The fact that Anthem failed was partly due to it not being finished at release. According to a developer, it also could not meet the expectations of the fans who hoped for a competitor to Destiny.
Two years after the release, Anthem was already dead, even though it actually died much earlier. Recently, the developer Ian Saterdalen, who worked for BioWare from September 2019 to March 2020, spoke on Twitter. We reported on it.
He lays out some hard facts:
- The gameplay of Anthem was not convincing.
- The game also did not get finished in the 15 months of actual development time.
- In addition, there was the demand from people who portrayed Anthem as a “Destiny killer.”
The trailers for Anthem looked really good:
Taking on Destiny would have been enormous pressure
Where did the comparison come from? Similar to Destiny 2, Anthem was a shared open-world shooter. Anthem was frequently compared by journalists and players to the popular shooter for consoles and PC, with the demands increasing. And the comparison still exists today.
“Personally, I had the impression that Anthem still tried to compete with Destiny, even though that was probably not the team’s goal. At first I enjoyed it, but then the story became boring for me. Nevertheless, I thank the team for their efforts to create something fresh that could have been successful,” writes the user Hazeus on the tweet from Saterdalen.
We discussed it briefly, but we did not have the know-how to take on Destiny
Saterdalen thanks for the feedback and adds: “I believe that Anthem may have been positioned in public perception as a ‘Destiny killer.’ This idea was also discussed internally, but we did not have the resources or the know-how to take it on with Destiny. This notion was quickly dismissed, as it would have been enormous pressure. You have to walk before you can run.”
Here is the original tweet:
In another comment on the original tweet, a user mentions that he had more fun during the time he played Anthem than in Destiny. He is also glad that the developers are returning to their roots.
Saterdalen writes: “The same goes for me. I hope that they can hit the mark with the new Dragon Age.”
They have also hit the mark with the extensive new update in an MMORPG:
