Why the Anthem demo is different from the betas that are usually available

In recent years, the trend has spread to hold beta sessions ahead of the release of a major title. Why does Anthem call its teaser “Demo”? What is behind it and what are the differences?

This is how the Anthem demo will be: A few days ago, Mike Darrah explained how the demo of Anthem will differ from the game:

Players start in the middle
there is no tutorial
there is no character creation
the balance is “super” different
the economy is absolutely different
and there are 6 weeks fewer bug fixes

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Anthem: Everything about the VIP demo – Here are the most important details

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This is usually the case: In most other blockbusters, the beta shortly before launch is simply the beginning of the game to a certain degree and with a clear level cap.

This is how players react to this demo: There are two major currents:

Some are excited and say: Finally a demo like in the old days. They let us test the game for free. This is transparent and fair.
Some other players react skeptically to the demo approach. They fear that the experience will not show them the “real game”, but a “sugar-coated” picture without the grind they expect in the final game.

Why doesn’t Anthem just hold a beta? Forbes asked Anthem producer Michael Gamble:

For us, it was important to give players an impression of as much content as possible, whether it’s the strongholds, free play, or story progression. It should be exactly that: a demonstration. Of course, we still have bugs in the game here and there, but players get a demonstration of the content that will be available in the game.

Players are thus served a buffet (a vertical slice), where everyone can try out everything that the final game will have to offer. This is also one of the essential differences from a beta.

Moreover, they believe that the term “demo” is also more honest.

This is how demo and beta differ: Most major games in recent years rely on beta gameplay ahead of a release. Beta versions are not final and can be loaded with bugs and other obstacles.

However, this is not the only difference:

A beta version serves specifically as a stress test for the servers in online games. A demo is meant to provide players with an overview of the game’s content.
Beta versions are generally just parts of the entire game, while demos are tailored more precisely.
Betas are also meant to gather player feedback to eliminate problems or even change features. In contrast, this is generally not the case with demos.

Especially the second point is interesting. In the Anthem demo, you will experience a different game economy than in the final game. This is mainly because Bioware wants to give you the opportunity, even in such a short game variant like a demo,

to find rare gear without having to grind for hours,
to at least explore the item shop rudimentarily, or
to customize your javelins without having to spend real money.

What is better for the players? Demo or beta? A demo will give you a better overview of most features to be discovered in a game, while betas only show a small snippet (like a multiplayer map or the first two hours of the story).

However, players at least on paper have more influence within a beta, which often aims to gather feedback to eliminate bugs and rectify weaknesses. How often player feedback actually leads to changes is, however, unknown.

Whether a demo or a beta is better must be decided by each person for themselves. Personally, I find Bioware’s approach refreshing and look forward to seeing as many features in the game as possible.

Will Anthem be significantly more grind-heavy? The finished game will undoubtedly differ from the demo; this is less true for beta versions aside from bug fixes.

How exactly the actual economy will look is still not known. In the demo, players will start with 100 coins and cosmetic items will cost 25 coins. The actual “shop” of Anthem could be much stingier.

We also do not yet know how many hours we will actually have to grind to get the rarest gear. The demo will not be able to provide more precise insights here.

Those who want to see for themselves can use the VIP demo starting today for pre-orderers, or convince themselves in the context of an open demo for everyone that will launch on February 1.