Anthem: 8 Ways EA Could Still Mess It Up

Those who have been paying attention to modern gaming industry trends will no-doubt have noticed that live service looter shooters are all the rage right now. While survival crafting games like Rust or The Forest were the in-thing a year or two ago, FPS loot-em-ups like Bungie’s Destiny or Digital Extremes’ Warframe seem to hold the lion’s share of the AAA market at the moment.

Much like the abundance of recent battle royale cash-in games, there’s a desperate “me too” motive behind BioWare’s Anthem. Loot-based MMO-lites are easy to develop content for and are totally susceptible to in-game monetization schemes. After all, those who don’t want to put in the in-game hours to unlock legendary skins can always drop a few real-world dollars instead.

But what can Anthem do to stand out amongst it’s samey competitors? The Iron Man-esque javelin system is a neat enough conceit, but it likely won’t be enough to lend the game an entirely unique feel.

It may hold players' attention for now, but what’s going to stop the majority of them from jumping ship once The Division 2 drops a month later? They may not be totally analogous titles, but it’s a concern nevertheless.