This is great reporting, but the way the Frosbite stuff is framed kinda makes it seem like it's shifting the blame to the technology, when really it's a fine engine to pump out Battlefield games.
This sounds just like the original Destiny's story and you guys might have written that article too. I just remember they had this vision and this story all planned out and then Activison came in and demand a re write and cut the story all up and rearranged it all and turned it into a big mess.
Kotaku also covered the League of Legends devs, and a bunch of other stories concerning employee treatment and studio closures. Haven't you been paying attention? Or is this another excuse to leave another useless snarky comment?
You mean claiming to have interviewed developers who are then claimed to wanting to be anonymous so they wouldn't get fired or sued. Oldest trick in the book. I'm not saying it isn't true, I'm just saying that without viable sources this "journalism" is as much fact as it is fiction.
This article hits home for me, having had a very similar experience at my previous job (even though I'm not a game developer). I worked at this job for 9 years, working my way up to executive director during that time. But then our company was sold to a much larger business, and the problems began almost immediately. And once my boss (the president of our company before it was sold) left, things went from bad to worse. New leadership had no idea how to run the business successfully, and never listened to employee concerns. Other employees started to back stab their coworkers on a regular basis to get in good with the new leadership, and it just became a downward spiral of toxicity. I eventually was demoted myself and then two years later my position was eliminated entirely. I'm still unemployed after 7 months, but even now it almost feels like a stress reliever no longer being there. I would often find myself crying in my car during my morning commute. Even though I'm struggling to find new work, and have the new stress as a result, it's still better than the poisonous environment that I suffered through for too long.
I recommend doing something like Lyft, Uber, Postmates, or Doordash between jobs. The pay isn't great(depends on where you live), but they're easy to sign up for, easy to do if you know how to drive, you pretty much choose your own hours and keeps money coming in. Only real downsides is the ware on your car and having to do your own taxes.
@@Fede0779 You aren't correct. EA gave them 7 years to develop this game, BioWare did shit in the first 5 years. Looks like you didn't watch the video. After the 2017 trailer came out, EA had enough, and give the project to BioWare Austin. And btw: the 2017 "gameplay" trailer was fake. It was just an animation in engine. You should read the whole article.
Yes, they've not learnt. And they've STILL not learning just by looking at their response to this article. The “Bioware Magic” is equivalent of a college student putting an all nighter. It works occasionally but if they are banking on it for excellence, it will fail disastrously very soon.
"Technically, Anthem was in development for the last six years. In reality the game that came out was built in the last 18 months." Jaw genuinely dropped. Much of the criticism of Anthem will refer to "they had six years to fix this; why didn't they?" Well, there's your answer.
EA should've told the wrold they wasted 4 years because essentially that's what they would be admitting to but if they admit that then consumers would say why are you releasing it then and EA would have to say well because fuckem thats why lmao 🤣🤣😚
It's what I always suspected that the current version of Anthem is something that was developed from 2017 onward. Judging from the E3 2017 trailer, they only have a concept and no real gameplay to speak of.
They don't fix it cuz they don't give a fuck about that. They think most of their fan are mindless idiots that will buy anything coming from them, and those idiots keeps proving their point. So , that's basically EA " business methods"
Jason Schreier is one of the very few people in gaming industry that values his integrity above everything else. The man should be commented because he shines bright in darkness. Good job!
Along others in the gaming media, he does journalism right. Mostly. He shouldn't assume all gamers are alt right snowflakes though. Especially when game companies are shoveling such horrible business practices, gamers should be mad at EA, Bungie, Activision, Blizard, Bethesda. Also just because gamers navigate through and tolerate other opinions, doesn't make all gamers alt right or sexist. So as much accolades as I give Jason, he needs to humble himself.
Jason Schreier is a goddam beast. He can wrest open the closed mandibles of game development studios to pry loose the juicy bits of gossip and info that help make sense of the supremely messed up AAA development world. He's a treasure, and I hope he has some kind of goofy disguise kit on hand, as I feel like it's getting to the point where studios are going to paste his photo in break rooms with an All Caps warning saying "DO NOT TALK TO THIS MAN".
On the contrary I feel like there are developers in house that want to leak the bad shit thats happening but dont want to say things with fear of being ousted and shunned, jason gives these people a chance to speak their mind without revealing who they are,
I just don't understand why these Multi-Billion dollar companies are jeopardising a new investment, by not letting it mature in-development before releasing it? Who pushes the button to say, if we release it now we will make 100 million dollars... but if we hold out 12 months we could make 200 million dollars and guarantee sequels and player retention with more content. Why release a Games as a Service product, without a years worth of content already in the bag... that you can release on demand, based on active player stats. Why undercook a game thats suppose to have a 5 year plan... when your already 3 months behind in content development, cause you decided to bring the release date forward on the roadmap.
Most decision makers that high up don't care about the long term. If they can make the numbers look slightly better for a year, that's long enough to get their bonus or promotion or whatever. By the time somebody is asking "Why aren't people buying our new games?" that's somebody else's problem. At least, I think I read that somewhere, or saw it in a movie.
Hope they go bankrupt soon . Seems like losing millions and millions in all the shit they kept trying to do with BFV has not stopped them . This corporate assholes still can keep ruining others jobs out of total greed and awful management in the creation of games
boxhead6177 EA needs to post their quarterly reports with a profits greater then the time before, which incentivizes rushing games for a short term gain on the quarterly report.
It's not always easy. Often a lot of contracts are made that if missed cost the company money. More time in development also means more cost, especially in labor, so yeah they could potentially increase Revenue, but it could all be lost do to increased Cost. Also shareholders expect a return so if you delay the game you also delay returns and shareholder confidence. Not only that, but the cost of the game increases and increases the potential loss. They don't know if the game is going to be a hit, or a dud. What Bioware seemed to suffer from was a lack of firm guidance and neglect where it needed it most until late in the project and corporate interference where it needed it least(Frosbite Mandate). I remember an interview with a former Rare employee talking about how Nintendo seemed to know when and where to intervene in studio activities and when to leave them be and that one big difference with Microsoft was that they were too hands off(the opposite problem of EA).
As some comments- aiming for quarterly reports or yearly profit statements, just means they seriously need to fire their whole financial team (oh wait, they probably just did). Most banks know the importance of short-term gains, but also diversify their investments into long term gains (like loan markets and distressed debt management) and we see repeated mis-steps by publishers and developers to release half-finished products that explode in their face (like Fallout 76) when those companies are not hurting for money or share price to need to take such a silly financial risk as an unfinished product, especially when the "Games As A Service" model is based on long-term continual profits - short selling their own Intellectual Properties is professional suicide.
