'Anthem' Rumors: Live Services May Not Be Included in the Game Right From Day One
BioWare's new game, which is known as "Anthem," is already the subject of rampant speculation and a fair amount of hype even though it is still many months away from launch.
Fans of the well-known developer have high hopes for the game as many believe that it will be the studio's attempt to win back gamers after the less than stellar "Mass Effect: Andromeda."
In order for this upcoming game to be as successful as it can possibly be, it will obviously need to have a good launch day, and preferably, a good launch week.
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Going by some recent comments made by the higher-ups at EA, the game's publisher, there's a chance that "Anthem" will indeed have an opportunity to sell fans on the fun gameplay experiences they can have right from launch day.
Spotted by TweakTown, EA CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen hinted at their possible future plans for what kind of live services BioWare's new IP may have on launch day, during a recent earnings call.
Referring to their expectations for the game, Jorgensen said that they are being "conservative" in terms of how they are thinking about it. Jorgensen also noted that they are excited about the game, but they are taking care so as not to put too large of a forecast on it.
Jorgensen then indicated that the game will impact this financial year and the next as they sell more units and as they "start rolling out the live services associated with that game."
Unfortunately, the way Jorgensen phrased things is vague enough that it's tough to really tell if the game will feature live services right away or if they are going to be activated sometime after launch.
TweakTown did speculate that perhaps EA could study the stats first after the game's launch before they do anything with the live services, and that's certainly a possibility.
So, what kinds of live services may end up being featured in BioWare's "Anthem?"
In all likelihood, microtransactions may be offered for this particular game.
It's easy to think that after the controversy that engulfed "Star Wars Battlefront II" last year that EA would at least want to move away from featuring microtransactions temporarily, but that's apparently not the plan.
As noted in a recent report from Engadget, EA CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned in that very same earnings call that they intend to "push forward" with loot boxes. Wilson did state that they are always thinking about how they can offer these loot boxes in a "transparent, fun, fair and balanced way," though most players still probably want nothing to do with them.
Perhaps if the people at EA are more upfront with what they are doing with these loot boxes or any other microtransactions they intend to offer, then gamers may be more accepting of them.
The degree to how microtransactions impacted "Star Wars Battlefront II" was certainly undersold by EA leading up to that game's launch day, and if they want BioWare's next game to be better received, then they need to avoid repeating that mistake.
More news about BioWare's "Anthem" should be made available soon.
