#ea/bw critical

[arisatominakos]

bioware laying off 20+ senior members, constantly delaying release dates for the past two years, refusing to provide any real in-game footage or trailers at gaming events, a leak showcased more than the company has in 7 years of development like idk how to tell yall this but

[leia-leek]

EA is a triple A gaming company worth billions. But BioWare? It's a subsidiary that is smaller than you think. (EA has about 13k employees, but BW has about 500).

Not pre-ordering or buying on the day of release isn't going to send a message to EA to improve its practices. It's only going to hurt BioWare and their remaining employees. (This isn't aimed at people who can't afford it, or don't like the game(s), or don't like what they've seen so far, or are very skeptical and want to hold off. I'm talking to people who are excited about the game and have the $60 to spare.)

Yes, there are things to criticize about BioWare and EA, I get it, I really do. What happened to Mary Kirby and those like her is awful. Fuck them for that, truly. The merchandise packages that don't include the game, kinda scummy. But if you don't take that as a sign that EA is pushing down, hard, on BioWare, then I don't know what to tell you. Do you think BioWare is somehow immune from EA's scrutiny? BioWare has two big misses in their recent history, after MEA and Anthem, they are on thin ice.

Will the game be buggy on release? Maybe. They do have a history of it. Hell, DAO is still buggy af, but we love it anyway. Will the game be bad? Possibly. There are story elements in each game that still piss me off to this day. It is a gamble, but if you like what you see and are excited, there is no reason not to support the franchise you love. Do you want more Dragon Age games? Do you want more Mass Effect games? If yes, then the best way to get more games is to buy this game.

The only thing that will happen if DATV sales suck, will be for EA to believe that Dragon Age games no longer sell and to nix or hold off on all future projects for it. By waiting for it to be on sale or pirating it, you could very well damn the future of BioWare and the DA franchise. You're not fucking up EA when you choose not to buy DATV, you are screwing BioWare, which is not the same as EA. BioWare can be dissolved, but EA won't. They won't care, EA will happily get rid of something that isn't making them money. EA is not gonna be hurt by DATV doing poorly in sales, they have their sports franchises that will always make them money. It will only hurt BioWare and the remaining developers. Do you like Weekes? Epler? Busche? Support them!

So if you are excited about Dragon Age: The Veilguard and want to see more Dragon Age games, don't let anyone convince you not to buy it, or pre-order it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing so. If you have the money and like what you see, I encourage you to buy it and show support for your favorite franchise.

(Those worried about the SAG-AFTRA strike, don't be, DATV isn't included in the strike. More here.)

[avame]

personally I’m more interested in what this transfer means for BW as a whole - since anthem (and one could argue, since at least ME3), BW has shown consistent mismanagement in their dev cycles (and iirc a lot of upper management turnover?).

there’s an anthem post-mortem out there that discusses how BW’s main studio ignored BW Austin’s advice and experience regarding running a multiplayer game/creating an engaging endgame, and how it was EA that told BW to include mechanics like flying, one of the few things praised in the game. pair that with the news that DA4 went through, what, two restarts during development, tried to be a live-service game, and now may or may not utilize AI writing in place of human writers, the one thing BW has always been known for. I’ve heard that BW Montreal also didn’t receive the help they’d requested from Edmonton during ME:A’s dev cycle, but I’m not 100% certain of that. the studio’s probably on thin ice, and it’s kind of their own fault.

(whether EA is partially to blame is another topic. personally, I think BW is far more to blame than EA, since its problems all seem internal rather than imposed from the outside. a lot of criticism that should be leveled at BW gets passed over by fans as “EA sucks!” but like, there’s more to it than that, and BW has been coasting off that perception for too long.)

what I mean is: BW is in more danger than SWTOR is, and moving SWTOR to another studio under the EA umbrella might very well be a precautionary measure by EA to keep the game running in case BW (Edmonton especially) gets shut down, which will likely be determined by DA4, a game that looks more and more troubled as time passes.