Unfortunately this was Biowares last chance for glory after Andromeda. I fear this great developer will now join the EA graveyard along with Maxis,Westwood,Mythic,Origin etc. All they had to do was make KOTOR 3 and it might have saved them.
After reading this article and after Andromeda and Anthem, I'm looking forward to Dragon Age 4 in the same way someone looks forward to having surgery. That said, I'm giving it about 50/50 that DA4 ever sees the light of day. Since DA4 is barely in development after being cancelled and restarted under a different team and Anthem is selling like hot garbage, Bioware might be in the same boat as Visceral Games was when they started Project Ragtag. Telling me that DA4 is finally in development again really gives me no comfort. EA has pulled the plug on studios in the middle of projects before. And even if they manage to make it, something tells me that it'll be shit anyway.
Their writing staff is pathetic now, though. And the team is barely even made up of anyone who crafted the best experiences to come out of the company. They've been dead since 2009 in many ways.
Besides Frostbite, I'm going to say that there seemed to be a lack of oversight. Bioware was directionless for six years, which is on them, but how did EA not _notice_ that they were directionless in six years?
@@BigWillTheThrill Sure, but that's more an exception, not the norm. And I think he's saying developers and publishers shouldn't rely on the games as service model heavily.
I said it with Dragon Age. I said it with Andromeda. I have said it with Anthem and I hate it when I'm right when I hear that Frostbite engine played a part in the issues. I freaken hate how EA forces companies to use a Engine down a group's throat because it "works" on their games with huge loads of micro transactions but never fail to listen that Frostbite does not work well for heavily actioned/RPG based games. Just more signs that EA truly is just a publisher and have no actual knowledge on how to make games.
Read the article. The shift from Unreal and Eclipse to Frostbite for DAI and MEA was Bioware's decision. On top of that, the article mentions how Hudson want to re-use Frostbite for Dragon age 4. Using Frostbite is mainly BioWare's fault.
People arent complaining about Frostbite engine... 99% of the people in Anthem are complaining about 2 things and thats 1)Loot drops and 2)Endgame content... thats it. Yes maybe Forstbite engine has some problem to do with it but just make a god damn end game content and make the loot more rewarding thats all they gotta do.
Wirgiliusz31 it was bioware’s decision but based on Jason’s book, it seems like BioWare was highly incentivized to use Frostbite vs licensing an engine. It’s not all EA’s fault but they certainly didn’t help. I think top brass at BioWare are at fault too but it’s not like EA is blameless in all this.
Damn this is actual journalism. This video was such a breeze of fresh air! The community has grown sick of YongYea, DownwardThrust and CleanPrinceGaming regurgitating the same shit again and again with 20 minute long uninspired videos! Thanks a lot!!
All the RUclipsrs that don't get along with him have 10's of thousands of views on their uploads covering his work? Time to give credit where it (clearly) is due. Amazing investigative work Jason, hope to see more of you on RUclips!
@@isadoracostahamsi163 I agree. I don't see how pointing out the irony of a situation and giving the guy credit makes me childish but to to each their own.
Great job, Jason. Keep these companies honest and make sure they know horrible managers are responsible. As someone who dealt with a horrible manager for almost a decade and endured horrible depression and anxiety from it, I can’t imagine what it felt like to work on this game.
Unfortunately, the article explains that EA was not the culprit. Sure they messed up in moving people around, but the core problem was internally in BioWare. It hurt me to read that because of how much I loved the games that they made, but sadly this is no longer the same BioWare.
It seems like this whole story could have been reverse-engineered from publicly available information (no interviews required), but that's just because EA's modus operandi is so consistent. Great piece of reporting
I never knew the drama of game development could last 5 years... only to push a game out in only 16 months. It's disappointing to think how many brilliant concepts and ideas just fell a long way from genius and game changing due to a small change in direction or loss of vision. Couple that with the stress to push out a game and a companies greed unable to cancel a broken project at the expense of resources and you get a lost opportunity with a mediocre product. I only hope publishers in the future will see this terrible shamble of a development story and realise it's simply not worth pushing a broken game. Some games just aren't ready to be developed or released until the right minds get together.
I won't blame EA for wanting to push the product out this time. Just put yourself in the position, you've invested money in something for the past SIX YEARS, won't you think enough is enough?
@@MilkPudding Absolutely, but projects cancel and reignite all the time. Games like the Last guardian which originally was for Ps3 but was delayed to the next generation became a masterpiece with the proper time and effort. What you're describing to me is a company that wanted a return on their investment rather than a quality product and in this case, they got neither. The right call is never always the profitable one, but publishers whom make those calls often make history.
Mr Schreier deserves a big thank you from the fans of Anthem and from Bioware. Knowing the problem and no longer lying about it means it can be fixed. I also think Bioware needs to realize that they are in no way shape or form the great Bioware of the past. There is no magic in Bioware now or in the future. But hopefully the devs will now get support and someone in management will take a lead role. What a great report from the author.
As a developer myself, I find it really shortsighted to bet the success of a product on a single person, with all the other devs linked to that person. As soon as that person leaves or even dies (it can and has happened), the whole thing will fall apart. Where I work we do have team and product leaders, but everything follows a process and is documented so that if such a situation should happen, things can be picked up where they left off and carry on.
Read the full story, thanks for the great detail man, I knew the studio was going through controversial development, but never realized how messed up things had been.
While Inquisition was a decent 7 or 8 out of 10 in my book, that was the game that marked the decline in Bioware's game design. Mass Effect 3, for all of its controversy surrounding the ending, was the last EXCELLENT Bioware game. And that multiplayer had me kicking reaper ass for years to come.
"This last project was crap because we are focusing all our efforts on the next one" - Bioware about everything they made in the last years, apparently.
This is Jason's strong point. He dares dig the dirt that is behind the problems of so many studios and projects. And it seems like this is turning into a constant, almost like Maths. Everyday I watch or read news about some scandal that erupted in some company because of mismanagement in a corporate and personal level, leading to immense lay offs and judicial problems. It's almost like a great disease of the modern world.
You are a fool if you are anticipating literally ANYTHING that has EA on it. Seriously the last 10 titles that EA has released hasnt yet made you think to stop spending/downloading/wasting time/money/bandwidth on? SMH.
Why would you even care about that game, do you have short term memory loss? Stop supporting EA. Didn't you watch this video? Is that the kind of company you want to support. Do you hate the games industry that much?
