The Insulting Poison Of Corporate Video Games

Anthem is Bioware and EA trying to hit some of that sweet “Games as a Service” money that Destiny or Warframe enjoy. Both titles' numbers for hours invested are stratospheric, and that’s all that matters if you’re crunching statistics.

The comparisons are so obvious; the E3 press conference-sounding, pep-filled cringe dialogue pathetically trying to target an audience that would buy t-shirts with “Pro gamer” on the front without irony, or those chugging energy drinks to gain access to double XP weekends, cheering during a shoutcast’d Fortnite tournament as demonstrators on stage say things like “we got this”, and “sweet headshot, bro”.

This version of a “gamer” doesn’t exist; they’re a nebulously targetable fake demographic with microtransaction investment rates more likely coming from people will exorbitant amounts of disposable wealth – or “whales”, as the industry likes to call them.

Gaming has finally transitioned into a fully-accepted, mass media entertainment artform, but that doesn’t mean the audiences that got it there will ever lap up the same fast food bilge that dominates other mediums. Does the film critic enjoy Transformers? The music lover listen to Rebecca Black?

Games like Anthem don’t create memories. They don’t create gamers, fans of the medium or respecters of the craft. They cash in; they please shareholders and they move onto the next set of bankable mechanics dictated by whichever trends are evident at the time.

Just look at EA’s treatment of studios, beloved or otherwise. It is beat for beat what they’ve been doing for a decade now, with Bioware almost feeling like they’re lining up to present some future earning sheet as the guillotine is already raised, the bean counters baying for blood as they excitedly wait for the next team that might add a zero to their monthly income.

On the player side we're left foraging through seas of seen-it-before clutter, picking out likeable elements to say "Well, the shooting's pretty solid" or "I really like the flight mechanics", but this idea of trying to find a nose despite the face is no future for a creative medium.