[bg3fandomcritical-active]

"I went through BW's entire website, and [...] still seems like a massive reach and a strange conclusion based on what they wrote. Dare I say it’s an extremely bad faith criticism of their character?"

wish i could send sc's with anon on, because it wasn't on their own website, it was on some other website where they were discussing why they wrote what they did for their indie game

"at one point in my life I felt like I needed to move past the sort of person I was who would have crushes on fictional characters. I had it real bad when I was a teenager. I didn't feel attracted to a real person until I was 19 years old. I am still very disgusted at the thought of much real-world interaction I think as a result of idealisation brought on by video game romantic simulation. It has been a defining part of my existance, especially writing Don' Wake Me Up was a big part of it. I thought. I should kill that part of me off for a while... but it seemed to refuse to die when I tried. So I'm letting the damn thing live. Why the hell not. It refuses to die."

along with this comment, from discord,

"I saw [Astarion] during EA and a large part of why I wanted to work at Larian was because I saw it as a perfect opprotunity to present a deconstruction of the concept of parasocial sexualization of fictional characters if I got to work on him. It was certainly one of the themes I cared about most."

initially when i was sending asks in i was trying to avoid the BW discussion entirely, i tried to be vauge, but people brought them up by name anyway. so i responded. i dont agree with their philosophy. so how i read the story is going to be different and i can critisise an author for it. its not a dig at them as a person and i dont understand why its seen that way, especially when BW just. says what they mean and im just reacting to it? i dont like the implication i personally have been harassing them (not by OA, but this comes up whenever i try to have this discussion). ive never used any of larians official channels, ie discord or forums or contact emails, my complaining about their writing has been always in posts on my personal blog or private chats with my mutals. but whatever. think what you want. i think im done here.

.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: It's. About. Story.

After weeks of complaints about the new Galactic Seasons program, the devs posted a response today. Unfortunately they managed to neatly sidestep almost all of the complaints players have been making en masse: 

1. The PVE objectives funnel a lot of players into areas where the instances are too large for the map to accommodate, such as 30 players on CZ-198. It's thus making those areas miserable to play, and woe to anyone actually trying to complete story (such as Rishi and Yavin 4).

Solutions to this issue would be a) lower the number of players in each instance; b) distribute the objectives more broadly so players don't all converge on a few specific areas. EA/BW said nothing about the former and doubled down on making the objectives narrow for the latter, at least for the first season of GS.

2.  The "RNG" for objectives is very heavily skewed toward PVP and GSF, which are activities many players dislike and do not want to do. It's not uncommon to have both GSF and Warzones come up as the day's POs, and there's only one re-roll.  

3. Re-rolling any objective often results in GSF or PVP coming up again. There's only one, so that often means a player cannot complete their PO (s) for the day. 

As solutions to #2 and #3, players have been asking for a) more re-rolls; b) a way to toggle mission preference between PVE, solo PVE and PVP objectives so they avoid the ones they hate and won't do. 

4. There are no solo weekly POs. 

It seems as though EA/BW is making a conscious effort to ignore all the feedback on what many players actually want from the game and the issues they've expressed both on the PTS and live, to try to push the play styles they - and a small clique of fans - personally favor. It feels to me that they are trying to force the game and the player base to be something they're not. 

SWTOR was marketed as a story based game. Its core demographic comes largely from two single-player, story-based games: KOTOR and KOTOR II. When it was released it was praised for the richness of its storytelling, and the strength of its voiceover artists. 

Not PVP. 

Not raids. 

Not GSF. 

Story. Good, substantial story. 

The writing on the wall is there with other EA/BW games, too. The next Dragon Age was changed from a MMO to a single-player game. Anthem, a game involving group play, failed. Fallen Order, a single-player story based game, did well. 

Mass Effect and Dragon Age are a decade old. KOTOR is an older game, too. People still play them, and want more of them, because of the story. 

Of course, EA/BW would love it if the SWTOR playerbase en masse learned to love PVPing and GSF. It's low-cost content for them. They don't have to do much; just provide the maps and let players kill each other. But that isn't why people play this game, overall. There are far better games for PVP, first-person shooters and space battles, if that is what one actually wants. Heck, there's an entire space battle Star Wars game, Battlefront II, if that is what one wants. 

In SWTOR, it's about the story. It's about the characters. 

Sometimes I feel like there are devs at EA/BW who are trying to do this with the resources they have, and I'm grateful for that effort. The swoop rally had short storylines and characters to talk with. Echoes of Oblivion brought us the best writing since KOTFE. They had a Mandalorian themed flashpoint that brought in a storyline for non-Force users. None of it was IMPS VS PUBS 4EVA!!! which was great. Even the Secrets of the Enclave was pretty good. While I dread what it may be setting up, and it's back to the IMPS VS PUBS 4EVA!!! treadmill which is boring and tedious as fuck, it was designed well and had some really excellent moments. 

But...Spirit of Vengeance was designed initially at a level much more tedious, and requiring better gear, than usual story/solo flashpoints. GSF objectives get way more conquest points that anything else. Some mats are only available through ranked PVP or NiM Ops. And now, Galactic Seasons, which could have been brilliant but seems to be garnering more resentment, anger and lost subscriptions than anything else. 

When is there engagement and interest in SWTOR? When does one see more people posting on the official forums? When do the planets seem busier? When there's new story or event that can be soloed. 

What do people constantly ask for? New stories, new engagement with companions, new strongholds, new world building. 

It's interesting that EA/BW never has to beg or bribe people to play the story. Players do it because they want to. Even KOTFE/KOTET, which are not super popular, do not require player bribes.  The only story content people seem to avoid or revile en masse are the walker missions; Oricon, which needs two ops to be completed; and Makeb, which tellingly has no characters with which the player can bond and engage long-term. 

The class stories? Still being played. I've been through the Sith Warrior story four times, with several clones at various points in the class story working their way through. I've been through the Sith Inquisitor story three times, again, with more clones coming up. Bounty Hunter? Three times, so far.. Smuggler? Twice, so far. Imperial Agent? Twice. I've repeated every class story at least once, and I still keep coming back to do the class stories and planetary stories and side quests, because they are good. Because I like the characters I meet. Because the planets are engaging. 

Shadow of Revan? Still being played. 

I still see people on Ilum. I see people on Onderon and Ossus. Even Zakuul and Iokath. The story content gets played, and played again. One of the things people have requested again and again, in fact, is a way to repeat the story content.  

Voiceover artists are expensive, especially when three languages are being recorded, but players have offered ways to add engagement with companions without speech, such as emails from them. Silent missions. You don't need to have a voiceover artist to animate a short scene of Lana Beniko or Theron Shan dancing on the beach with a PC they've romanced. Even if they cannot keep up every romance, if they just kept up with Lana and Theron it would make players happy. Add in, let's say, four or six selected from the class stories - let's say Scourge, Kira, Quinn, Jorgan, Vette, Risha - and a lot of people would be overjoyed. Four men, four women; equal number from each faction + KOTFE. That does leave an uneven number of mlm/wlw possibilities but there are two of each, as well. And those companions can certainly have platonic friendly conversations with the PC, too. I personally really miss Vette, Talos, Xalek, Blizz, Ashara and Jaesa being in my story. And many others, too.

The things being offered by GS are things that story players enjoy - decos, new strongholds, companions with side story missions - and this makes it even more frustrating that story players are being expected to PVP, GSF and use Group Finder, unless they want to buy their way through, to get them. Don't get me wrong - the fact that it's all optional makes me less angry at EA/BW than Iokath and Oricon did, by a long shot. All the same, it's a shame they're setting it up this way, because if they gave story/solo players objectives that were not PVP and group based, I think they'd be seeing a lot more excitement and engagement right about now. 

Right now, it seems EA/BW is far more interested in catering to a smaller player group who enjoys side content that the rest of the player base has to be actively bribed and coerced to play. Should PVP and GSF get development? Sure, if people enjoy it. Should the game try to funnel the rest of us into it? No. The fact that players don't want to be there, and have expressed that sentiment again and again, and constantly need to be bribed and coerced into it, should be a wakeup call. But EA/BW is still sleeping and hitting the snooze button. 

SWTOR is a story-based game. Raids, PVP, GSF are all wonderful for those who enjoy them but they are not for everyone. Players in a story based game need story. 

