Anthem community manager addresses player concerns at length, promises the game is 'here to stay'

Anthem had far from a perfect launch, and with ongoing balance and performance problems, BioWare is under immense pressure to smooth things out. And that's no better demonstrated than on Reddit, where a lengthy list of grievances was published yesterday by user harishcs, ostensibly on behalf of the community. The post touched on all the biggest problems with the game, in addition to criticising BioWare for a perceived lack of post-launch communication and interaction.

Anthem Global Community Manager Jesse Anderson later weighed in with a response on behalf of BioWare, and it addressed point-by-point most of the original post's issues. On the topic of a perceived decline in developer interaction on the subreddit since the game's launch, Anderson had this to say:

"To start, things used to be a lot friendlier here for dev team members who normally don’t talk on social channels or forums," he wrote. "They could answer questions, give information and know that they aren’t going to have people getting upset at them. Why would a dev team member take time away from working on the next update to post when they know it’s likely to be met with hostile replies, or they get flamed because can’t answer other questions that players are asking?"

He continued: "I don’t mind posting here when things aren’t so nice, but that’s because it’s my job. For the devs it isn’t their job, and I’d like to ask that people remember that when replying to them. When some people say 'be nice or the devs will stop posting' it’s 100% true. Be respectful and constructive with your feedback and more team members will likely reply."

Anderson addressed a range of communication concerns, including why he tends to acknowledge trivial issues over major ones (because status reports on smaller issues tend to be easier and less complicated to obtain from the dev team), and why patch notes are treated confidentially (they're not, they just tend to be completed only shortly before the updates go live).

On the matter of ongoing loot problems, Anderson listed some of the updates already applied, while also shedding light on how the feedback process works. Basically, things tend to take longer than the community has patience, but tweaks are forthcoming. "We aren't happy where loot is either, so know that it's high on our priority list," he wrote.

It's worth reading the post in full, especially if you're invested in the future of the game. According to Anderson, Anthem definitely does have a future. "All I’ll say on this is that Anthem is here to stay. Do we have a lot of work to do to fix parts of the game? Yes, and the team is committed to making improvements and releasing new content."

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.