay full price for a Battlefront game, all of them + Mass Effect+ the other games (Titanfall 2, Unravel) at $24 is good value even if the great games are the old ones.

Why would I get nickel and dimed on loot boxes when I can pay for quality games (alot of Paradox Interactive stuff), or I can subscribe to bulk games on Xbox live gold, Xbox gamepass, and EA access for around $120 a year for 200 odd games?