Did you manage to get your hands on Bioware’s latest this weekend? Anthem’s VIP beta ran this weekend, but there were so many problems that Bioware have come out with an apology for their eager fans for the disappointment.
It’s unfair to refer to Anthem’s beta this weekend as a disaster, because it was a beta and there’s a certain amount of instability to be expected during the early testing phases for a game, something that many players have forgotten, spoilt by a lot of early access betas that are actually just a polished smaller chunk of the final game.
However, many were left looking at infinite load screens and other errors during their time with Bioware’s Destiny-esque Anthem, including myself, which led to Bioware issuing an apology for the errors.
In a blog post on BioWare’s site, the company’s head of live service Chad Robertson posted a mea culpa explaining some of the errors.
“Yesterday was rocky,” he starts, before diving deep in a surprisingly revealing post about the challenges of creating a shared world multiplayer game.
“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 I share details on this and what we’re still facing, I want to dispel one comment we’ve seen: that we under-planned for server capacity. To ensure stability, we intended to manage our servers to match the player population as it grew. Overall, we had excess capacity prepared for population increases, and continue to do so. That said, what’s important is that all parts of the game work as designed to meet players’ needs, and that did not happen in the opening hours.”
Robertson pointed the finger at three specific issues: a problem with platform connections that didn’t present itself during internal testing, a weird combination of entitlements for certain players that meant some VIP players were actually blocked from entering the beta, and an infinite load screen problem which saw some players get caught up during the transition from Fort Tarsis to an expedition.
The last issue, with infinite loads, actually was spotted during early testing in a handful of cases but seems to have been exacerbated in the real world due to weird interactions between different internet service providers (ISPs) and home networks.
While I tried several times and couldn’t get access, which should explain why we don’t have a preview available, Bioware mentioned that many players were playing and enjoying the game, while it also saw some substantial success on Twitch, pulling in what Robertson describes as “Fortnite numbers”
Bioware have appealed for patience for those affected, and promise that these issues should be resolved in the near future. Next up for Anthem players is an open beta, when any issues here will be blown up tenfold as eager players flood the servers. Here’s hoping Bioware can get everything fixed in time.
Did you manage to play Anthem this weekend? What did you reckon? Let us know on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
