@totallytc: But they have been producing it? They even have playable builds for the games. If you think about it, this would give more publicity and would put them under more pressure because it makes it more obvious if new content isn't being produced as players can simply see how long it's been since the last playable release. That's the complete opposite of what a scammer would want.

@falkyn: I can see where you're coming from, but the difference here is that the product is already playable and, while unfinished, is in player's hands. That's different from your example because the backers could not actually access the headset at their own convenience.

In this case, they're confident enough that they're releasing playable content into players hands, both offline and online. Keep in mind that this is a huge risk to them too, because if they don't keep providing content now, more people will question whether the game will come to fruition. It's the last thing that a developer would want to do if they're unsure if the game would be released.

@whiteheartx: You literally said "because unless you collect games for your bookshelf collection or whatever then there's no point in spending that extra $$$. "

You're implying that physical games are more expensive.

@whiteheartx: ...You probably don’t check on physical games much if you seriously think physical copies are generally more expensive than digital. While that is true for indie games sold by limitedrun and the like, the majority of physical copies sell for the same or cheaper than their digital versions. I can find a copy of fire emblem warrior for 20 to 25 bucks offline easily and that was a year ago, and only now is the digital version coming even close to that via the eshop deal.

In fact the only time I see when digital copies are cheaper is when they (rarely) have steep discounts. Outside of those times, the digital copies are almost always the same price or more expensive.

Making the games digital only puts all the pricing in the publisher’s court, as people will be unable to find it cheaper by going to a store or buying it from somewhere else. There’s already a perfect example of this with PSP Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, which Koei refuses to sell for less than 40 digitally, or many of the games you see ported to steam.

@alphazonex: This very same article even pointed out that part of that was due to people being stuck at home from coronavirus, and also remember that the virus disrupted physical production for all companies for a while. The percentage used in the article is, in my opinion, unreliable (both for and against digital downloads) because it is heavily influenced by the abnormal situation caused by the virus.

@squishytia: You might be able to notify Netflix by contacting their customer service whenever your grandfather is away for several months, so they don't auto-cancel it. There's no harm in trying that.

@DarkCloud858: I thought so too, but they might not have been given any choice in the matter by EA, like "you got us into this mess, now fix it".

@greasemonkey42: Well that's the problem: The "reveal gameplay" video wasn't gameplay at all. It was all made up at the last minute for an E3 presentation and even most of the Bioware devs were unaware of how the game was going to be until they saw that. That's why it has so many features that the actual game never had: there wasn't even any gameplay properly built for it, and there's no way that something that intricate could have been made in just one or so years.

So it sounds like Bioware is trying to pull an FF14 2.0. EA probably is refusing to give them a budget for a sequel or Dragon Age 3 because of how badly both this and ME: Andromeda sold, and are peeved after Kotaku's article that the Bioware heads wasted 5 of the 7 years given for Anthem on doing literally nothing (it says a lot that, for one time, it wasn't EA themselves who screwed over a game). The fact that the team size is small for current-Bioware-standards, despite the project involving such a crucial and drastic overhaul, is part of the reason I suspect the whole budget-refusal thing.

This is probably Bioware's last chance to prove to EA that they can attract a fanbase.

@fox_fury: None of those had extensive reworks to the point where the game is being fundamentally changed. Those all pretty much died at launch whereas Anthem hobbled along for a while.

It feels like they're trying to pull what FF14 did with its 2.0 reboot here. I'm suspecting that EA's pretty pissed that Bioware wasted literally 5 of the 7 years they had on not doing anything, and are demanding Bioware prove that they still have a fanbase for their games.