[kal-sharok]

ngl if you now think that greg ell*s is a shitstain (which he's confirmed publicly over the last few months even though all that has probably always been there, you just weren't listening) and are this furious over a voice-actor who's possibly returning to the job, wait until you find out about all the grime men who have been writing the da franchise this whole time were (and still are) capable of

[felassan]

Anthem has pulled in $100 million in digital revenue since launch, and an additional $3.5 million via in-game spending (microtransactions) [x]

Without knowing the split between physical and digital, it’s probably made a fair bit more than the $100 million figure [x]

Anthem was BioWare’s second-best launch (second-best selling game) ever, after Mass Effect 3 [x]

Anthem was the top-selling title by physical units in February and had an above-average download rate. In the top grossing titles for console in 2019 so far, it was number three on the list [x]

This means it’s out-earned Apex Legends (but it should be noted ofc that Apex Legends is a free game w/o the upfront cost. & there are other caveats around this data report and what it means, see tags) [x]

[meggannn]

feelings on the kotaku article. disclaimer I have not played Anthem at all, only read reviews and seen vids

I am not very excited in general by clickbaity articles like “WHY ANTHEM FAILED” because it seems by most accounts like a mediocre game with mixed reviews rather than something that failed catastrophically, excluding the dead console problems. my gut reaction was that it seemed like a manipulative title aimed to pileup on BW rather than “expose” what has already been exposed many times

Disappointed but not surprised Anthem dev fell into the same trap as Andromeda and Inqusition

I am supportive as always of efforts to unionize the gaming industry

I blame EA for a lot of things, but BioWare must also take responsibility for its own company culture

I am suspicious that a lot of Anthem’s criticism and “discussion” of how it failed is born out of a desire to say “I told you so” rather than any effort to be constructive. I don’t believe now that that’s what this article is doing, but reading between the lines, I think it’s been a slightly prevalent attitude in some discussions following its publication

I am bitter that a fair amount of criticism about Andromeda and Anthem is being piggybacked and amplified by GamerGate voices who think BioWare has “gone full SJW” and deserve punishment for it. I wonder if it is a coincidence that the reason this article has taken to the community is because gamer bros are more willing to amplify any discontent brewing in a company like BioWare known for their inclusivity efforts (however mismanaged), and some factions want to see BioWare fail more than they want actual change.

My love of their games and my complicated feeling on the fanbase here do not overshadow my support for a union

TLDR BioWare must change, and simultaneously I am concerned certain criticism from the audience is coming out of bad faith

[meonlyred]

BW is lacking so hard, their top writers have gone, and their games are greatly outclassed by other similar games. You shouldn’t support a company that makes bad/lame content just because they were once good. Hell DA:O made me realize I was gay, it’s a huge game for me! But I won’t support a company that thinks they can half ass a game and I’ll be happy JUST because I can be gay with this one flat as paper character. ME:3 was the sign that its time to be skeptical with BW games.

But they aren’t releasing bad games. I cried at the end of ME:A because it was everything I wanted out of a Mass Effect game. I think it was just as good as ME1 but with far better gameplay. It was better than ME2 and ME3 when it came to story. I was super impressed by a game that was only given 18 months to release by EA. Several of the problems with the game were fixed by the devs as soon as possible. I will agree that a game should not be released unfinished. But that is all on EA. I give a kudos to the BW dev team for trying to please this very critical fanbase.

I also thought DA:I was wonderful. Yet when I talk about how much I love these games I have to prefix with a “The game wasn’t perfect…” Well no fucking shit, no game is perfect. And trust me I do not think the older games are better. In fact I greatly like their newer games to their older games. The old game are still good. But I prefer replaying DA:I and ME:A over DA:O and ME1. 

The reason why I said what I did is this: Bioware is measured by a different stick than any other game company. Bethesda has a game breaking glitch. I still can’t play the main story for Skyrim without using console commands. But it’s “Oh that wacky Bethesda, ha ha.” Bioware releases a game with poor eye textures. “Worst game ever!!” 

I want to play games with engaging stories, cool companions, diverse love interests, dynamic cinematics where the characters aren’t just dialogue dispensers with a fixed camera, I want exciting combat, I want to be able to create a customizable character, and be able to pick dialogue. 

As much as I love Bethesda they aren’t cinematic at all. Destiny 2 and The Division has a freaking silent protag and a extremely limited CC. I’m praying that Cyberpunk 2077 will fill the niche I have. But as of right now literally the only game company that is giving me want I want is Bioware.

