I thought I learned my lesson. I thought being burned by Destiny 1 & 2 and The Division at launch would have been enough for me, but no, it was not. Originally I told myself “I am going to wait this one out. I will NOT buy Anthem at launch“, and then, the hype train rolled in. I watched streamer after streamer play the Early Access. They spoke about how much fun it was and that the problems they see would be hammered out by “release“. I sat there jealous and looked at my bank account wondering if I could make it work by launch day. Then Apex: Legends was stealth released and I got distracted. I am so grateful for that distraction, because Anthem is an absolutely egregious insult to our collective intelligence. It is high time we learn our lesson.
The flaws in Anthem are pretty well documented. While aspects like long load times and connection issues will absolutely be worked on, now it is reported that Sony is offering full refunds due to the fact that Anthem is hard crashing and possibly “bricking” systems altogether! Any developer worth their salt can tell you that fundamental game-play loops and design choices cannot and likely will not be changed, so if you couple this with the fact that the game is potentially breaking systems…this is a huge problem.
Getting back to game-play design, though, there are plenty of issues to be confounded about. Exiting game-play zones to run back to a garage to just try a weapon is a design choice, not a bug that needs tweaking. Doing run of the mill checkbox tasks to complete a larger end-game missions is not a mistake or just the beginning, it is a choice. Playing an entire campaign with your friends only to realize that after 8 hours you made no story progression because you only played the ONE party member’s story is a developer choice, not some error in code. Every time I want to publish this piece, another ridiculous issue is uncovered in Anthem. This time, high level end game weapons are doing less damage as early game weapons. The developers claim it is not supposed to happen, but HOW IS IT HAPPENING?! How did that slip past QA and a 2 week beta? These issues are not bugs, and they will take months if not years to change. Look at Destiny’s original road map for evidence of that.
Video Credit: GiantBomb.com
Let’s not have a short memory here. Destiny and Destiny 2 were lambasted for their launches. Weak content and loot drops disappointed a vast amount of player, myself included. I thought we learned our lesson after Activision made us fork over another $40+ to add DLC that “fixes” those issues. “Oh you should totally get the season pass, they totally fixed all that stuff now. The game is now amazing”…almost a year later and the game is now amazing? What the hell were we doing the last year then?
So here we are, playing a version of Anthem that clearly has incredible design flaws, some which are fundamental to the very core game-play. Then as reviews come out in the 5’s and 6’s out of 10 all of a sudden we get the wonderful 90 day road map! Oh wow! I would love for publishers to put a 3-6 month post launch non-disclosure agreement on to these online games. That way the public might be a little weary on pre-ordering a year prior to release. But hey, now BioWare is going to add three story acts to the game so, you know…there’s something to do. Now – sure these additions are free, and that is wonderful, but if Act 1 is ready just 3-4 weeks post release, why did we all spend $60 to play Anthem before hand? Of course online persistent games need to constantly have content added to ensure that the player base stays satiated, but what about core tenants of the game design? I remember when you bought an MMO and it was PACKED with a hundred hours of fun game play and missions. City of Heroes was a game I played for a year before they added a huge expansion that added an entire new way to play. It didn’t just add a quest line. The fact is, the more we spend money at launch for half-baked titles, the more these publishers continue to insult our intelligence. I mean…at this point why wouldn’t they continue to exploit our stupidity? And by the way, I do not fault game developers for these types of decisions. No developer on planet earth wants to send out an unfinished game. Remember it is a studio that gets closed down every month with hundreds of layoffs, not EA. EA will take their little hit and lay off and close a studio and move on. I digress.
So now Anthem will update the game with content that makes the game interesting to play and we will all forget that the vanilla title we rushed to spend $60 on was like buying a pack of Oreos only to find just one layer of the cookie inside. Don’t worry, you’ll get a sleeve of creme next month for free!
Publishers may be an offender in these egregious releases, but we as gamers are the worst offenders. We are enablers of poor game development and predatory marketing. Our fear of not having our boots on the ground in the latest and hottest online game has lead us to making poor decisions with our wallets, thus perpetuating the cycle of mediocrity. We need to be better. Tell developers its okay to fight for more time for their passion. Tell publishers its okay to miss projections if it means the product you sell is excellent. Vote with your wallet.
:::Promptly Buys Division 2 on launch:::
Shut up…nobody asked you.
