Betting on ANTHEM's success is a tricky one, isn't it? On the one hand, you've got the broad appeal of a sci-fi looter shooter with a huge marketing budget. On the other, you've got continued scepticism over EA's business practices as well the quality of BioWare's output, and two playable demos that ended up being pretty divisive.
We don't know where ANTHEM is going to end up on the sales charts, but we do know that EA expects a successful launch period. The publisher has stated that it's banking on estimates of 5 to 6 million copies sold within this fiscal year. That means following its launch later this month, ANTHEM has around six weeks to make up the numbers. Hmmm.
Whatever happens, keeping an eye on ANTHEM's release is going to make for some very interesting viewing. Do you think it'll make it to 6 million copies in six weeks? Crunch some numbers in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 47
I honestly couldn't be less interested in this game, it seems like such a blatant 'me too' Destiny clone, and I got bored of Destiny fairly early on.
There also seems to be a to have been a lot of grumbling since the beta. How I miss old Bioware ☹
Maybe 5,999,999. I've been pretty constant of late in not buying any new releases. My backlog probably equals two years of playing time, and I don't care about having the next great game now. I'll own it later.
I've preordered. I do hope Anthem is a success. I tired of Destiny's paper thin narrative and look forward to a more substantial story with diverse characters to justify all the shooting, looting and levelling up. I got a taste of this with the barman's story and the arcanist's dilemma. Checking them out after each mission added that personal touch to Anthem that Destiny showed no sign of. These little sub-plots helped colour Anthem as a more real, engaging world. I'm looking forward to see how the story-line of the various factions and other characters unfold
This game looks so generic. I think it will flop.
Nope, everyone will be playing Apex Legends while it's free. Welp. Not sure why they keep releasing shooters at the same time.
Good luck with that lol
No chance. EA have such a bad rep & the Destiny bubble burst long ago.
I personally won't be buying it, but I won't be surprised if they hit their target.
if you couldn't get Battlefield V to sell what you wanted EA what makes you think this will?
I play Destiny, a lot of Destiny. I also have well over 1300 hours on Warframe. My friends list is made up of mostly Destiny and Warframe players and almost all of us have played the Anthem beta/demo. Not one of us is buying Anthem.
I know that my friends and I are a miniscule bunch in terms of the massive amount of gamers out there but if you can't convince a single person out of a bunch of hardcore looter/shooter fans to buy your game, I'd love to know who will buy it if a lot of the target audience isn't interested.
They might do it, they might not. I expect a massive onslaught of marketing.
The only thing I got from the demos was - cancel the pre-order, wait 6/9 months, pay 20 quid and play the game when it's fully developed - MAYBE.
There's not a lot to do there once the campaign is over, and seeing how BioWare's storytelling has bee lacking since the olden days I'd be surprised if that is motive enough to even play the game..
3 Strongholds is ridiculous, one contract a day is ridiculous. If you were looking at this game to be your new hobby, look elsewhere. In comparison the train wreck that was D2 at launch had effectively more content than this and it was still a very bad game for it.
You work on this for 5 years and that is the endgame you come up with.
I've pre-ordered this but I don't think it will sell in those numbers. The Beta and performance metrics haven't exactly been 'positive' thus far. Add in EA's reputation and BioWare's flawed Mass Effect: Andromeda and I can see many people being very wary of purchasing.
It could go on to sell more than that over its life time - it could be a 'grower' if the game launches and any issues are fixed fairly quickly. If people who are buying it are happy and enjoying it, word of mouth could spread and the game could sell in those numbers but if its a buggy mess and not fixed quickly, there won't be enough numbers to spread that word.
I do think this could go either way. There is a LOT of potential. The world looks great, much more dynamic than Destiny's world. The movement and verticality looks more varied than Destiny too and the lore opens up a lot of potential for more variety moving forwards. I do think the first few weeks to a month though will be crucial for its long term success. However with games like Metro, Division 2 and Days Gone coming out as well, they really have to be quick to sort out issues and keep what ever initial audience they have engaged or it could die quickly...
Why do I have zero interest in a big release like this and I honestly think this will be just OK like Destiny?
hmm.. how many games recently have sold 6m in 6 weeks, not too many i'd wager. it's also got a new far cry game which usually sells decently to compete against, as well the division 2 on the horizon — more importantly if the division 2's beta goes very well, people might just hold off on anthem and wait 2-3 weeks for division 2.
I think this game has potential of selling well depends on reviews and replay value. But in my opinion I don’t thinks it that great and won’t be buying it unless is $20 since it looks like an easy trophy. But till then I’ll be cleaning my backlog starting with KH3 and RE 2
Blimey, this thread'll make you believe Anthem is going to bomb big time.Then again I can't help recalling how much fun and visually stunning the world was - made all the better by the flying. Nah, I'm sticking to the pre-order and am really looking forward to getting stuck in.
Think we need poll and see what the members say on this game
EA is all okay everyone let's all just close our eyes and wish real hard and maybe everything will work out.