I’m excited for Anthem. I want to shot things in an exosuit, find some sweet loot, and make out with my mechanic in the back of the garage. Not really sorry that I don’t already hate this game.

[fereldanwench]

Actually, a slightly more cohesive thought before I dive into work:

My issue is very specifically targeted at the marketing of Andromeda, not the game itself. I might end up loving the game. It might end up being my favorite Mass Effect or even BioWare game. Who knows? Not me, because I haven’t played it.

And the thing is, my hopes for this game were very basic:

I wanted to be able to play as a lady.

I wanted to explore some cool new locations that are vast but not overwhelming and big with purpose.

I wanted gameplay that’s similar to the original trilogy, but tweaked and enhanced as needed.

I wanted to be able to enjoy a romance with a character as a lady Ryder. (Vetra has caught my attention the most, but I have no explicit expectations. I’m honestly open to exploring any organically developing relationship between any available romance regardless of gender.)  

I know I can play as a woman. But so far, I’ve only seen her in the field taking action once. Our first introduction to her was as a soft, breathy, very pretty lady waking up. Our most recent meeting with her has her relegated to a damsel in distress type position. 

I know that the locations look amazing, although I’m apprehensive about having them as big as they’ve been bragging about. The combat does look fun, but I won’t know for sure how I like it until I’m in control. But the marketing in this regard is as expected. 

I have little to no idea who I can romance as a lady Ryder. In and of itself, I am actually not at all bothered by this. I was actually kind of excited when it was announced (by Flynn, I think) that they were going to keep the romances a secret because I was really looking forward to going into this blind. I remember how thrilling it was finding out that romances were a thing when I first played Origin--I was totally up for experiencing something similar.

But then they release two major story trailers showing bro Ryder intimately involved with two female companions? 

Romances aren’t even the most important part of the game to me. Yes, I thoroughly enjoy what they can add to a story, but I play plenty of games where it’s not available. Sometimes I even opt out in games where it is. But if you’re going to show us that it is integrated into the story and promote it as a major selling point for the game, acknowledge that your fanbase is far more diverse than players who want to play a guy romancing a woman. 

I’m just tired of having to trust developers that they’re aware that I’m a part of a demographic that supports their games. Fucking show me that players like me aren’t a second thought and I’ll happily pre-order your game. Entice me with your trailers and I’ll pay full price and then some for DLC. Keep sidelining us and I’ll just stick to Steam sales and Origin discounts. 

ETA - Just because a few people have mentioned this: I’m aware that EA likely plays a greater role in the marketing decisions than BW. Nevertheless, my complaints are directed towards whatever teams and individuals have made these decisions regardless of affiliation, and my tags are for easy blacklisting purposes. “bioware critical” is more commonly used than “ea critical.”

[astralgaytower-archive]

I really hate where the M/EA discussion has gone because we've now entered this weird state where ggers've hijacked any meaningful criticism of the game's tech problems and are supposedly harassing BW devs but at the same time I've really got no desire to defend said devs or EA bc of the homophobic bull they keep pulling.

[plushchimera]

tsyele ответил(a) на ваш пост “Ya know, I look at Cora’s model and I think that apparently bioware...”

Tbh I'm so glad I permanently gave up on the ME series after my single pt of me3. I don't feel disappointed, in fact I think the whole situation's hilarious �� cheer up though, I know that some people are/were really excited, but I've stopped putting my trust in bw a long time ago

oh, Im not really upset or disappointed. I didn't expect any miracles with CC anyway even sims do better job with hair :D Though I'll be bitching about bw/ea poor design/writing choices and marketing policy till the end of my days, but I'm not... mmm as emotionally invested as I used to be. I'm still pretty excited and I'll enjoy the game (95% sure), but at the same time I try to remain critical.

[rainofaugustsith]

So remember that stuff about how we were going to be able to switch combat styles? Sorry. Not for existing toons. Only brand new ones. Although if you're a subscriber you can pick a second advanced class set of abilities. I suppose you could play with that only but it does mean you have to sub to do it, and it also means you will never be able to lose your existing first combat style even if you'd hoped to do so. Damn it. The one thing that actually seemed universally positive about 7.0 - before the abilities were pruned - was the possibility of switching combat styles for characters. Say it with me: this deal is getting worse all the time.