E M Firstly, See Apex Legends and Titanfall 2. Secondly, in the case of BioWare, this wasn’t EA’s fault aside from pulling some help on Frostbite. Most of the problems were on Bioware’s management. Thirdly, DA4 actually seems to have a director now. Something Anthem didn’t
You guys might find this interesting: Before Dragon Age 2 released on the official forums one of the new project leads was answering fan questions. And his response to a dialog options/story question in the new game and future titles was along the lines of “We are moving away from huge dialog loops because it takes to much time/resources to manage so we are stream lining the process to release games quicker”...And we got Dragon Age 2 etc. Those people that made those great games are no longer in power there, It’s a shame but it is what it is.
Basically sounds like my retail store in the netherlands, hema. Only thing is our team doesnt make anything we just continually sell things and everyone has to be able to do every department because if we're.short on help you have to either be able to do multiple people's job on your own, or you have to be able to help with departments you know nearly nothing about...oh also were located on a shopping street so its always busy.
In many ways, this whole thing really shows how talented the people who actually made this game are. They had all that trouble in development and still managed to make a game that has fun gameplay and is great to look at. It's a real shame. if this thing had a real leader behind it, it could've been something really special.
Say what you will about Jason, he made statements I don't agree with, but he does some amazing journalism. The only gaming journalist who isn't just a mouth piece for the publishers.
I just read the end of the article and saw how "optimistic" Bioware devs are about Anthem's roadmap and future content. After ALLLLLLLL the shit I read to get to that point, it really comes across as a domestic abuse victim nursing a black eye and saying, "I know it looks bad, but you should see him on his good days..." I'm giving it about 50/50 that Dragon Age 4 ever sees the light of day. Since DA4 is barely in development after being cancelled and restarted under a different team and Anthem is selling like hot garbage, Bioware might be in the same boat as Visceral Games was when they started Project Ragtag. Telling me that DA4 is finally in development again really gives me no comfort. EA has pulled the plug on studios in the middle of projects before. And even if they manage to make it, something tells me that it'll be shit anyway. Between the ending of Mass Effect 3, Andromeda, Anthem and stories about how Dragon Age 3's production was a nightmare and it was almost pure luck that it managed to come together into a good game, Bioware has a sick and twisted game development philosophy that leads to shittier games and broken staff. Can we PLEASE, once and for all, just take Bioware behind the shed and blow its brains out like Old Yeller? Its a mercy killing at this point.
With Casey Hudson's leadership BioWare should: 1. Get independent from EA 2. Drop (and forget) the Frostbite Engine 3. Dedicate teams to one project and not let people work all over the place 4. Make the games THEY want, HOW they want, and however long it takes to make them But I'm afraid that with all these people leaving the company it would never recover now anyway. Too much damage has been done to the employees and the studio as a whole.
I implore people to read the article. Jason Schreier is absolutely one of the most interesting game journalists working today. Amazing access and incite
Reading the article and listening to this video, it's possible that leadership could have been taken by a random person and expanded, but it seems that chance was not given. My limited experience in the corporate world is simply following an order which I felt happened here. I'm often reminded of the goblin hero from the magic card game; it's not that you step forward, it's because everyone else stepped back. There's also talk of magic, but pinpointing how it starts and how it is implemented can easily be another story and would be really interesting to see then comparing them to the events here would be incredible to plot how bioware could make a comeback.
Thanks for doing this. Already heard about this from other sources covering the Kotaku article but I felt like I should come here and drop a thumbs up.
Good video with some interesting insight. Also, I’m sure no matter which dev house you talk to, they will more than likely have a lot of negative things to say about their proprietary engine.
@@FraserSouris True. I can't help but feel that every studio/game that EA has anything to do with turns out terrible though. And Like many other people, I probably just need a scapegoat and can't bring myself to blame Bioware entirely out of fondness for their old games. But like Angry Joe said, that Bioware no longer exists.
@@mrnewson Blame BioWare’s management specifically and not the folk that make the great games. As for the studios and games that turn out bad, that appears to be confirmation bias. Like if an EA game turns out flawed, we pay extra attention to it and ignore their successes like Apex and FIFA as well as their studios like Firemonkey that are doing great if not better thanks to EA's funding.
@Kotaku what happens now? I've posted on the subreddit that BioWare should follow in the footsteps of FF14. Bring the servers down and fix the game then re-release. Is this possible, is it even worth it, can this game even be fixed?
Hey Kotaku, can you guys also make a piece about Warframe? I was actually playing it while waiting for Anthem to release and I ended up liking it more. I wasn't able to buy Anthem but played it on a friends console it was good but underwhelming, don't get me wrong though I still like Anthem, I think it still has room to mature. A piece about Warframe and what Anthem can do to be better would be a good subject to write/talk about
No, the game needed to be cancelled and redeveloped under new leadership. A company that sees numbers is unable to see the importance of starting over at the expense of resources.
Ah ignorant people blaming EA for everything. Read the article you dumbass, Bioware was fucking around for 4 years with no vision. How's that EA's fault? They gave them all the time they needed to finish this game. I hate EA aswell but stop blaming them without knowing what you're talking about.
The people who made horizon zero dawn, need to team up with the warframe creators, and make a game based off of the ideas used for anthem, that would be fantastic
I love these long form videos with Jason breaking down the issues. Sad about Anthem. I've played every other Bioware game except for this - as soon as I heard it was more of a shooter, I knew it wasn't for me.
I've read and heard several times that Bioware chose to work with frostbite and that EA had nothing to do with the decision. So if the Bioware devs have problems with the engine, why not license the unreal engine? Or why can't the decision makers be bothered to improve the frostbite engine, before a non ego shooter is being made? And why does this situation remind me of Bethesda?
BioWare is sour about this 😂 There will be a witch-hunt first thing tomorrow morning and start looking at timesheets in and out, asking for employee phones and phone bills etc. These articles NEED to exist and tbh, the shuttering of Amy’s studio and the Star Wars project was the most insightful and enjoyable for me. I’d love to know what they are doing with her contract now. And that entire studio complained endlessly about production difficulties with Frost engine and trying to shoehorn it into a third person game.
I’m up to the Dragon Age: Inquisition chapter of Blood, Sweat and Pixels and reading about Bioware’s issues with Frostbite during its development and watching the same problems plague Anthem is sad. This engine clearly has problems for developers outside of FPS games and causes too many headaches for games outside that genre.
This just seems like that same sad story that happened with Mass Effect Andromeda. No clear direction, senior leadership leaves, Frostbite sucks, and you have to please your overlord EA. When will EA figure out that Frostbite 100% potential only lies in FPS and nothing 3rd person related?
