With all the controversy surrounding EA and DICE, namely loot-boxes and poor Battlefield V sales, EA has another developer that raised quite the controversy too with 2017’s Mass: Effect Andromeda — BioWare. According to the General Manager of BioWare, Casey Hudson, Anthem is reported to have cleared its alpha milestone, while Dragon Age news is set to be unveiled next month.
There’s no telling whether or not BioWare will top the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 MTX debacle or surpass Patrick Söderlund’s “uneducated” and “don’t buy the game” remarks when Anthem drops early next year. What’s known, though, is that Anthem is in the bug-squashing segment and is no longer in alpha:
“First, Anthem. Now that we’re past our Alpha milestone, we’re at the part of the project where we’re doing final tasks and changes, and doing a ton of testing and bug-fixing. And we’re able to do one of my favorite parts of game development: the Play From Home build.”
The above information comes from blog.bioware.com, where Hudson claims that Anthem holds everything that BioWare is known for, like “being drawn into a compelling story.” However, BioWare is said by Hudson to deliver on EA’s weakness, which is a game that sees ongoing story content, and features that will follow a “live service” program for an entire season of post-launch content:
“There is of course a lot of work ahead to get things ready for Anthem’s Feb 22 launch date. And, since what you get with Anthem isn’t just the launch game but the ongoing story, features and content that will follow in live service, there are teams already working on entire seasons of post-launch content. It’s scary and exciting to work on something on this scale and complexity, but we’re doing everything we can to make sure it’s an amazing experience for you.”
Given that EA as a publisher has a track record of delivering bad post-launch content and implementing egregious MTX mechanics raises warning signs regarding Anthem’s “live-service,” especially given that Hudson says that it’s “scary” working on something on this “scale and complexity.”
Anyway, get ready for more diversity and NPC content sometime in December when BioWare reveals something related to Dragon Age. Who knows, we might be met with Dragon Age: Battle Royale, Dragon Age: Mobile, or better yet Dragon Age: Battle Royale Mobile Edition. Well, before Hudson closed the blog post, he threw up the following information:
“If you’ve been following these blogs, or myself and Mark Darrah on Twitter, you know we’re also working on some secret Dragon Age stuff. Dragon Age is an incredibly important franchise in our studio, and we’re excited to continue its legacy. Look for more on this in the coming month (though I won’t tell you where to look…)”
Lastly, Anthem is set to hit PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 22nd, 2019. No word on the release date of this new Dragon Age game has surfaced yet, but some people speculate that it will be teased during The Game Awards 2018.