I do know they already sold one to me
Here's hope they don't f... this one up. Please be awesome and grow into something that Destiny never was for me <3
Surely that will be deemed underperformed by EA execs..... 😒
I wasn’t that impressed with the demo, I rent up to 3 games at any given time and I’ve took Anthem off the list because I’d rather be renting Crackdown 3, Metro Exodus and Far Cry New Dawn all which are out the same day on 15th then Dirt Rally 2.0 on 22nd, the fact I’d rather be playing those 4 games over Anthem says it all.
As much as I want the game to succeed, there's no chance in hell they'll sell that many copies in a month and a half.
Laughable joke of a game
@Frigate BioWare & will Smash thier company faster than Sony burned Microsoft at the beginning of the 8th Generation Of Consoles!
I will be getting it Day 1, but that sales target seems unrealistic.
I quite enjoyed the demo...but not enough to buy day one...or day 2,day 3 etc etc etc.
We got Destiny 2 on plus which I have yet to even try so I'll probably wait for this to turn up on plus too..
Like others in the comments, I think most shooter fans will be far better served playing Apex Legends for free. The demo made Anthem a hard no for me. But Apex is better than just another BR game.
Here we go, again.....
Who actually makes that kind of statement. Baffled and look forward to the figure 6 weeks after release.
6 mill or Bioware gets the axe, so you better be buying the game.
Unfortunately for EA, they've dug themselves a bit of a deep hole. I personally am very wary of anything with the EA tag on it after the 'half a game' Battlefield 5. I'll be waiting to see reviews of anything EA in future so definitely won't be pre-ordering.
I am ready to see this flop and have EA swallow some of that misplaced hubris. Though they will probably pin it on some far-fetched, fictional scapegoat.
@FullbringIchigo Except BFV sold 7.7 Million copies. Of course that was still a disappointmentnto EA.
Although I am usually quite optimistic about ANTHEM, I think EA is as usual expecting too much. They should better half the expectations because of their very own logo being on the box
I dont know if they'll reach it or not, but I'm not contributing to that number.
@Zuljaras I thought it was too generic as well. The demo didn’t grab my interest and I didn’t see it as a game I would have fun playing. Hopefully it gets an overhaul the first few months of release.
this game from the demo i played is utterly horrible
@nathanSF Just like the hate COD usually gets. Then it sells better than most games anyway. Not sure about Anthem, but I get the impression it will do well, just not as well as EA wants.
@Frigate No matter what they blame it on, one thing's for sure: the internet will disagree and will bring out the pitchforks.
EA: "We only sold 1.5 million in 6 weeks? That's it, BioWare you're getting the axe! BOYS, WHERE'S OUR MICROTRANSACTION TEAM AT? They've got a lot of work to do!"
@naruball Agreed about EA being a bit over-ambitious. Anthem will need time to prove it's worth the money.
Not unrealistic. If the game reviews well and they don't advertise it stupidly they can reach those numbers given the combined size of the userbase across all platforms the game is selling to. BF V had a ton working against it, mainly horrendous PR, and still sold over 7 mil and counting.
I played Anthem and the Division 2 betas. The key takeaway for me from both was that Anthem didn't seem to care if you knew what was going on. TD2 gave clear explanations on what did what whereas Anthem seemed like they just threw it out there and said "figure it out yourself."
In Anthem I played right up until I left the fort. Suddenly I'm in a team of four on a launchpad. Everyone but me flew off. I'm left standing there unable to get my suit to do anything. Check settings, no button map I could see. Mash all the buttons, guy jumps around a bit but no flight. Finally I got frustrated and just deleted the damned thing. The game felt frustrating and indifferent.
TD2 went a different way. Tri-panel pop ups explain game systems concisely and using multiple steps. You knew where you were going, what you were trying to do, and what buttons to press to do that. When you left the main base of operations you already knew how to move, you were NOT thrown in to a group of other players, and there was plenty to do on your way to where you were going. The game seemed like it cared about your time investment in the game. The game felt fun.
Between multiple past concussions, post concussion disorder, and PTSD video gaming can occasionally be quite a challenge for me. I am not alone, and there are many men and women like me. I understand that Anthem and The Division 2 are completely different games. I am not comparing the games to each other so much as how they familiarize new players with in-game systems.
I ended up playing TD2 for HOURS. I couldn't wait to delete Anthem. I never even got to play Anthem really, but I'm not about to 'play' a game that frustrates me so much I can't even figure out how to follow the other three people forced upon me.
ANTHEM COULD HAVE DONE BETTER - but they decided not to.
There is no way this is selling 6 million copies in six weeks.
@Ironwright Fair enough, and I think you're right. Anthem's demo played like an afterthought: a messy private beta, with barely any context, a very convoluted menu and bunch of bugs. TD2 demo/beta was well planned and, while TD1 was a launch disaster, the game evolved quite nicely and it shows that the team behind TD2 cares about players' experience.
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