ANTHEM was my favorite game until i saw and heard the news about this game. I was really sad that ANTHEM didnt end up as great as i thought. I'm a young adult but i really had a vision thought of for ANTHEM. If they had better seniors and time it would be great to see ANTHEM. shoot if i had money i would love to see it come back.
I've had some...choice words in the past to describe Jason, and truth be told I still do. But I can recognize and give props when needed. Good job on this one Jason.
This is Final Fantasy XIV all over again, but this time without the hard working diligent Japanese ingenuity to fix things. I wanted Bioware storytelling, that didn't happen because that never happens in these modern looter shooters. Borderlands was a looter shooter defined by it's fascinating storytelling. Amazing what even a git like Randy can pull off and Bioware can't.
Jason this article is amazing and i am glad that reporters like you are making the game industry better for future developers by exposing these practices. Keep on doing what you're doing Jason.
The game was beautiful but it lacked a lot it had so much potential but just failed 😞 I remember repeating missions 7 times a day that was my biggest complaint
Had Kotaku maintained that level of professionalism it might not have been sold for chump change. Good luck with -your new masters- the new administration guys. I'm off to Exclusively Games.
As much as I understand and sympathize for those involved in the process, I will still be trading in my copy. I liked the flying but honestly everything else is anything but rewarding. Extremely repetitive, lack of depth in customization of your character, and a multitude of other things. There needs to be a clear message that a game going through this kind of bullshit process of changes in team, working with a terrible engine, and overall lack of direction/consideration for customers shouldn't be tolerated by gamers. I honestly feel bad for those who try to defend this game. No game should make you feel like you're doing a chore, and the fact that they're now trying to fix their game kind of defeats the purpose of preordering! I know I'm just one person returning my copy but with enough backlash, a real difference can be made in future development of games.
Fascinating in so many ways, sad and unbelieveable. I know creativity is a capricious beauty, I had my fair share of uncreative moments, but I cannot imagine working on something for so many years without a vision or direction. It must have been really hard.
Should be a court case, but I suppose unfinished products/game is perfectly okay. What if you bought an item on Ebay when you got it, was nothing like it described? What the difference with a game?
Hi Jason great work... more vids please. I enjoy reading your articles and listening to splitscreen mainly because you challenge my own opinions and that's great. I don't always agree with everything you say but I don't have to. As long as I listen my opinion becomes more rounded which I like. Keep up the great work.
@@kylele23 Because FromSoft refused to stuff it full with monetization BS that I'm sure Activision would've loved to have there. "Pay to resurrect" ala Candy Crush etc.
SLED leohja Except EA wasn’t at fault here. Aside from limiting help with Frostbite most of the problems BioWare had were on their management. And the team had avoided most of the problems for DAI
This video is only a part of a much larger story. For more, check out Jason's piece on the site: kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964
Have to admit, that piece was quality work. Good job Jason!
This is great reporting, but the way the Frosbite stuff is framed kinda makes it seem like it's shifting the blame to the technology, when really it's a fine engine to pump out Battlefield games.
That's the point. It's a fine engine for pumping out Battlefield games, but is missing a bunch of features required for the games Bioware is making.
Good work on this Jason
This sounds just like the original Destiny's story and you guys might have written that article too. I just remember they had this vision and this story all planned out and then Activison came in and demand a re write and cut the story all up and rearranged it all and turned it into a big mess.
The story of development of Anthem is more interesting than the game itself
the movie about the development will be directed by David Fincher. The Bioware Network.
HAH!! far and away man............
glad we don't have to pay $60 to read the story
Indeed factz
I would watch that netflix movie rather than play the game.
I thought I'd never say this but
this is... ACTUAL GAME JOURNALISM.
Exactly. When other video games outlets highlight YOUR journalistic piece as their main news story.....newsworthy.
Kotaku also covered the League of Legends devs, and a bunch of other stories concerning employee treatment and studio closures. Haven't you been paying attention? Or is this another excuse to leave another useless snarky comment?
Where have you been for the past decade? This guy has been doing this type of stuff quite a long time...
Yeah of course because it never existed before, this is the first one right?
You mean claiming to have interviewed developers who are then claimed to wanting to be anonymous so they wouldn't get fired or sued. Oldest trick in the book. I'm not saying it isn't true, I'm just saying that without viable sources this "journalism" is as much fact as it is fiction.
This article hits home for me, having had a very similar experience at my previous job (even though I'm not a game developer). I worked at this job for 9 years, working my way up to executive director during that time. But then our company was sold to a much larger business, and the problems began almost immediately. And once my boss (the president of our company before it was sold) left, things went from bad to worse. New leadership had no idea how to run the business successfully, and never listened to employee concerns. Other employees started to back stab their coworkers on a regular basis to get in good with the new leadership, and it just became a downward spiral of toxicity. I eventually was demoted myself and then two years later my position was eliminated entirely. I'm still unemployed after 7 months, but even now it almost feels like a stress reliever no longer being there. I would often find myself crying in my car during my morning commute. Even though I'm struggling to find new work, and have the new stress as a result, it's still better than the poisonous environment that I suffered through for too long.
I recommend doing something like Lyft, Uber, Postmates, or Doordash between jobs. The pay isn't great(depends on where you live), but they're easy to sign up for, easy to do if you know how to drive, you pretty much choose your own hours and keeps money coming in. Only real downsides is the ware on your car and having to do your own taxes.
Thats unfortunate, hope things turn around for you!
Welcome to America where success and financial stability are a dream.
Read the full article by Jason. It's one of the best articles i've read this year.
we've all been there, im currently there now, keep your head up
12-18 months is exactly how long this game feels like it’s been in development when played!
Oh no. The SFSD (Sonic Forces Stress Disorder) is coming back!
That's probably correct ; knowing how EA rushes the development. Yeah it turns out to be a mess
@@Fede0779 You aren't correct. EA gave them 7 years to develop this game, BioWare did shit in the first 5 years. Looks like you didn't watch the video. After the 2017 trailer came out, EA had enough, and give the project to BioWare Austin. And btw: the 2017 "gameplay" trailer was fake. It was just an animation in engine. You should read the whole article.
Manuel Alberto Romero tbh i loved sonic forces song/theme
I listen to them from time to time
@@klarnorbert Yes it is BioWare's fault, but BioWare also wanted to delay the release and EA would not let them
I was looking forward to Bioware's signature storytelling with world altering decisions, sadly that didn't happen
I was looking forward to banging Owen too, sadly that didn't happen either.
"world altering" in a online game lol
Tory Parson remember that trailer LAST YEAR that teased dynamic real time storytelling that would alter the story? Complete lie.
Is it just me or does Anthem's development cycle sound a LOT like Mass Effect Andromeda's development cycle?
