BioWare is still hoping it can turn around the fortunes of Anthem after a disastrous launch, and has confirmed that its previous plans to deliver more ‘Acts’ for the game have been punted completely out the window. The much-touted ‘Acts’ will now be replaced by ‘seasonal updates’ so that BioWare can work on improving the game’s core issues instead.
Per BioWare’s Head of Live Service, Chad Robertson, on the company’s blog:
“We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it. Those systems require a more thorough review and re-working versus quick fixes. We’ve got a team working on that now, and early results are promising.
“In order to address these long-range plans, we are moving away from the Acts structure for updates. Instead, we have additional seasonal updates planned for this year that we think players will enjoy. These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you’ve seen, and are built around some fun themes we’re bringing to the game.
“As I’ve said previously, we want to be transparent with you that we know more work needs to be done to make Anthem better. We also want to ensure we’re backing up our words with a great game you can play. So I don’t have any news today to share about the long-term changes we are bringing to Anthem. What I can say is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming.”
Whether Anthem can do as well to placate its community after working out its continuing problems remains to be seen. Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky has faced similar-ish challenges, and saw some improvement with the release of Beyond last month, although players were in for a rough start.
Indeed, Hello Games’ founder Sean Murray had some advice for Anthem’s devs back in July about the ongoing situation, encouraging them to just be quiet and buckle down.
“Talking about features when a game’s already out isn’t that credible or interesting,” Murray said. “Your actions are so much more important than what you say.”
Wireframe #22 is out now
