This is a guest post from Contributor Chris Nunes.
My current experience with the “VIP” demo for BioWare’s Anthem has put a javelin size hole in my heart. To say that my time with the game has been frustrating would be an understatement. I have had the demo downloaded for a week with the anticipation of coming home Friday from work to begin my play. The demo released at 10 am Eastern time, so I thought that any server issues (that are natural with online service games) would be over and done. I had been reading throughout the day about consistent issues signing in, start screen freeze loops, and players being kicked out mid-session. All of this is not an optimal start for a beta, let alone a product, being referred to as a “VIP” demo.
This is where BioWare made their first mistake. When referencing a demo (as opposed to beta) it comes off with the impression of a finished product without kinks. When you think of a beta you inherently think of an unfinished product that is in progress. I realize this is semantics, but branding is all about semantics and “demo” was how this game was branded.
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My Experience
My first experience with the game came Friday night around 10 pm eastern. I had the opportunity to own the demo on both Xbox and PlayStation. By this time in the evening it had been posted on BioWare’s Twitter profile that PlayStation fixes had been made and that signing in should not be an issue, while Xbox was still in progress and being worked on. I found this to not be the case as my PlayStation was still not connecting to their servers. I tried for over an hour without any luck before giving up.
After waiting a few hours, I rebooted up both systems. PlayStation was still stuck in a sign-in lockout, however I was able to sign into Xbox. I was extremely excited as I had known a few people that had a few opportunities to play and was looking forward to my chance. I signed in and was able to get through the initial hub screen only to try and get into one of the introduction missions and be held in a holding pattern. After quitting and signing back in five time, each time getting to about ninety percent load into the mission, it would freeze.
My first day with the game had come to a halt.
Saturday was much of the same as I booted up the game on both consoles at 1 pm Eastern only to find that each would now allow sign in but get to the same ninety percent for the initial mission and then freeze. Throughout the day I had been watching as BioWare’s social media was feverishly updating (as they had been Friday) game statuses. BioWare was trying to keep everyone abridged about where the game was and what fixes were being made. The problem with this was that these statuses were for some players and not all. They had also previously said they had fixed problems that were popping up again. Around 3 pm Eastern on Saturday I was finally able to get into one of the missions in the game. A problem began to arise after I did so; I was getting kicked out half way through or as quickly as five minutes into a play session. I had this experience the better half of an hour until I finally gave up in frustration. The consistent sign in, back out of game play, and then sign in again was not how I was hoping to play this game.
Chad Robertson, BioWare’s head of live service, finally released an update on BioWareblog on Saturday about the “rocky” launch of Anthem’s VIP demo, but disputing speculation that it had under-planned for server capacity as the issue. He stated,
“Yesterday was rocky. The first day of our VIP demo weekend did not go exactly as we planned, and I want to share what happened. We’ve been testing the entire game and platform for several months, but there were a few things we missed; real-world play frequently leads to unexpected issues. Before we share details on this and what we’re still facing, I want to dispel one comment we’ve seen; that we under-planned for the server capacity.”
He went on to discuss that, “the three reasons that caused the issues were platform connections, entitlements, and “infinite loads.” Platform connections were caused by a spike in players entering the game when it opened. Entitlements are the account flags that grant players things like pre-order incentives and demo access. The “infinite loads” occurred when players were transitioning from Fort Tarsis to an expedition.
Sunday it was announced that, as a thank you to all the players, BioWare was going to allow all four javelins to be available (previously this was limited to two for the demo). This sign of good faith was to be positive, however players were still having issues getting in and experiencing the game to even notice. I tried entering in at 2 pm on PlayStation and was still having a hard time keeping a play session going longer then fifteen minutes without getting kicked out, and had accounts from numerous friends who still couldn’t sign in at all. All this, while BioWare was announcing on their Twitter that all systems were fixed and that most players were “enjoying their time” with the game. I had finally waived the white flag and stopped trying to play.
I had spent the better half of my weekend trying to play a game that I had been anticipating, only to be disappointed with the results of the demo. I understand that this is a small sample, and that the game (when I had a chance to play) was fun and interesting. The issue for me arises with BioWare keeping the demo going when it just didn’t seem to be working as intended. The fact that “some” players were having great experiences simply doesn’t make up for the many that weren’t. Next week’s open demo will have even more stress on the servers. Although they are stating this wasn’t the issue, they were also stating that the issues they mentioned were fixed and they simply weren’t.
I have hope for Anthem. I think the game has promise and can be fun with friends. The tales being written are surrounding these experiences though, rather than those adventures inside the game. I hope for BioWare’s sake that they can overcome these issues quickly. The Division 2 is coming up on its heels and Massive has a proven product. Player bases with new IP can be patient, but will toss a javelin into their pre-order (or time with the game) if it takes too long.
