Xbox VP Draws Major Backlash After Comments About Recent 'Anthem' Critique

In order to progress in the story of BioWare's Anthem, players must first do a little bit of Freeplay grinding through the Tombs of Legionaires quest line. Following the Early Access period and reviewer critique, BioWare made key changes to how this particular part of gameplay works but it looks like the VP is done with all of the negative feedback.

In response to a piece by PC Gamer talking about the latest Tomb changes, Vice President Mike Ybarra re-tweeted the initial article with a tagline calling similar feedback "whining." Following his initial commentary, developers and other industry personnel alike didn't take kindly to the offhand discrediting of perception:

This was actually very easy to do. Amazed at the whining. One reviewer, not the below, reviewed the game yet in the review cited that he didn’t even know how to do a combo. Embarrassing to review with such a lack of knowledge. //t.co/OcwbApb4Nb

— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) February 20, 2019

"This was actually very easy to do," remarked Ybarra in the above tweet. "Amazed at the whining. One reviewer, not the below, reviewed the game yet in the review cited that he didn't even know how to do a combo. Embarrassing to review with such a lack of knowledge."

Others were quick to respond, including both PR folks and developers:

This is a terrible, uninformative take, and needlessly aggressive.

Video game journalists do not make much money - they are in their roles because they love games, love writing about them, and are good at it. Your take, which is effectively just 'get good', is stupid.

— Ryan Brown 🎮 (@Toadsanime) February 20, 2019

Thanks for this.

— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) February 20, 2019

Mike, just delete the tweet. There’s nothing good coming out out this.

— Chandana Ekanayake (@Ekanaut) February 20, 2019

Ybarra then responded to another comment about his remarks, saying that he doesn't do reviews based on the element of subjective nature:

I don't do "reviews" because everyone enjoys different things. I'd suggest "modern reviews" should be watching streamers play a game, doing the demo, listening to what your gaming friends think - and if it seems like something you will enjoy then great.

— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) February 20, 2019

Though our review was very positive about the BioWare IP, we did note that certain features were bogged down by bugs, and those game-reducing features did absolutely apply to the Tombs quest. By making it more accessible, the studio did take in user feedback for how this particular part of the game runs, which does show that there was a place available for improvement.

Whether it's "whining" or not, a reviewer's job is to dissect a game experience. Do some reviewers get twisted, jaded? Absolutely, but to disqualify negative feedback as a bulk is just irresponsible - especially for the Xbox brand where Phil Spencer has been doing a phenomenal job at bringing back to gamers.

What do you think about the VP's comments? Justified, or did he miss the mark? Sound off in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy! You can also check out our full review right here ahead of the game's February 22nd launch.