Anthem Physical Sales Unsurprisingly Worse Than Mass Effect Andromeda

[VSG]

There are news reports going around today about how physical sales of Bioware's Anthem is much worse than their previous title, Mass Effect Andromeda. Nearly all these reports are using the two UK sales metrics, as of February 23, to make this claim, stating that Anthem sold less than 50% the physical copies relative of ME Andromeda. This is a story no doubt, but not big enough to where people are claiming this to be the end of the studio by itself. For one, ME Andromeda had the luxury of being the new entry into the massively popular Mass Effect franchise, which many were desperate for more. Secondly, Anthem is a predominantly online game released in 2019 wherein such games tend to get more digital sales- especially on Origin for PC.

The good news for Anthem (and also EA as well as Bioware) is the game still topped both charts, as seen in the images below courtesy Metro UK. It sold more physical copies compared the other new entries last week- Far Cry: New Dawn and Metro Exodus- in the UK, which tends to be representative of the entire physical sales world too. Indeed, Anthem on the two major consoles were individually also the best sellers too, so there remains hope for the game. Despite mediocre reviews and interest online, perhaps this will be enough for continued support of the game post-release, and for Bioware to get enough momentum to push out more games in the future, and ideally more, better single-player games too.



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[Ferrum Master]

That's a dirty headline...

 

[VSG]

That's a dirty headline...

It can be interpreted in different ways no doubt, but my intention was to give Anthem a fair shake here compared to most others who have been calling for blood in the media.

 

[Space Lynx]

EA would have died a long time ago without Fifa series selling massive amounts worldwide every year. I won't cry a tear when they are gone. In other news, can't wait to throw $100 at CD Projekt Red when Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders go live. I plan to buy season pass version.

 

[dozenfury]

At least on PC, it being included in Origin Premier skews the sales numbers pretty heavily. $99 for a year of Origin Premier that includes BF5, Anthem, and a whole slew of other games doesn't make the idea of paying $60 just for Anthem individually very appealing. So on PC low physical sales would kind of be expected. Mass Effect Andromeda didn't have the same situation where Origin accounted for a lot of sales (although it was added later), it just bombed.

That said even with Origin Premier Anthem was still a very disappointing game, and effectively you could say I indirectly only paid $20-$30 for it as part of the Premier package. I was in an early closed Alpha by chance for Anthem (well before the pre-order alpha/betas), and it did not look good even then, but I held out hope some a late rush on polishing it would fix a lot of it's issues. But seeing it now I think it was still put out a few months too early and it needed a bit more cooking time. That's where things like more variety in missions and gameplay would have been possible, which would have offset some of the complaints about the repetitive quests and shallow missions. Instead it feels like a game that is unfinished and had a lot of potential but fell short. There are quite a few games in that category in the past couple years (FO 76, Anthem, ME Andromeda, etc.).

 

[Ubersonic]

Surprising to me TBH considering how much better Anthem is than MEA...

At least on PC, it being included in Origin Premier skews the sales numbers pretty heavily.

Very good point TBH, why spend £60 on a game when you can spend £80 and get another 200 free

 

[Mistral]

EA would have died a long time ago without Fifa series selling massive amounts worldwide every year. I won't cry a tear when they are gone. In other news, can't wait to throw $100 at CD Projekt Red when Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders go live. I plan to buy season pass version.

If they make a typical CDPR collectors edition for 2070 I'm getting it in a heartbeat. I grabbed the TW2 one back in the day and it was awesome, but unfortunately the one for the TW3 had practically no availability in my country.

 

[Space Lynx]

If they make a typical CDPR collectors edition for 2070 I'm getting it in a heartbeat. I grabbed the TW2 one back in the day and it was awesome, but unfortunately the one for the TW3 had practically no availability in my country.

I might go for that highest edition as well, not sure yet. I never have done that, but I just might with this game. ^^ Assuming I get my order in on time, I'm sure it will sell it out fast.

 

[dirtyferret]

It seems like the professional reviews are not giving it a good grade according to Metacritic. PCgamer review was rather scathing

 

[Space Lynx]

It seems like the professional reviews are not giving it a good grade according to Metacritic. PCgamer review was rather scathing

pcgamer was accurate.

the combat is boring as crap. one boss fight the lady just stood there getting shot by ten enemies and she didn't die or move, she did eventually, but yeah... maybe she was playing on easy mode or something i dunno. looked boring to me tho, jetpack into air, fire fun, run in half circle, rinse and repeat, boss dead. yawn

 

[Ubersonic]

It seems like the professional reviews are not giving it a good grade according to Metacritic. PCgamer review was rather scathing

PCgamer's review was a joke, if they had put the same guy in charge of reviewing World of Warcraft back in 2004 he would prob have played it for 30mins too then claimed it was a boring game that wouldn't last a year xD

 

[krykry]

Players simply grew skeptical. And Mass Effect Andromeda sold better because it was a mass effect game.

