Anthem, BioWare’s upcoming Destiny-like game, has begun its VIP Demo for those who pre-ordered the game. However, BioWare apparently didn’t expect Origin servers to overload after the gates have opened at Fort Tarsis at 12:00PM EST on Friday. There were max capacity error messages, endless loops of Terms and Condition, live service data weren’t reachable, and most players were stuck at the loading screen at about 95%.
It’s already 12:00AM EST on January 27 and the loading screen issues still persist. Even if the bug can be fixed by closing the application and launching it again then rejoin the expedition, it’s still a big drawback knowing that the game has recently been announced that it has ‘gone gold’.
Chad Robertson, Head of Live Service at BioWare, took his time to post an explanation over at BioWare’s official website. “The first day of our VIP demo weekend did not go exactly as we planned, and I want to share what happened,” he said. “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.”
He noted the three major issues during the demo: Platform connections, Entitlements, and Infinite loads. Robertson even said on his post that these issues may not be fixed this weekend but he assures that they’re doing their best to have it resolved really soon.
Anthem VIP Demo was a fun experience, the team at PlayStation Galaxy enjoyed their experience all throughout even if they encountered problems.
How was the demo for you aside from the frequent errors you faced?