Caption: Originally Posted by JackieKo

Hi all,

For transparency and context for those who are reading the dev tracker only, the choosing your Combat Style for existing characters text being referenced in this thread is from the Separating Story and Gameplay article that was published a while go.

There's been an update to this. We originally planned to allow players to switch their primary combat style with existing characters upon loading up 7.0, unfortunately we discovered some technical hurdles that will prevent us from supporting that. So upon login, existing characters will maintain their existing Advanced Class, which will be converted into their first Combat Style. And eligible players will still be free to choose their second Combat Style.

The original article has been updated to reflect this.

[felassan]

hi! not sure if you've received this question before but: do you think there'll be a da4 "reveal" during the ea play livestream? I'm not sure if they're far enough into production to offer up a first story trailer but darrah has been a tease on twitter!

Hi Nonnie, I haven’t at least to my recollection :) I obviously certainly hope there is, especially since it’s a big annual event and since it’s been a long time since the DWR teaser trailer, but I’m not sure. Teasing on Twitter seems to be Mr Darrah’s default setting 😄 and the game is still several years out. in addition, it’s possible that the pandemic has impacted things a bit (which is 100% understandable and not a criticism of BW or any staff members there at all, staff safety is paramount).

that said, Hilary Heskett, a marketing person, recently returned to BW. they managed the go-to-market planning for DAI, creating assets such as trailers, key art, screenshots, packaging and advertizements. they also led teams managing marketing of post-launch DAI content and defined brand and marketing strategies for MEA. they’re quite senior (a former role they had at BW was senior manager in global product marketing) and a week ago they tweeted that their first week back was a good success. I wonder if their return had to do with beginning to work on the DA4 marketing campaign. it’s also interesting that Michael Gamble tweeted this time last year that they (as in Michael) would be there at this year’s event (obviously they won’t be there physically in person this year if they are involved due to what’s going on). they are the Project Director of “unannounced”, per their Twitter bio. it can’t be Anthem Next that Michael is the PD of, since they’re in Edmonton, and Anthem Next is the Austin office’s thing. if the MET remaster/remake rumor is true it could be that which is their remit.

I can’t say one way or the other, so for folks reading, please don’t take this post as me saying that there will or will not be. the pessimist in me says it’s more likely that there won’t be something than that there will be something, but I don’t know how much water that holds. maybe if there is something, not a first story trailer but the official announcement? the official announcement that yes, it is a thing (we know it is but it’s still officially not-announced, as the devs like to remind us). or maybe something less meaty than a story trailer like a dev diary, like those ones they showed us back then for MEA. I’m gonna be watching regardless, because it’s E3 and I always do 😄 just gonna see what happens with no expectation. I’d be psyched to see anything from BW at E3, whether it’s DA-related, or possible news about the rumored MET remaster/remake, or something else entirely.

( EA Play Live info post

Summergamefest info post )

[felassan]

BioWare Blog Update: May Anthem Update [x]

by Christian Dailey on May 15 2020

Hi All,

My name is Christian, and I am the Studio Director for the BioWare Austin office that is leading the production of what we are exploring NEXT for Anthem. NICE TO MEET YOU!

Prior to this role I was the Franchise Development Director for the Anthem Live Service helping guide the development of our post-launch updates which focused on stabilizing and improving performance of the service, our first Cataclysm, Season of Skulls, Icetide and into the most recent update with 1.7. And in addition, I have been silently stalking you over the past year on Reddit, EA Forums, Twitter, etc. taking in all the feedback you have been graciously providing and adding it to the giant cookbook of things we are experimenting with in Anthem.

As you can see from my photo and like most of you, I am all set up from home, ready to be juggling multiple things – children, pets, family. Some days are better than others, but I can tell you that regardless of where I am working or where the team is working – we’re committed to this project. With that, I wanted to start with a quick update on what is going on with Anthem since we last discussed it in February.

Incubation - AKA prototyping

The Anthem incubation team has kicked off and we are starting to validate our design hypotheses. Incubation is a term we use internally – it essentially means we are going back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short and to leverage everything that you love currently about Anthem. We are a small team – about 30-ish, earning our way forward as we set out to hit our first major milestone goals. Spoiler – this is going to be a longer process. And yes, the team is small but the whole point of this is to take our time and go back to the drawing board. And a small team gives us the agility a larger one can’t afford.