 

[dirtyferret]

PCgamer's review was a joke, if they had put the same guy in charge of reviewing World of Warcraft back in 2004 he would prob have played it for 30mins too then claimed it was a boring game that wouldn't last a year xD

I have not played the game so I can't tell you of the accuracy of the review but PC gamer carries a lot of weight with its reviews

EA would have died a long time ago without Fifa series selling massive amounts worldwide every year.

Don't forget Madden, they basically print money each time they release a new one

 

[Ubersonic]

I have not played the game so I can't tell you of the accuracy of the review but PC gamer carries a lot of weight with its reviews

Put it this way, they rated it lower than Fallout 76 and No Man's Sky, both games that aren't fit to to reside on the same storage volume as Anthem. Whatever credibility PCgamer had left with the community pretty much evaporated for anyone who tries the game and sees how wide of the mark PCgamer fell.

 

[Caring1]

Sounds like a press release to draw attention to the company and game, nothing to see here folks.
The majority of games are digital now, move along.

 

[Agentbb007]

I bought the Anthem regular edition so started playing on Friday and so far have 17 hours and I'm still really enjoying it. I don't think it's any more boring then any other shooter game out there. Heck people are playing Apex Legends to death 8 hours a day doing the same rinse and repeat matches over and over again and I don't see people destroying that in negative reviews. To each their own that's what is great there is something for everyone.

 

[moproblems99]

And who buys physical copies of PC games from EA that you still have to load through Origin?

In other news, can't wait to throw $100 at CD Projekt Red when Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders go live. I plan to buy season pass version.

There won't be a season pass. They aren't EA or Activision.

 

[eidairaman1]

I like physical game copies still. Too bad game makers force you to have an internet connection to play many let alone install the game-which is criminal...

 

[hat]

And who buys physical copies of PC games from EA that you still have to load through Origin?



There won't be a season pass. They aren't EA or Activision.

Maybe people with crappy internet, or people who just like having the physical copy. I know one reason some people on consoles prefer the physical copy is because there is no second hand market for digital downloads. Buy something on PSN, and it's yours forever, you cannot sell it to anyone else or trade it in. The way PC hard copies work these days, though, I don't think that's a possibility for us.

Personally, I'm happy to ditch physical copies. I'm interested in the game itself, not a bunch of bulky jewel cases that take up a lot of room.

 

[Crackong]

Anthem = EA's Warframe
Done playing Warframe, never touch Anthem.

 

[turbogear]

Physical copies nowdays seem not to include DVDs always but sometimes just download code.
For BF V that I bought at a local Mediamarkt store, I got an empty CD box with just a code inside to download game over Origen store.

 

[cucker tarlson]

I buy physical only.No physical-no buy for me.I've never actually seen just a code in a box though I've seen some include one dvd only and the rest has to be downloaded.That really pisses me off.It's not that frequent,most of them still include 3,4,5,6 dvds with the full game.There's something about installing from discs that I really like.

I gotta say although I'm not a multiplayer type,I thorougly enjoyed division,bf1 and battlefront 2.I played hunderds of hours.I was counting on getting anthem,bf5 and division 2 later this year but so far anthem looks very unimpressive to me (would rather replay andromeda frankly),bf5 is almost the same thing as bf1 just prettier graphics and division 2 looks like what recent far cry games were to far cry 3.Same thing,but somehow worse.

I suspect all three I played are still alive and well,so I don't mind playing them some more instead of these new money grabbing schemes.

 

[my_name_is_earl]

I can't really complain about Anthem because it was bundle with my new RTX 2060. I however, wouldn't buy it at full price. 15min of fun and 20min of loading screen. This is pathetic. I've never encounter an online game that load that much.

 

[NC37]

Told Bioware in the closed Alpha that Anthem was too much like Destiny and that it would bite them in the butt...

 

[dinmaster]

Should have left bioware alone with unreal engine. Probably would have been made faster and is a better engine overall. This has ea written all over it. Frostbite is cool but I think it limited this title in many ways including modifying the engine to make it do what they wanted but didn't have enough time or simply the engine can't do what bioware wanted. Either way their hands are tied to ea...