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Mike Ybarra, Corporate VP of Xbox, says critics of an Anthem area are “whining” and it is “embarrassing to review with such a lack of knowledge”

SilverX

SilverX

Member
Jan 21, 2018
13,015
Podge293 said:
Isn't he also very vocal about destiny 2. A game that is marketed by their direct rival?
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Talking about a game isnt the same as saying essentially "Anthem critics have no knowledge and are whining". Its just standard "Protecting the product" and the only reason he would do that is because of the tight ties the success of the game has to moving Xbox consoles
 
X-Peaceman-X

X-Peaceman-X

Banned
Nov 11, 2017
303
Maybe he just likes the game and is honestly upset that some reviews aren't giving the game a fair shake? Or am i not reading deep enough into it and conspiring enough? I mean its not entirely impossible that Ybarra, a guy who even tho he works for MS is very adamant about his love of PC gaming in all forms not just MS PC games, just generally like anthem and sees merits that aren't being shown in reviews and is able to express his opinion of it on his personal account? Yes its a bit unprofessional I agree. But i feel its being read into to much.
 
Qwark

Qwark

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,025
Casa said:
Most of what he said here is super dumb and ill advised, but why are so many people here shitting on the idea of watching streamers before buying games?

There have been loads of times where I'll watch my favorite streamer play a game that I otherwise wouldn't have interest in and decide to buy it. What's wrong about Ybarra saying that? I'd trust the word of this streamer over a random IGN review.
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Agreed, watching streams, playing the demo, and asking your friends, would normally be good advice that most people here would agree with. And I still think that's good advice.

It's just the context of the other tweets, the implication of "modern reviews", and the general trainwreck makes people thirsty for blood when it comes to Anthem.
 
Kolbe1894

Kolbe1894

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,162
jviggy43 said:
See above. The game doesn't explain the combo system in a meaningful capacity unless you go hunting for it. Using combos is the core to the gameplay. The fact you have to go digging for how to pull it off is absurd.
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One thing i want to know is if every games need to explain everything, how many 8-9+ average rating hardcore tier games like Souls series need to drop the score?
Wasn't one of fun part about playing games is discover in-game feature by yourself?
 
THANKS

THANKS

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 22, 2018
1,370
I like written reviews because they can give me an opinion on a 30-40 hour game, often holistically. They also try not to spoil too much. They do this in about 10 mins of reading time.

Watching a stream gives you a good slice of the action but, unless you watch the whole game, you might not get a feel for the overall experience.

Both do different things and are valid ways to research a game before buying.

However, deep thoughtful criticism of games can raise them above simple entertainment products and starts to elevate them toward art. This isn't always written and is also done through video essays. But I'd group it all as traditional criticism.

As for Ybarra. I think his comments are a little off. If the game doesn't explain a mechanic to you, then you'll be confused by it for a while. In something like Dark Souls, that's what you sign up for and is part of the experience. I don't think Anthem is aiming for that though so it's just poor design.
 
christocolus

christocolus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,932
Somewhatgroovy said:
Couldn't disagree more but this is a complicated subject because there are a few things going on here but namely: a choice being forced to either side with the games/devs or the press. Really what one thinks about what Mike says here depends on the lens they look at things.

Anyway, my feeling is this: a dev and its people have been working around the clock to put this game out. People gloss over a review or an aggregate score and can and do dismiss a game in seconds , jump on a hate bandwagon because of hivemind effect, and so on.

Contrast this with watching a stream. Your words in the quote above get hung up on the streamer him/herself but not the advantages of seeing a game in action over a span of time that does more to inform a potential customer than a 5 minute read or a 2 second glance at an aggregate score.

The reviewer doesn't know what his audience can or can't tolerate , if they'll gravitate to the characters, the world, if they'll be able to overlook one bad thing the reviewer can't because they like other things far more. It's hard to quantify anything from a review.

Anyway back to Mike, it looks like he's just defending a developer in an industry he is an exec in and who he wants to see do well.
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Wow. well said.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

The Jackrabbit Always Wins
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,330
New York
Ekid said:
Exec from MS on twitter always remind of this greatness:

iZ4Xc7uzxvJUA.gif
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Oh god that gif is legendary.
 

Deleted member 16908

Oct 27, 2017
9,377
cw_sasuke said:
Translation:

"It sucks that the games we are cross promoting are getting mid reviews"

That Crackdown 3 + Anthem combo probably could have worked out better for MS in terms of critical reception.
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Don't forget their marketing deal with Fallout 76 last year.
 

Deleted member 8777

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,260
Protome said:
I'm saying the combo system in Anthem is obtuse and buried as has been said by people who have actually played Anthem. Whereas your "maybe it's because reviewers need to play so many games" post is kinda irrelevant.
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People who review games for a living should be more inquisitive than average players. The review could have raised awareness of the fact the combo system is poorly explained and even benefited players who read it while still criticizing the game for it.
 

Deleted member 10612

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,774
Microsoft cant catch a break, first CD3 and now their comarketing game getting poor reviews.So I get why he might want to intervene but that's just not a good idea.
 
Walnut

Walnut

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
878
Austin, TX
Dude is just upset his bonus got shot by the game being a bomb because of the marketing deal between EA and XBOX

I wouldn't pay it much mind. He should know better than to melt in public like this though
 
Hailinel

Hailinel

Shamed a mod for a tag
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,527
Kolbe1894 said:
One thing i want to know is if every games need to explain everything, how many 8-9+ average rating hardcore tier games like Souls series need to drop the score?
Wasn't one of fun part about playing games is discover in-game feature by yourself?
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Anthem is a team-based game. It should proactively teach you the team-based combo mechanics rather than bury the explanations in a menu that you have to dig through to find.
 