It sounds a lot like Sonic Forcess as well.
It's the same cycle . They just needs all the idiots to keep buying and subscribing to their shit business
No, it's just you.
Yes, they've not learnt. And they've STILL not learning just by looking at their response to this article.
The “Bioware Magic” is equivalent of a college student putting an all nighter. It works occasionally but if they are banking on it for excellence, it will fail disastrously very soon.
Yes, when I read the article I felt the same way and during the production cycle, I saw the same red flags Andromeda had.
"Technically, Anthem was in development for the last six years. In reality the game that came out was built in the last 18 months." Jaw genuinely dropped. Much of the criticism of Anthem will refer to "they had six years to fix this; why didn't they?" Well, there's your answer.
Thats the exact same thing that happened with Andromeda.
EA should've told the wrold they wasted 4 years because essentially that's what they would be admitting to but if they admit that then consumers would say why are you releasing it then and EA would have to say well because fuckem thats why lmao 🤣🤣😚
It's what I always suspected that the current version of Anthem is something that was developed from 2017 onward. Judging from the E3 2017 trailer, they only have a concept and no real gameplay to speak of.
@@RonRyder And Dragon Age 2.
They don't fix it cuz they don't give a fuck about that. They think most of their fan are mindless idiots that will buy anything coming from them, and those idiots keeps proving their point. So , that's basically EA " business methods"
Jason Schreier is one of the very few people in gaming industry that values his integrity above everything else. The man should be commented because he shines bright in darkness. Good job!
Along others in the gaming media, he does journalism right. Mostly.
He shouldn't assume all gamers are alt right snowflakes though. Especially when game companies are shoveling such horrible business practices, gamers should be mad at EA, Bungie, Activision, Blizard, Bethesda.
Also just because gamers navigate through and tolerate other opinions, doesn't make all gamers alt right or sexist. So as much accolades as I give Jason, he needs to humble himself.
Jason Schreier is a goddam beast. He can wrest open the closed mandibles of game development studios to pry loose the juicy bits of gossip and info that help make sense of the supremely messed up AAA development world. He's a treasure, and I hope he has some kind of goofy disguise kit on hand, as I feel like it's getting to the point where studios are going to paste his photo in break rooms with an All Caps warning saying "DO NOT TALK TO THIS MAN".
Kyle O'Reilly sssssshhhhhhhhhhh. They are watching.
On the contrary I feel like there are developers in house that want to leak the bad shit thats happening but dont want to say things with fear of being ousted and shunned, jason gives these people a chance to speak their mind without revealing who they are,
@@johndoe4034 well that's how every investigative article work
I just don't understand why these Multi-Billion dollar companies are jeopardising a new investment, by not letting it mature in-development before releasing it? Who pushes the button to say, if we release it now we will make 100 million dollars... but if we hold out 12 months we could make 200 million dollars and guarantee sequels and player retention with more content.
Why release a Games as a Service product, without a years worth of content already in the bag... that you can release on demand, based on active player stats. Why undercook a game thats suppose to have a 5 year plan... when your already 3 months behind in content development, cause you decided to bring the release date forward on the roadmap.
Most decision makers that high up don't care about the long term. If they can make the numbers look slightly better for a year, that's long enough to get their bonus or promotion or whatever. By the time somebody is asking "Why aren't people buying our new games?" that's somebody else's problem. At least, I think I read that somewhere, or saw it in a movie.
Hope they go bankrupt soon . Seems like losing millions and millions in all the shit they kept trying to do with BFV has not stopped them . This corporate assholes still can keep ruining others jobs out of total greed and awful management in the creation of games
boxhead6177 EA needs to post their quarterly reports with a profits greater then the time before, which incentivizes rushing games for a short term gain on the quarterly report.
It's not always easy. Often a lot of contracts are made that if missed cost the company money. More time in development also means more cost, especially in labor, so yeah they could potentially increase Revenue, but it could all be lost do to increased Cost. Also shareholders expect a return so if you delay the game you also delay returns and shareholder confidence. Not only that, but the cost of the game increases and increases the potential loss. They don't know if the game is going to be a hit, or a dud.
What Bioware seemed to suffer from was a lack of firm guidance and neglect where it needed it most until late in the project and corporate interference where it needed it least(Frosbite Mandate). I remember an interview with a former Rare employee talking about how Nintendo seemed to know when and where to intervene in studio activities and when to leave them be and that one big difference with Microsoft was that they were too hands off(the opposite problem of EA).
As some comments- aiming for quarterly reports or yearly profit statements, just means they seriously need to fire their whole financial team (oh wait, they probably just did).
Most banks know the importance of short-term gains, but also diversify their investments into long term gains (like loan markets and distressed debt management) and we see repeated mis-steps by publishers and developers to release half-finished products that explode in their face (like Fallout 76) when those companies are not hurting for money or share price to need to take such a silly financial risk as an unfinished product, especially when the "Games As A Service" model is based on long-term continual profits - short selling their own Intellectual Properties is professional suicide.
Unfortunately this was Biowares last chance for glory after Andromeda. I fear this great developer will now join the EA graveyard along with Maxis,Westwood,Mythic,Origin etc. All they had to do was make KOTOR 3 and it might have saved them.
It's not the same bioware anyway. All the senior developers left.
After reading this article and after Andromeda and Anthem, I'm looking forward to Dragon Age 4 in the same way someone looks forward to having surgery. That said, I'm giving it about 50/50 that DA4 ever sees the light of day. Since DA4 is barely in development after being cancelled and restarted under a different team and Anthem is selling like hot garbage, Bioware might be in the same boat as Visceral Games was when they started Project Ragtag.
Telling me that DA4 is finally in development again really gives me no comfort. EA has pulled the plug on studios in the middle of projects before. And even if they manage to make it, something tells me that it'll be shit anyway.
Their writing staff is pathetic now, though. And the team is barely even made up of anyone who crafted the best experiences to come out of the company. They've been dead since 2009 in many ways.
The most devastating part of all this? It wasn't even EA's fault. Bioware completely screwed the pooch, they truly have lost their touch. So tragic
actually, EA took a part in it by forcing Frostbite onto Bioware.
Besides Frostbite, I'm going to say that there seemed to be a lack of oversight. Bioware was directionless for six years, which is on them, but how did EA not _notice_ that they were directionless in six years?
@@DrumEagle read the actual article man. It is clearly stated that EA did not force bioware to use it. It was biowares choice to use frostbite.
@@davidalvaradoda is this really the case? Then I misunderstood this detail.
@@DrumEagle yeah I read the article before I saw this video. A lot more details than the video.
