@kunakai: My memory is that Fortnite was in early access selling founders packs (so still building a base of players who expected the game to be expanded and iterated on) when it made the pivot. It wasn't a game that had a lot of people try and abandon it, it was a game still on the build. People are understandably a lot more forgiving of early access projects because they know the game isn't finished. So it's not comparable. The game promised it would get better and build out more and then it did. It didn't sell a finished version that flopped.
Destiny reviewed not great but had a lot people who thought the shooting was fantastic and were into it. The playerbase never dwindled like it did for Anthem, and again the game was "fixed" pretty early. It didn't take 2 years. If this conversation were taking place in early 2020 I might have a different view of things. Destiny also had first mover's advantage (it was the first major game structured like this) AND gameplay that people loved even if they had issues with stuff like the loot and story.
The issue isn't that "Gamers" (which are the target audience for something like Anthem, which is a deep and complicated action game not some Candy Crush thing that moms will love, not that there's anything wrong with the latter) need to be conscious of games, it's that you need to draw attention to the game to get people to sink money into it. Launch is the time that happens generally. If you build a community they can draw new people in, but nobody has ever rebuilt a community from scratch except arguably FF XIV, which is a totally different thing for a bunch of reasons AND has a built in monetization angle in subscription fees.
You would have to essentially relaunch Anthem as a brand new game, except with a lot of baggage AND the added issue that a lot of people already own it AND it's in the EA vault so everyone with EA Play OR Gamepass already has a free version.
So to answer your question yes I would try it...because I am a Gamepass subscriber. If it were still $60 I probably would not because I'm not looking to spend $60 on gen 8 games anymore, and especially not 2 year old gen 8 games.
Being on Gamepass and EA Play does make it easier to rebuild a playerbase, for sure, but where do you go from there? Start launching paid expansions 3 years after the game launch? Aggressive microtransactions that would sabotage the playerbase you just rebuilt?
It's just too late for any of this stuff.
And most importantly and something you haven't dealt with is the fact that the people who were most interested in Anthem have already tried and abandoned it and are going to be much harder to bring back because they've already seen the content and been burned once. You say that you don't need "Gamers" to be aware of the game for it to succeed, but the people who are most likely to be into it were already exposed and gave it a shot. If you made the game much better you might bring some portion of them back to try it again 3 years after launch, but they already own their copies so that's not actually new sales.
It's really hard to relaunch a product once it has flopped in any business. Even harder years after the fact. In games it seems to be nearly impossible.
"So it's not comparable" - "Granted, a different case with different circumstances but aren't they all?"
"something you haven't dealt with is the fact that the people who were most interested in Anthem have already tried and abandoned it" - "Most people who play games likely haven't tried Anthem"
"gameplay that people loved even if they had issues with stuff like the loot and story." - "not comparable"?
"different thing for a bunch of reasons" - I'd already conceeded that point.
"where do you go from there? Start launching paid expansions 3 years after the game launch? Aggressive microtransactions that would sabotage the playerbase you just rebuilt?" - Isn't your entire argument based on the belief that they shouldn't do what's in the customers interests because it's not viable "from a commercial standpoint"? There's a sensible middle ground but you don't seem to want to meet there.
"it was the first major game structured like this" - Not really. Boarderlands was (depending on what you mean by structured like this, I'd actually argue the only real mechanical difference between destiny and Halo is the loot part). Destiny also incorperates "Aggressive microtransactions". Arguably.
"nobody has ever rebuilt a community from scratch" - APB would be one example. You make the statement as though there have been many attempts when it doesn't seem evident though.
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