It looks like it has potential
EA’s conference has been…weird, to say the least. We got a hugeStar Warsreveal in a really strange fireside chat format, footage of severalgreatlooking indies, and a bunch of marketing nonsense.
But EA of course finished things up withAnthem, its prized would-beDestiny-killer, and it’s still looking pretty impressive. BioWare’s Casey Hudson took the stage to re-iterate thatAnthemis a shared world where “everyone will be seeing the same thing, including a day/night cycle.” Customization options for the Javelin suit are also shown off, and “cosmetic/vanity items” are confirmed, with no loot boxes or pay-for-power advantages.
BioWare and EA have been waffling back and forth onwhatmicrotransactions might be present inAnthem, and the wholeStar Wars Battlefront 2debacle clearly had an impact on their potential loot box plans. Still, paying $60 for a game, presumably for expansions, and for microtransactions on top might piss off some potential players — it’s theDestinymodel! BioWare had the chance to say on-stage “there will be no paid transactions of any kind!” and eat Bungie’s lunch, but it didn’t.
Note that all of these cool looking features are just that — cool looking on paper. We sawa lotof awesome concepts for the originalDestinyand almost none of their visions were actually fulfilled. BioWare has a lot riding on this though and I doubt it’ll be rushing into this unprepared.