This was fascinating. Kotaku is one of the few who really do the research about development and it's up and downs
David M. W. Been following the response to review Anthem, and man...spot on!
I was waiting for this. Thanks for the interesting story, Jason.
Games as a service needs to end. Quality is everything. Sekiro, God of War, Nier, Witcher 3. The bar is too high to make a mediocre game.
When you say Nier, I assume you mean Nier: Automata.
People who play the Division 2 will disagree
@@BigWillTheThrill Sure, but that's more an exception, not the norm. And I think he's saying developers and publishers shouldn't rely on the games as service model heavily.
You paint it way to broad stroke. Anthem clearly has no direction even before it becomes service game.
@@xavier8951 definitely nier automata.... Nier ps3 had whack combat.
I said it with Dragon Age. I said it with Andromeda. I have said it with Anthem and I hate it when I'm right when I hear that Frostbite engine played a part in the issues. I freaken hate how EA forces companies to use a Engine down a group's throat because it "works" on their games with huge loads of micro transactions but never fail to listen that Frostbite does not work well for heavily actioned/RPG based games. Just more signs that EA truly is just a publisher and have no actual knowledge on how to make games.
Xiato also remember nfs rivals? Ow gawd dat gam
Read the article. The shift from Unreal and Eclipse to Frostbite for DAI and MEA was Bioware's decision. On top of that, the article mentions how Hudson want to re-use Frostbite for Dragon age 4. Using Frostbite is mainly BioWare's fault.
People arent complaining about Frostbite engine... 99% of the people in Anthem are complaining about 2 things and thats 1)Loot drops and 2)Endgame content... thats it. Yes maybe Forstbite engine has some problem to do with it but just make a god damn end game content and make the loot more rewarding thats all they gotta do.
Wirgiliusz31 it was bioware’s decision but based on Jason’s book, it seems like BioWare was highly incentivized to use Frostbite vs licensing an engine. It’s not all EA’s fault but they certainly didn’t help. I think top brass at BioWare are at fault too but it’s not like EA is blameless in all this.
Richard Kim you act like it’s that simple. If an engine makes things take longer then making end game content will take longer.
Thanks for the update Jason. You do great work in your exclusive articles.
When investigative gaming journalism is better than investigative broadcast news journalism
Damn this is actual journalism. This video was such a breeze of fresh air! The community has grown sick of YongYea, DownwardThrust and CleanPrinceGaming regurgitating the same shit again and again with 20 minute long uninspired videos! Thanks a lot!!
All the RUclipsrs that don't get along with him have 10's of thousands of views on their uploads covering his work? Time to give credit where it (clearly) is due.
Amazing investigative work Jason, hope to see more of you on RUclips!
You don’t need to like someone to reference their work. That is a kind of childish view. They DO need to credit him though.
@@isadoracostahamsi163 I agree. I don't see how pointing out the irony of a situation and giving the guy credit makes me childish but to to each their own.
Great job, Jason. Keep these companies honest and make sure they know horrible managers are responsible. As someone who dealt with a horrible manager for almost a decade and endured horrible depression and anxiety from it, I can’t imagine what it felt like to work on this game.
in a world where gaming journalism is dying a slow and horrifying death, this article was a shining light. Thank you.
Wow is all i can say, taking this game off my system. Great work, this is flat out embarrassing on EA
Unfortunately, the article explains that EA was not the culprit. Sure they messed up in moving people around, but the core problem was internally in BioWare. It hurt me to read that because of how much I loved the games that they made, but sadly this is no longer the same BioWare.
Trust Jason to get the info needed to explain what the hell happened to this mess of a game.
so happy i didn't pre order it
It seems like this whole story could have been reverse-engineered from publicly available information (no interviews required), but that's just because EA's modus operandi is so consistent. Great piece of reporting
I never knew the drama of game development could last 5 years... only to push a game out in only 16 months. It's disappointing to think how many brilliant concepts and ideas just fell a long way from genius and game changing due to a small change in direction or loss of vision. Couple that with the stress to push out a game and a companies greed unable to cancel a broken project at the expense of resources and you get a lost opportunity with a mediocre product. I only hope publishers in the future will see this terrible shamble of a development story and realise it's simply not worth pushing a broken game. Some games just aren't ready to be developed or released until the right minds get together.
In order word, get out of that studio for the sake your health.
I won't blame EA for wanting to push the product out this time. Just put yourself in the position, you've invested money in something for the past SIX YEARS, won't you think enough is enough?
@@MilkPudding Absolutely, but projects cancel and reignite all the time. Games like the Last guardian which originally was for Ps3 but was delayed to the next generation became a masterpiece with the proper time and effort. What you're describing to me is a company that wanted a return on their investment rather than a quality product and in this case, they got neither. The right call is never always the profitable one, but publishers whom make those calls often make history.
investigative games journalism! Love it!
Thank you so much for actual subtitles!! It made me very happy to see them :)
This is so sad and disappointing
Sounds like Bioware is broken.
Damn Jason, this might as well be the best of your investigative piece!
Also, if you liked the video, go read the article! Is really well written and, well, that's what Jason's work and Kotaku deserve.
Mr Schreier deserves a big thank you from the fans of Anthem and from Bioware. Knowing the problem and no longer lying about it means it can be fixed. I also think Bioware needs to realize that they are in no way shape or form the great Bioware of the past. There is no magic in Bioware now or in the future. But hopefully the devs will now get support and someone in management will take a lead role. What a great report from the author.
As a developer myself, I find it really shortsighted to bet the success of a product on a single person, with all the other devs linked to that person. As soon as that person leaves or even dies (it can and has happened), the whole thing will fall apart. Where I work we do have team and product leaders, but everything follows a process and is documented so that if such a situation should happen, things can be picked up where they left off and carry on.
Read the full story, thanks for the great detail man, I knew the studio was going through controversial development, but never realized how messed up things had been.
Kinda sad that every other video about your work has blown up on YT but this only has 30k views.
Jason......seriously this is great work i am blown away great job man!
Jason coming with the banger like always! Great job man! Kotaku is lucky to have you.
Star wars cancellations are no longer a wonder...FROSTBITE! Snowdrop is great for RPG's EA should see if they can licence it from UBISOFT lol!
Imagine a Star Wars game like The Division where you play an agent of the rebel alliance trying to free planets from the Imerial Army...
@@mandradon what could have been
Christopher Stuart
Unreal is also a great option
Wow, never actually listened to Jason narrate a video before, only read his work. So good to put a voice to the name/work!
While Inquisition was a decent 7 or 8 out of 10 in my book, that was the game that marked the decline in Bioware's game design. Mass Effect 3, for all of its controversy surrounding the ending, was the last EXCELLENT Bioware game. And that multiplayer had me kicking reaper ass for years to come.
