Anthem Live Services to be Released Post-Launch

With the recent confirmation from BioWare studio head Casey Hudson that Anthem will have solo play available for those not interested in multiplayer, more questions about the action RPG have arisen in its place. Such as the "live services" EA continues to mention and what that means for the game itself and when they are set to go live.

After the whole microtransaction controversy surrounding Star Wars Battlefront II that got so bad, investors were even threatening to pull out, it's understandable that some may be leery when it comes to the words "live services" in conjunction with Electronic Arts. While we still don't have in-depth gameplay yet to judge for ourselves, CFO Blake Jorgenson did recently answer a few key questions about the upcoming title during EA's quarterly financial briefing.

Jorgenson spoke about sales primarily, as is his job, as well as projections for the game and progression of release. When talking about microtransactions, "monetisable additions," he mentioned that they won't be added into the game itself until post-launch. This is most likely to ensure a more positive reception given how much of a touchy subject microtransactions are in relation to the company.

The CFO also mentioned that though have high hopes for the title, following 2017's downturn that they aren't going to "put too large of a forecast in there" regarding Anthem. The publisher has mentioned in the past that they are going to be much more careful with future releases following all of the backlash 2017 wrought, and that's not a bad thing. They lost their way a bit and disconnected for their developers. The bottom line is important, but not at the sacrifice of everything else. Hopefully Anthem does well and BioWare can once again be put back at full force and continue create amazing worlds.

According to BioWare's own Casey Hudson, there is a lot of potential on the horizon:

"It's true—we're trying something really different here. Anthem represents one way to deliver innovation and new experiences in the spirit of our mission. We also have teams envisioning future BioWare games, and they're designing approaches that are different from Anthem—including one that's very Dragon Age. As we try new things, I hope that you'll come on the journey with us, and continue asking questions that will help shape Anthem into something we'll all love to play."

(source)