Protome

Protome

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,682
Kolbe1894 said:
One thing i want to know is if every games need to explain everything, how many 8-9+ average rating hardcore tier games like Souls series need to drop the score?
Wasn't one of fun part about playing games is discover in-game feature by yourself?
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No, but games like Dark Souls are designed in a way that leads to you learning those things without direct tutorials (or the game being great without you finding those things at all.) neither of those applies to Anthem apparently.
 
Jom

Jom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,490
cw_sasuke said:
Translation:

"It sucks that the games we are cross promoting are getting mid reviews"

That Crackdown 3 + Anthem combo probably could have worked out better for MS in terms of critical reception.
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Also "Reviewers are fake news, watch the totally unbiased streamers that we've sponsored for the real opinions."
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,016
Protome said:
I'm saying the combo system in Anthem is obtuse and buried as has been said by people who have actually played Anthem. Whereas your "maybe it's because reviewers need to play so many games" post is kinda irrelevant.
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Dont think so. The more you play the more you get into the deep system and its needed for achieving some stuff.
 
JINX

JINX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,473
Yeah, execs should keep their opinions to themselves thats simple 101, even if their opinion isn't informed by any bias. If their is any sort of potential bias in play, you will be linked to it. Ybarra has a history of disregarding his position, stupidly posting his opinions and mocking fanboy's on the daily. As for some of the replies in this thread, the narrative some of you are trying to create is embarrassing.
 

Deleted member 12352

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,203
Boy... they must have had a lot riding on this game, buuuut that's not too surprising perhaps as what else do they have to bank on in the wake of Crackdown being such a flop?

Regardless, openly shitting on critics like this is always a bad move.
 

tutomos

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,612
Not surprised about the comment since they got a vested interest in promoting Mixer and he was streaming a lot of Anthem recently there.
 
speedomodel

speedomodel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,167
As a huge fan of Xbox, Mike Ybarra has been pretty unbearable lately I feel. Ready to unfollow him at this point...he's worse than Larry these days.
 

Dark1x

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
3,530
Pretty bad take from Mike there. I understand the frustration he's likely facing after this past week but that's not the way to go about it. Basically turning fans against others, is what he's doing with that post.

Either way, beyond any issues with the game itself, Anthem has technical problems - severe technical problems - in its current form on Xbox. I've not seen a big AAA game release in this state for quite sometime. It's really surprising and it's obvious the game needs more time.
 
Siresly

Siresly

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,580
Needless hostility like this that only feeds more of it just bums me out. Ybarra ought to delete this whole mess and say he was being a doodoohead.
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
76,176
Providence, RI
VinFTW said:
Guy needs to stop tweeting tbh

You don't get to have personal opinions like that when you're the VP of Xbox.

His tweets come off cocky, condescending and cringe half the time anyways.
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It's not even so much "personal opinions" as it is "immature and ignorant opinions."

Telling people to watch streamers instead of critics, as if their opinions matter more, is condescending. And saying something as disingenuous and dishonest as "the game isn't out until Friday" is just childish.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

The Jackrabbit Always Wins
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,330
New York
Dark1x said:
Pretty bad take from Mike there. I understand the frustration he's likely facing after this past week but that's not the way to go about it. Basically turning fans against others, is what he's doing with that post.

Either way, beyond any issues with the game itself, Anthem has technical problems - severe technical problems - in its current form on Xbox. I've not seen a big AAA game release in this state for quite sometime. It's really surprising and it's obvious the game needs more time.
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I don't know if you personally are doing the DF analysis video but I'm looking forward to it. Mainly because I want to know how bad Fort Tarsis actually runs.
 
fuzzyset

fuzzyset

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,556
jviggy43 said:
Theres something to be said about game reviewers sometimes missing stuff in their review but here everyone has stated that this game makes no effort to explain how combos work in the first place. Giantbomb spoke about this as well. During my time playing my friends and I were left experimenting as to what abilities combo'd to what and we honestly thought that it was just freezing enemies and then following up with another ability as the only means of pulling off combos because nothing else seemed to work.


See above. The game doesn't explain the combo system in a meaningful capacity unless you go hunting for it. Using combos is the core to the gameplay. The fact you have to go digging for how to pull it off is absurd.
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I still don't know how the combos work in Anthem after playing the demo on Xbox and PC, and the beginning bits on Xbox last weekend. That said, if I was reviewing Anthem, I would knock it for being pretty crappy at exposing you to the combo system in general. But, I would also do the work to figure out how they work. It sounds like the reviewer in question at least knows that system exists. Just ignoring it seems like a bad review.

I mean, is it a "good" review to just mainline story a game like RDR2 while ignoring all the open world stuff because it doesn't explicitly tell you to go sleep in the mountains for a week and explore? It's valid, but it's not useful IMO.
 
'V'

'V'

Banned
May 19, 2018
772
I 100% agree with him. Modern gaming journalism is filled with idiots who can't even play the games they're reviewing properly and there's been a huge number of these botched reviews in recent years. Hell just a month ago there was that whole thing with that IGN reviewer and RE2. If you haven't explored everything the game has to offer then don't make a review about it.
 

Deleted member 13645

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Oct 27, 2017
6,052
Dark1x said:
Either way, beyond any issues with the game itself, Anthem has technical problems - severe technical problems - in its current form on Xbox. I've not seen a big AAA game release in this state for quite sometime. It's really surprising and it's obvious the game needs more time.
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Kinda off topic, but I honestly wonder if Apex had come out and been successful earlier, would they have been willing to delay Anthem. I have to imagine both EA and Bioware know it needed more time, but they probably needed it as their big release. If they knew Apex would fill that hole, would they have been willing to push Anthem back to give it the time it needed? It's a shame it's releasing in this state because I really like what is there but it's marred with so many issues that could have been fixed.
 
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