"This last project was crap because we are focusing all our efforts on the next one" - Bioware about everything they made in the last years, apparently.
This is Jason's strong point. He dares dig the dirt that is behind the problems of so many studios and projects. And it seems like this is turning into a constant, almost like Maths. Everyday I watch or read news about some scandal that erupted in some company because of mismanagement in a corporate and personal level, leading to immense lay offs and judicial problems. It's almost like a great disease of the modern world.
I’m so, so concerned about Dragon Age 4.
You are a fool if you are anticipating literally ANYTHING that has EA on it. Seriously the last 10 titles that EA has released hasnt yet made you think to stop spending/downloading/wasting time/money/bandwidth on?
SMH.
Why would you even care about that game, do you have short term memory loss? Stop supporting EA. Didn't you watch this video? Is that the kind of company you want to support. Do you hate the games industry that much?
E M
Firstly, See Apex Legends and Titanfall 2.
Secondly, in the case of BioWare, this wasn’t EA’s fault aside from pulling some help on Frostbite. Most of the problems were on Bioware’s management.
Thirdly, DA4 actually seems to have a director now. Something Anthem didn’t
Actual journalism from Kotaku.... Wow. Never knew the day would come.
You guys might find this interesting:
Before Dragon Age 2 released on the official forums one of the new project leads was answering fan questions. And his response to a dialog options/story question in the new game and future titles was along the lines of “We are moving away from huge dialog loops because it takes to much time/resources to manage so we are stream lining the process to release games quicker”...And we got Dragon Age 2 etc. Those people that made those great games are no longer in power there, It’s a shame but it is what it is.
Basically sounds like my retail store in the netherlands, hema.
Only thing is our team doesnt make anything we just continually sell things and everyone has to be able to do every department because if we're.short on help you have to either be able to do multiple people's job on your own, or you have to be able to help with departments you know nearly nothing about...oh also were located on a shopping street so its always busy.
Hats off to you Jason Schreier you did some amazing work here.
In many ways, this whole thing really shows how talented the people who actually made this game are. They had all that trouble in development and still managed to make a game that has fun gameplay and is great to look at. It's a real shame. if this thing had a real leader behind it, it could've been something really special.
Say what you will about Jason, he made statements I don't agree with, but he does some amazing journalism. The only gaming journalist who isn't just a mouth piece for the publishers.
I just read the end of the article and saw how "optimistic" Bioware devs are about Anthem's roadmap and future content. After ALLLLLLLL the shit I read to get to that point, it really comes across as a domestic abuse victim nursing a black eye and saying, "I know it looks bad, but you should see him on his good days..."
I'm giving it about 50/50 that Dragon Age 4 ever sees the light of day. Since DA4 is barely in development after being cancelled and restarted under a different team and Anthem is selling like hot garbage, Bioware might be in the same boat as Visceral Games was when they started Project Ragtag.
Telling me that DA4 is finally in development again really gives me no comfort. EA has pulled the plug on studios in the middle of projects before. And even if they manage to make it, something tells me that it'll be shit anyway. Between the ending of Mass Effect 3, Andromeda, Anthem and stories about how Dragon Age 3's production was a nightmare and it was almost pure luck that it managed to come together into a good game, Bioware has a sick and twisted game development philosophy that leads to shittier games and broken staff.
Can we PLEASE, once and for all, just take Bioware behind the shed and blow its brains out like Old Yeller? Its a mercy killing at this point.
Remember when this was labeled as a "Destiny killer"?
Remember when Star Wars the Old Republic was labeled as a "WoW Killer"?
Doesnt take much to kill Destiny, that being said Destiny killed Destiny.
Turns out Destiny was the Destiny killer.
With Casey Hudson's leadership BioWare should:
1. Get independent from EA
2. Drop (and forget) the Frostbite Engine
3. Dedicate teams to one project and not let people work all over the place
4. Make the games THEY want, HOW they want, and however long it takes to make them
But I'm afraid that with all these people leaving the company it would never recover now anyway. Too much damage has been done to the employees and the studio as a whole.
I implore people to read the article. Jason Schreier is absolutely one of the most interesting game journalists working today. Amazing access and incite
Reading the article and listening to this video, it's possible that leadership could have been taken by a random person and expanded, but it seems that chance was not given.
My limited experience in the corporate world is simply following an order which I felt happened here. I'm often reminded of the goblin hero from the magic card game; it's not that you step forward, it's because everyone else stepped back.
There's also talk of magic, but pinpointing how it starts and how it is implemented can easily be another story and would be really interesting to see then comparing them to the events here would be incredible to plot how bioware could make a comeback.
Thanks for doing this. Already heard about this from other sources covering the Kotaku article but I felt like I should come here and drop a thumbs up.
Hey Jason cool to see you doing a video as well written articles! 👍
This is Kotaku at its absolute best.
Frostbite makes great first person games but it's hard to work with and when you try to make it third person it makes it even harder to work with.
Good video with some interesting insight. Also, I’m sure no matter which dev house you talk to, they will more than likely have a lot of negative things to say about their proprietary engine.
Anthem was the last EA game I'll ever buy.
Thanks upper management for screwing everyone again.
To be fair, it wasn’t EA’s fault. They were pretty hands off on this aside from pulling the odd Frostbite resource
@@FraserSouris True. I can't help but feel that every studio/game that EA has anything to do with turns out terrible though. And Like many other people, I probably just need a scapegoat and can't bring myself to blame Bioware entirely out of fondness for their old games. But like Angry Joe said, that Bioware no longer exists.
@@mrnewson Blame BioWare’s management specifically and not the folk that make the great games.
As for the studios and games that turn out bad, that appears to be confirmation bias. Like if an EA game turns out flawed, we pay extra attention to it and ignore their successes like Apex and FIFA as well as their studios like Firemonkey that are doing great if not better thanks to EA's funding.
Adam Thompson
Except it wasn’t all That bad
ruclips.net/video/JfCBsSF-x9c/видео.html
It’s sad how I look forward to seeing THIS review by Kotaku, rather than the ACTUAL game!
@Kotaku what happens now? I've posted on the subreddit that BioWare should follow in the footsteps of FF14. Bring the servers down and fix the game then re-release. Is this possible, is it even worth it, can this game even be fixed?
So far love the video, but what's up with the weird border? Makes it look like an IG meme and I think it just distracts. Great reporting regardless!
