Lessons need to be learned

by Silversurferguy
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Original Post

An Update on Anthem Next

Community Manager

From the BioWare Blog, full message can be viewed here

 

Friends,

 

In the spirit of transparency and closure we wanted to share that we’ve made the difficult decision to stop our new development work on Anthem (aka Anthem NEXT). We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today.

 

Since Anthem’s launch, the team has been working hard to continually improve the game, releasing multiple updates that brought with them a variety of improvements and introduced new content to play. Towards the end of 2019 we expanded on that effort and started working on a more fundamental restructure of the game.

 

During the development we’ve provided updates revealing some of the team’s work through blog posts and conversations with you on social media and it’s been inspiring for us to see the positive reactions and feedback. I’ve been incredibly proud of the work the team has been doing, and excited to see and play each new build of the experience.

 

2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams.

 

I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working on. It’s also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.

 

Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

To the Anthem community, thank you for your passion and creativity. Your feedback and suggestions most certainly help shape the team’s direction, and on a personal note, your kindness and encouragement were much needed last year.

 

Please stay safe and be kind to each other. Strong alone, stronger together.

 

Christian

EACade
Message 1 of 199 (19,474 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

★ Guide

If development for this game is now halted, can you sell the IP to another gaming studio? The game is so much fun and has so much more potential, but unfortunately EA did what EA does. I hope there are future games like this.

Message 2 of 199 (19,423 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

[ Edited ]
★★★★ Novice

@EA_CadeReally EA? I feel cheated again... First when you released something other then you advertised and now when you cancelled version 2.0... I had high hopes for this game and was counting for a fresh start with things YOU PROMISED to deliver on day 1.
I bought Legion of Dawn edition and only my good manners are holding me back from writing what I really think about this situation and place where you leave your community (but hey! It's only money that matters at the end of the day, right?).
I know that my voice doesn't count but believe me, I'm gonna think 10 times before I buy ANYTHING from you again.

Message 3 of 199 (19,396 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

★ Guide

I litterly just bought the game on PC about 2 weeks ago as I played it on PS4 and I enjoyed it a lot now I'm annoyed because I was hoping the 2.0 was going to be happening, it sounds like to me since EA bought CodeMasters the money spent on Anthem and the purchase thats too much money for it's shareholders to see as we know it doesn't like a minus on it's accounts.

Message 4 of 199 (19,364 Views)

Anthem

★★★ Newbie

You have lost me as a costumer. To many times EA has dropped the ball on games that I find fun. I can't say it's been great, it really hasn't, and Anthem was the last straw . Goodbye EA /wave 

 

Message 5 of 199 (19,350 Views)

2.0 Cancelled Oh Well Move On To Something Else Then

★ Guide

Shame really it had promise oh well I'll continue to play the current game for a bit longer but I only paid £10 for it I did have it on PS4 and I enjoyed it

Message 6 of 199 (19,352 Views)
Highlighted

Lessons need to be learned

So it’s official. Truly official. Anthem is dead. No more development, no more support. While I’m not surprised with this outcome, I was still hoping to be proven wrong cuz I had just a small sliver of hope. But business is business and I understand EA’s decision. But there needs to be lessons learned because otherwise, future games will have the same outcome.

 

For starters, the events that transpired during development and post launch must NEVER. HAPPEN. AGAIN! Period! You need a clear vision and people who can communicate that vision to developers. Don’t ignore the competition or worse, feedback from your own studio. That pride and hubris blinded you and the game suffered greatly for it.

 

This live service model and the “develop the game based on feedback” method doesn’t work! Ditch this model and development strategy forever. Your players are not game testers, they’re your customers. Don’t sell them an unfinished game so that they can test it for you. You have people for that and your customers should never be those people. Anthem ought to serve as the final nail in the coffin for live services. Jim sterling once said that support for such a game is conditional, not ever promised. Keep that in mind for any game that boasts “10 year plans” because it’ll most likely never come to fruition. 

Most importantly, finish your game and get it right at release; the first time! Not many games ever get a second chance. You just get one chance. Now of course, some people loved anthem while others despised it. But throughout these 2 years I’ve heard one consistent defense from fans and that’s anthem’s “potential”. Potential is a fancy word for wishful thinking. It means nothing if it’s never realized and therefore is not a selling point or valid defense for any game. That much has been demonstrated today with anthem’s cancelation. Hopefully BioWare learns from this so that other games will fair better than anthem

Message 7 of 199 (19,339 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

★★★★ Novice

Wrong decision EA. Shareholders vs creativity.

Anthem was great, just needed more money.

Message 8 of 199 (19,322 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

★★ Pro

@EA_Cade wrote:

From the BioWare Blog, full message can be viewed here

 

Friends,

 

In the spirit of transparency and closure we wanted to share that we’ve made the difficult decision to stop our new development work on Anthem (aka Anthem NEXT). We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today.

 

Since Anthem’s launch, the team has been working hard to continually improve the game, releasing multiple updates that brought with them a variety of improvements and introduced new content to play. Towards the end of 2019 we expanded on that effort and started working on a more fundamental restructure of the game.

 

During the development we’ve provided updates revealing some of the team’s work through blog posts and conversations with you on social media and it’s been inspiring for us to see the positive reactions and feedback. I’ve been incredibly proud of the work the team has been doing, and excited to see and play each new build of the experience.

 

2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams.

 

I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working on. It’s also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.

 

Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

To the Anthem community, thank you for your passion and creativity. Your feedback and suggestions most certainly help shape the team’s direction, and on a personal note, your kindness and encouragement were much needed last year.

 

Please stay safe and be kind to each other. Strong alone, stronger together.

 

Christian


In the spirit of transparency...hehe are you mocking us? Seriously we were straight up lied to. I and any of the fans following the supposed development of anthem next were lead to believe it was being made/reworked. We were told things like unlocked/purchased cosmetics would carry over or that the update would be free. They even showed us pictures of the supposed work they were doing. Then what, a little over a week ago a story comes out about this special meeting that will determine the fate of anthem next! Like huh what? So I guess now Anthem fans are suppose to forgive and forget and buy the next dragon age from a company that comes up with excuses like making games is hard. Oh well there are other games made by better companies. 

Message 9 of 199 (19,243 Views)

Re: An Update on Anthem Next

★★★ Guide

Definitely the wrong call and I have a feeling the people closest to this know it. They let the terrorists win.

 

I still maintain Anthem was the best game of the year when it came out. It got better with updates, but I enjoyed it immensely from day one. It’s too bad it got trashed as hard as it did. Anthem became everyone’s favorite game to beat up on. I can’t blame EA for abandoning it. Those same haters who destroyed the momentum would return to destroy renewed momentum. And then you have to hope the sheep don’t jump on the meme bandwagon. People ruin good things.

 

Maybe it’s not right, but I blame the haters for this one. They were declaring the game dead in the first month of release and after every update they continued to urge people to stay away. 

 

 

Message 10 of 199 (19,227 Views)