We really want this experience to be different for the team and our players, but we know we have some tough challenges to tackle. We want to include you as we go and be open and honest with where we are at and what the expectations are with where we are going. The reality is you will see things that look awesome but end up on the cutting room floor or things that you might think suck that you feel we are spending too much time on – but in the spirit of experimentation this is all OK. We really want to provide you all the transparency we can because of your passion and interest in Anthem. But, with that comes seeing how the sausage is made – which is not always pretty by the way.

Start the conversation

We also want to start putting together some regular comms out to everyone to show/talk about these changes and our progress. This blog is one example, but we also want to include you in more of the day to day and hopefully get you some real interactions with the team. These updates could come in the form of an ad-hoc live stream, or some cool concept art posted on social media, or the occasional feed of me curled up in a ball crying in the corner…

We will get back to everyone on what our update cadence will look like soon, as we start looping you into our progress.

We hope this finds you well

We have a great studio here in Austin working on Anthem and other cool projects (shout out to the SWTOR team). I am proud of the folks I spend time with – and in this physical distancing new world, the folks I spend time on Zoom with. I am not here to over hype anything, but we do believe the changes we are making are the right ones and we hope you think so as well…but you might not and that is cool too. It is the constructive criticism and feedback we need – in either direction.

I hope everyone is staying safe and focusing on the things that matter most to you. As game developers we are all very lucky for the job we get to do but there is some real stuff going on out there and some real heroes looking out for our safety and well-being. Take care of yourselves and each other. Stay tuned as we kick this off and we hope to see/hear from you as we go on this journey (stronger) together.

Christian [x]

Cliffnotes:

The former Franchise Development Director for the Anthem Live Service is now the Studio Director for the BioWare Austin office

It’s the Austin office that are exploring what they’re going to do next with Anthem

They’ve been looking extensively at Anthem feedback for the past year

They (BW) are committed to the project

The Anthem ‘2.0′ prototyping team has begun work. They’re essentially going back to the drawing board and want to provide as much transparency as possible. They’ll soon start giving regular updates of some description

The team has about 30 members

The Austin office are also working on “some other cool projects”. The SWTOR team were mentioned

[felassan]

How do you feel about the Mass Effect news? On one hand, I blame EA vehemently. On the other, I also blame BW. It's been a rollercoaster, non-stop, and maybe it is for the better that it is finally over. I can not help but feel that I am the victim of a huge scam... it is unfortunate, not just for the history of the ME series but also for the rich history of Bioware.

hello. I outlined some of my thoughts/speculations already here, and wrote a 7 day “celebration of ME:A” meme in conjunction with @omegastation here.. in as much of an effort to celebrate the game with the community as to process my own feelings (heh..)

aside from that - in the first, the news is not unexpected, despite all my hopefulness. second, I am just glad they’ve finally made an official statement on the matter, to close the issue and shut the book on that one way or the other. I was beginning to find the endless speculation back and forth both in my own head and in the fandom tiring. it was an unconstructive ‘they will/they wont’-dance and it was beginning to wear. now at least there’s an end to the waiting and no more uncertainty/arguing about the matter. 

third, and most of all, I’m just very.. sad about the whole sitch, really. even though its not a surprise. sad that there won’t be any further adventures for Ryder/us in this iteration of the franchise, sad parts of the fandom are attacking other parts off the back of the news, sad there won’t be more Andromeda singleplayer content to look forward to and play, sad there won’t be more SP Mass Effect for many years (if at all), sad that those awesome intriguing dangling epilogue plothooks (like the fate of the Quarian ark) will not be experienced by us in a game-format but instead in books or comics or not at all, sad that things went down the way they did. sad and disappointed. for all its flaws and the criticism it received I quite enjoyed and had a lot of good fun with Andromeda and was looking forwards to more adventures in DLC with my Ryder. I feel sad in an empathetic way for the people who are bummed out or otherwise upset by the news. I also feel quite bad for the devs.

I don’t really blame anybody. it is highly unfortunate but it is what it is. I hope you feel better soon. :[

in the meantime, I have Andromeda replays to enjoy, and DA4 to look forwards to.