Hey Kotaku, can you guys also make a piece about Warframe? I was actually playing it while waiting for Anthem to release and I ended up liking it more. I wasn't able to buy Anthem but played it on a friends console it was good but underwhelming, don't get me wrong though I still like Anthem, I think it still has room to mature. A piece about Warframe and what Anthem can do to be better would be a good subject to write/talk about
The only good and true Kotaku journalist everyone. Hell of a good job Jason.
EA said push this game out now even though its not finished this game needed another year of development
No, the game needed to be cancelled and redeveloped under new leadership. A company that sees numbers is unable to see the importance of starting over at the expense of resources.
EA greed destroying another great studio.
Who killed the studio? Bioware killed themselves, they gave the greenlight to sell their souls.
LoL bioware killed themselves. Read the article you doof.
Ah ignorant people blaming EA for everything. Read the article you dumbass, Bioware was fucking around for 4 years with no vision. How's that EA's fault? They gave them all the time they needed to finish this game. I hate EA aswell but stop blaming them without knowing what you're talking about.
KOTAKU has a RUclips channel? I can't believe I just found out.
Thank you so much for creating video versions of your longer articles. I love having another way to consume your great content.
i'd really like to have a podcast version of the article so i can listen to it while i work.
Man that Mass Effect 3 ending, made by a rogue director unbeknown to the writers, was REALLY the beginning of Bioware's death.
Shit that’s Jason Schier’s voice. I didn’t know his voice matches his written work: both excellent.
The people who made horizon zero dawn, need to team up with the warframe creators, and make a game based off of the ideas used for anthem, that would be fantastic
was hyped for this game. the flying felt so good in the demo. quickly lost interest during the ea access 10 hrs.
You, although i disagree with some previous work, earn my respect with this. This is the best work you have so far.
I love these long form videos with Jason breaking down the issues. Sad about Anthem. I've played every other Bioware game except for this - as soon as I heard it was more of a shooter, I knew it wasn't for me.
"long form videos"
*Looks at 8 minute long video* 🤔
I've read and heard several times that Bioware chose to work with frostbite and that EA had nothing to do with the decision. So if the Bioware devs have problems with the engine, why not license the unreal engine? Or why can't the decision makers be bothered to improve the frostbite engine, before a non ego shooter is being made? And why does this situation remind me of Bethesda?
BioWare is sour about this 😂 There will be a witch-hunt first thing tomorrow morning and start looking at timesheets in and out, asking for employee phones and phone bills etc.
These articles NEED to exist and tbh, the shuttering of Amy’s studio and the Star Wars project was the most insightful and enjoyable for me. I’d love to know what they are doing with her contract now.
And that entire studio complained endlessly about production difficulties with Frost engine and trying to shoehorn it into a third person game.
Don't really agree with you on some issues, but once again great work, this is so sad. Ppl wasting their money and time on unfinished products. Smh
Fantastic reporting Jason! The video game industry is lucky to have you.
I’m up to the Dragon Age: Inquisition chapter of Blood, Sweat and Pixels and reading about Bioware’s issues with Frostbite during its development and watching the same problems plague Anthem is sad. This engine clearly has problems for developers outside of FPS games and causes too many headaches for games outside that genre.
This just seems like that same sad story that happened with Mass Effect Andromeda. No clear direction, senior leadership leaves, Frostbite sucks, and you have to please your overlord EA. When will EA figure out that Frostbite 100% potential only lies in FPS and nothing 3rd person related?
Oh my god Jason sounds far younger than his photo on Kotaku
ANTHEM was my favorite game until i saw and heard the news about this game. I was really sad that ANTHEM didnt end up as great as i thought. I'm a young adult but i really had a vision thought of for ANTHEM. If they had better seniors and time it would be great to see ANTHEM. shoot if i had money i would love to see it come back.
I've had some...choice words in the past to describe Jason, and truth be told I still do. But I can recognize and give props when needed. Good job on this one Jason.
This is Final Fantasy XIV all over again, but this time without the hard working diligent Japanese ingenuity to fix things. I wanted Bioware storytelling, that didn't happen because that never happens in these modern looter shooters. Borderlands was a looter shooter defined by it's fascinating storytelling. Amazing what even a git like Randy can pull off and Bioware can't.
The thing is when they fix it if ever, everyone will have already abandoned it.
Jason this article is amazing and i am glad that reporters like you are making the game industry better for future developers by exposing these practices. Keep on doing what you're doing Jason.
The game was beautiful but it lacked a lot it had so much potential but just failed 😞 I remember repeating missions 7 times a day that was my biggest complaint
Had Kotaku maintained that level of professionalism it might not have been sold for chump change. Good luck with -your new masters- the new administration guys. I'm off to Exclusively Games.
As someone who can only digest schadenfreude this article will sustain me for 1000 years.
As much as I understand and sympathize for those involved in the process, I will still be trading in my copy. I liked the flying but honestly everything else is anything but rewarding. Extremely repetitive, lack of depth in customization of your character, and a multitude of other things. There needs to be a clear message that a game going through this kind of bullshit process of changes in team, working with a terrible engine, and overall lack of direction/consideration for customers shouldn't be tolerated by gamers. I honestly feel bad for those who try to defend this game. No game should make you feel like you're doing a chore, and the fact that they're now trying to fix their game kind of defeats the purpose of preordering! I know I'm just one person returning my copy but with enough backlash, a real difference can be made in future development of games.
Fascinating in so many ways, sad and unbelieveable. I know creativity is a capricious beauty, I had my fair share of uncreative moments, but I cannot imagine working on something for so many years without a vision or direction. It must have been really hard.
Sounds like how development on Destiny 1 was. Here's hoping things can turn around in the long run.
This article deserves a Pulitzer prize
Should be a court case, but I suppose unfinished products/game is perfectly okay.
What if you bought an item on Ebay when you got it, was nothing like it described? What the difference with a game?
Hi Jason great work... more vids please. I enjoy reading your articles and listening to splitscreen mainly because you challenge my own opinions and that's great.
I don't always agree with everything you say but I don't have to. As long as I listen my opinion becomes more rounded which I like. Keep up the great work.
Don’t buy EA or Activision published games, simple as that
SLED leohja Well Sekiro is published under Activision and sure hasn’t lost FromSoft’s identity.
@@kylele23 Because FromSoft refused to stuff it full with monetization BS that I'm sure Activision would've loved to have there. "Pay to resurrect" ala Candy Crush etc.
SLED leohja
Except EA wasn’t at fault here. Aside from limiting help with Frostbite most of the problems BioWare had were on their management. And the team had avoided most of the problems for DAI
@@SL3DApps and Bungie finally said "Enough" after Activision tried to stuff more monetization in D2 and outright left, taking the series with them