Anthem’s Lead Animator Leaves BioWare

[BossAttack]

After Visceral I have to wonder if Anthem is really the game Bioware wants to make.

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Why not? I'd think they'd be happy to try something new after working on KOTOR and Mass Effect for so many years. As far as this departure goes, I'm less concerned about Anthem than Andromeda. First, it's actually being made by real BioWare and not the C Team. Second, EA actually gives a shit about the game and is pouring large resources into it. Third, I've heard nothing about positivity about its development from its own staff on Twitter. Apparently, they've been killing their milestones and impressing everybody. So, we'll see.

 

[Deleted member 888]

I don't see how they can get away from EA while being a wholly owned subsidiary as EA would never allow them to buy their independence back. It'd be the best option for sure though.

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That's why when there were rumours EA might try and buy CDProject Red I was like

 

[BackwardCap]

Jumping ship before the Bomba drops with his name on it.

 

[Luxorek]

After that crunch article from Jason I'm not surprised. Guy is a veteran and has been with Bioware for 15 years. Everyone needs a break.

 

[Falchion]

I'm so unbelievably excited for Anthem, I hope they really nail it although I guess that would be the final nail in the Mass Effect coffin.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I think it's pretty safe to say this is EA mandated. They saw the money Destiny brought in and as is typical of EA they can't resist copying. I really doubt the traditional RPG studio wanted to make a mmo-lite MT/loot box focused game.

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This game has been in development since before Destiny was released.

Management gave them 5 years, and they dicked around for 3 of them

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Animation doesn't start the very first day of development. Read what they were trying to do, it wasn't "dicking around" in anyway shape or form.

 

[Dinobot]

I was gonna panic but it looks like a majority of the animations are done. Making content is likely what's going on now along with bug fixes and optimization.

Plus the statement from the Bioware dev eases things.

 

[Spedfrom]

I'm so unbelievably excited for Anthem, I hope they really nail it although I guess that would be the final nail in the Mass Effect coffin.

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It absolutely would. EA would never have 2 sci-fi RPGs series going at the same time. Especially not if one sells around 3 to 5 million units (depending on each entry's quality/success) and the other is a lootbox/microtransactions/15 thousand dollars for a single piece of DLC monster.

 

[Nerfed Llamas]

There's a lot of moving parts in a game as big as Anthem, so it's likely not that big of a deal. Losing the Lead Animator is a noticeable loss to be certain, but one that can be remedied with a proper replacement. The first reveal of Anthem seemed to indicate a game that is well along in development, so again I'm not terribly concerned about it. If the next gameplay footage from Anthem shows any major quality drops from the first reveal, then I will start to be concerned. Until then, I'll give BioWare the benefit of the doubt. Mass Effect Andromeda quality issues are likely an anomaly and not indicative of an emerging pattern.

 

[Deleted member 11093]

I think it's pretty safe to say this is EA mandated. They saw the money Destiny brought in and as is typical of EA they can't resist copying. I really doubt the traditional RPG studio wanted to make a mmo-lite MT/loot box focused game.

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I mean, according to old Bioware members, they've been thinking about developing Anthem since KOTOR. I don't think that it's reasonable to assume that EA forced them to do it and that it wasn't their dream game when we have he words from the developers themselves.