How publishers are shooting themselves in the foot for your money
I wouldn’t say blindsided is a good word for EA’s latest attempt at winning the hearts and thumbs of gamers the world over. Bewildered and silly are even better words to describe the publishing giant’s release trends over the past few years.
It seems that the Battle Royale gaming craze has even streaming media monsters like Netflix and HULU starving for attention and money, so much so that many businesses are looking for ways to compete with, if not overthrow, the champion online game of the age called Fortnight.
You should know by now that Fortnight is the massively multiplayer shooter/builder game that has defined a new generation of gamers, Twitch celebrities, and legions of confused parents.
Never in my wildest dreams as a gamer would I have imagined video games robbing television of viewership ratings—though with TV’s spaghetti-to-wall “hope it sticks” approach to show content it’s a wonder people haven’t gouged their eyes out completely (I know I’ve considered it).
It’s strange times for both industries and even stranger times for the avid consumer of both media platforms.
EA and Bethesda are hungry to pull gamers back to their titles. The results have been near catastrophic for the big B and rollercoaster for EA. With the Hail Mary pass from the end zone of Respawn’s APEX: Legends mere weeks away from Bioware’s Anthem, I’m not too sure it was good play.
I imagine EA as a great world-spanning serpent that has grown so large it now must eat its own tail to make room for itself. Even though the craze of this new streamlined take on Battle Royale has swept many off their feet, it’s dubious whether APEX is the metaphorical tweezers that will unlatch the bloated tick that Fortnight has become.
APEX: Legends is (yet again) another online hero shooter with a roster of G.I. Joe rejects aping Overwatch drivel and mind-numbingly rehashed content. You pick your hero, link up with online players, fall from the sky, traverse a map, shoot things, unlock things, and pay cash money for things, then rinse and repeat ad infinitum.
APEX: Legends has a sleek, streamlined design, and it’s not a bad game if you like online shooters. But it’s neither innovative nor ambitious; it’s the same old thing powered by the greed engine. It’s free to play, though, so go ahead and check it out for yourself if you are hankering for a PUBG, Overwatch, Fortnight clone. I’m sensing it will gather a cult following among those already playing these types of games but doubt it will exceed Fortnight in longevity. It definitely hasn’t done so in creativity.
The craziest thing about EA dropping this free-to-play snooze fest is that their hyped online co-op adventure shooter Destiny clone Anthem is supposed to hit the shelves on February 22nd. If gamers are already engaged with one offering that is online and full of in-game purchases, how do you expect them to even want to play the next thing that is also online and full of in-game purchases?
Call me crazy, but I think EA is doubling down here because there may not be enough confidence in either game doing well, which is very sad considering that all those prepaid gaming journalists who spammed social media about Anthem for months may look like total fools come release day.
Anthem had a small demo event that didn’t go very well, either. Demos (as far as veteran gamers are concerned) should show off some of the best aspects of the product in order to encourage people to buy it. Yet somehow a demo event to show off ample bugs and glitches has become the industry standard. Then there’s the ridiculous discovery of the price of in-game purchases for cosmetic color schemes. A turd in 4K is still a turd, albeit in high definition. But why release it with problems?
Is it just me or could EA be setting up their developers for failure?
I was hopeful about Anthem but after the demo and insidious ninja release of APEX: Legends I’m going to save my money and let release day slip on by.
EA could be cutting off its nose to spite its face just to capitalize on gaming trends (by Odin it should), but the company should at least be more creative about how to do it. At minimum, give the developers a fighting chance to make a game worth playing and don’t throw them out of the plane without a parachute—or at least give them time to pack one.
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.