Anthem: 8 Ways EA Could Still Mess It Up

It’s definitely too early to call EA’s upcoming Anthem a failure. Yet, by the same token, what we’ve seen of the game so far doesn’t exactly inspire total confidence, either. Dedicated BioWare stalwarts may well point the finger at the publisher or do their best to shift the blame elsewhere, but the fact remains that the team’s soon-to-release epic sci-fi looter shooter has garnered a ton of negative press over the past few days.

From infinite loading screens to inept servers, few were pleased with Anthem’s VIP demo, and things were so bad that BioWare had to issue a second javelin vinyl skin to players in an attempt to make amends.

Both EA and BioWare have been in hot water before, but the stakes have never felt quite as high as they are now. Should Anthem fail, it’s hard to know what will happen to either organization, though, given EA’s track record of dismantling studios, it may well be curtains for the dev team should the game go belly up.

Electronic Arts is relying on this title to quell investor’s fears and right the ship, but they still have plenty of opportunities to mess it up.

EA seems to be at the forefront of gaming’s newest manipulative trend: tiered release dates. In the old days, a game would have one set-in-stone release date (or perhaps several for international releases) and that would be it. Today, those too impatient to sit by and mark days off of the calendar can pony up some extra dough for early access.

Tiered release dates may become the new normal for AAA games in 2019, and it’s quickly becoming a headache for budget-conscious gamers. Anthem was first made available via an exclusive closed demo in early December, but was more recently playable over last weekend’s VIP premium demo.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Everyone will have access to an open demo from the first to the third of February, and Origin Premier Access subscribers can go hands-on with the title starting February fifteenth.

The poor saps of the world who weren’t gracious enough to pay Electronic Arts for the privilege of early access will have to wait until the twenty-second of February to play the game. This may seem like a minor gripe, but tiered releases are certain to become the industry’s next big controversy.