Right now, many BioWare fans are diving deep into the open demo now available for players to enjoy and while we’ve got less than a month to go before the full release, some interesting information has come up regarding the new IP.
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Games going free-to-play isn’t unheard of and this move has proven to be highly profitable as seen with the wild success of Fortnite. So when speaking with EDGE Magazine regarding Anthem’s original plans, it’s not too surprising that the studio toyed with the F2P model.
“We discussed a free-to-play model early on,” said game director Jonathan Warner during the interview. “It just wasn’t a direction that the company was moving in – BioWare or EA.”
“If you go free-to-play, you still have to have a profitable business or we can’t continue to do an amazing live service for all our players,” Ben Irving, Lead Producer, added. “So what would you really be trading if you gave the game away for free? There’s all that money you’d have to make to be profitable. And so then you get into the territory of being less player-generous. I think in the triple-A space, people are more comfortable paying the entry fee and then having a great player-generous model with no paid DLC, and optional vanity items that you can earn in-game currency to buy anyway.”
Being ‘less player-generous’ is something that would have been immediately called out, especially given the heat that EA is currently under for previous titles such as FIFA and Star Wars Battlefront II.
Though the game does have microtransactions currently, they are all cosmetic only and really don’t impact that game a whole lot unless you’re just dying to have a preset emblem. Upgrades for gear can be earned organically and gear can be crafted in numerous ways.
For those curious on how the gear customization works, you can check out our full breakdown right here.
As for the game itself, Anthem debuts on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on February 22nd. The open demo is going on now! You can learn more about that awesome play period here with our previous coverage.
You can contact the author of this story over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!
