I am the archenemy of the current animosity of many players towards a good number of companies. In most cases, they tend to be the ones that don’t fit with the type of games you like… and sometimes not even that. Sometimes the matter is reduced to the absurd “console war”. In the end we had to To learn to live together with his acolytes.
But just because I’m an enemy of this growing negativity doesn’t mean I don’t understand and feel it to some extent. If Star Wars has taught us anything, it’s that we all have light and darkness inside us. As soon as you are informed of the current panorama, it is difficult not to get carried away by the river of hate that flows on social networks.
A collection of apologies and too many half-finished games
And browsing social networks I found myself almost at the same time with two posts that made me sing the classic “it’s that I shit on everything” that we all pronounce at some point in our lives… sometimes even weekly. On the one hand, the content creator Hake make a collage in su tweet with all company announcements for apologize for the state of their games at launch.
Image of Merluso on Twitter
On the other hand, I came across the tweets the Ian Saterdalen through an article PC Gamer. Saterdalen is a former BioWare developer who was involved in Anthem and is currently at Mythical Games. He was also at Crystal Dynamics, Blizzard and Riot. His publication is part of a huge post thread from developers with reviews of badly reviewed games.
All this motivated by the recent releases of The Lord of the Rings: GollumRedfall and partly the performance of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which in turn are part of a long list that includes Halo Infinite, Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 76, Forspoken, Battlefield 2042, The Callisto Protocol and many others that have destroyed the hope and confidence of many players.
Translation: I learned a lot in this project. We knew it wasn’t ready as this game literally took 15 months to create. Which is unheard of for a game of that scope. Anthem 2 would have been great!
Release clearly unfinished and/or unpolished games, abuse the trust of those who pay 70-80 dollars (at a minimum) and then release a release to finish a product. And on top of that we applaud when they improve. These practices do not in any way justify those who resort to threats and violence on social networks to express their discontent.
I do not ask that video games come out perfect. I have my feet on the ground. There are always things to fix and I like that there is that post-launch commitment. But without abuse. And yes, I know what many of you are thinking: the case of No Man’s Sky is admirable… but also unique and should not set a precedent so that redemption through upgrades is an option for any company.
“We knew it wasn’t ready”
The words of Ian Saterdale on Twitter, both in their main tweets and in responses, they show a reality that we could very probably apply to the rest of the video games that I have mentioned above and other future ones that will surely come with the same problems: BioWare and Electronic Arts knew that Anthem was not ready , that he was going to hit it, and even so they threw it.
I’m sure the first level and Ranger Javelin started being made 18 months before release. I started 15 months earlier and the Ranger wasn’t finished and the world was breaking every 2-3 minutes.
Saterdalen’s comments add that there were 90-hour workweeks for 15 months that affected his personal life, that it did not have an end as such, much less endgame (something that the players discovered later) and that the decision of those responsible was stretch game progress to make up for the lack of content. We are talking about Anthem, but surely you have one or two similar examples in mind.
Finally, Saterdalen remembers the lie of Electronic Arts and BioWare that many have forgotten: they promised an “Anthem Next” or “Anthem 2.0” to users and it was canceled after months. The ex-developer assures that “The team had reached a huge milestone when EA called it off. It was a different development team that made Anthem 2.0 better. The team was destroyed“. And they are not the only ones who promised improvements that never came.
One of Saterdalen’s last sentences in the PC Gamer article is especially revealing: “It’s great to see players passionate about what Anthem could have been.“. However, from the point of view of the player it is not so romantic: those of us who were disappointed and cheated paid to end up dreaming of what it may have been and to have another unfinished video game on the shelf / library. And this applies to the rest.
In conclusion: I understand you. I don’t share the methods that many people use to express themselves nor do I want to live pissed off on the internet every day of my life, but I understand how you feel. And someone tells you who is from the UbisoftI do not lack reasons to be outraged.
The only reflection that I manage to get out of all this is the following: the updates and patches must stop being a joker for video game companies. It cannot be that receiving a game in the state it should be, such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (however exceptional it may be), becomes something to celebrate or a rara avis.
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