The Anthem disaster

[Kugelfisch]

There's an interesting, albeit long, article by Schreier about the development process of Anthem and what a fucking mess it was that led to the disappointing end product: http://archive.is/jPKaV

The main takeaway is that they didn't know what they wanted to make, that the game changed a lot during development but for years never had a clear vision.
Loads of people left BioWare, resources between the three BioWare studios were juggled, creating even more of a mess and lack of vision.
Frostbite was a pain in the ass to work with.
The current version of Anthem was made in the last 12 to 18 months. Destiny was a forbidden word in the office.
BioWare leadership thought until the very end that stuff will just magically work out because that's supposedly how it works at BioWare. Didn't work for ME:Andromeda either.
The only fault EA had is forcing Frostbite on all it's studios and having the special Frostbite help team manly focused on helping out the studio that makes FIFA, taking time away for them to help other studios that struggled with the engine.

A really interesting read and especially concerning in how similar it is to the development of Destiny 1&2.

[Guest]

another mcdonalds game onto the graveyard
there summed it up

he needed 10k words to say that

[Guest]

>How a Sekiro Easy Mode Could Work
You know I'm shit at games too but I didn't make them my career.

[rabidtictac]

The current version of Anthem was made in the last 12 to 18 months.

Of course it was. That's what happens when you try to chase a fucking trend.

[Guest]

I'm not convinced Bioware ever made a good game.

[rabidtictac]

I'm not convinced Bioware ever made a good game.

Depends what you mean by good.

KotoR 1 provided the template for the superior KotoR 2.

Mass Effect 1 was pretty solid.

Jade Empire was fun.

[Kugelfisch]

The current version of Anthem was made in the last 12 to 18 months.

Of course it was. That's what happens when you try to chase a fucking trend.

They didn't even do that. They were just completely clueless as to what kind of game to make it for YEARS.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Which is about the dumbest possible way to go about developing any game, let alone a multi-million dollar project. Unless you just want to faff around for fun I guess.

Seeing how infected Bioware has become with SJWs, and looking at horror stories from SJW cartoon studios, I can only assume that the supervisors and managers were too busy posting on twitter and tumblr.

The only fault EA had is forcing Frostbite on all it's studios and having the special Frostbite help team manly focused on helping out the studio that makes FIFA, taking time away for them to help other studios that struggled with the engine.

It's like having a single help team is kind of dumb for a publisher of their size, especially if one of their biggest cash cows demands an annual release.

[Guest]

EA doesn't care and is impervious to consequences.

[Kugelfisch]

The only fault EA had is forcing Frostbite on all it's studios and having the special Frostbite help team manly focused on helping out the studio that makes FIFA, taking time away for them to help other studios that struggled with the engine.

It's like having a single help team is kind of dumb for a publisher of their size, especially if one of their biggest cash cows demands an annual release.

There's no saying how big that team is. I think it's fair to assume that them prioritizing FIFA and Madden over some dumpster fire in the making that doesn't even have a basic concept for over four years was a good call by EA.