BioWare had an exciting, yet challenging weekend with the release of Anthem's VIP demo. Reception for the demo ranged between incredible frustration with the demo's major bugs and errors to exhilaration, as fans were able to take flight across Anthem's untamed world for the very first time. BioWare knows there's a lot of work yet to be done, and has issued a community letter summarizing the weekend, going over its plans between now and Anthem's mid-February launch.

The heart of the community letter, written up by Anthem's head of live service Chad Roberson, focuses on efforts to fix the VIP demo's various issues. Part of that includes a list of issues from the demo that have already been solved for the launch version of the game. Here are BioWare's examples of changes between the demo and launch version of Anthem:

  • Weapons with 0% infusions
  • Weapons with bonus that applies to different Javelins
  • Plot integrity / party gather issues
  • Changes to Javelin unlock behavior
  • Fixes for losing XP at end of some expeditions
  • Performance Improvements
  • Additional stability fixes
  • A Social Hub: The Launch Bay
  • And a few thousand more (literally)…

Some may not have heard, but Anthem's demo was actually branched off of main development around six weeks prior to its release in order to maintain an expected level of stability. The team has spent those six weeks since continuing to iterate and polish the final version of the game. And there are a lot of limitations that need to be put in place for a demo that the full launch won't require. Other changes that aren't listed include the ability to sprint in Fort Tarsis and the ability to free-roam without matchmaking in the open world, both of which would require tech that just didn't make sense putting into a demo.

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BioWare isn't trying to absolve itself of responsibility for the issues found within Anthem's VIP demo, however. The above list is just an example of what kind of improvements players can expect at launch that are unlikely to be implemented for next week's open demo. As for issues that BioWare is actively working on that may or may not be fixed in time for next week's demo, there's a list for those, too:

  • Entitlement bugs
  • Server performance updates to address much of the rubber-banding
  • Fixes for infinite loads and more being investigated
  • Platform bugs to validate Javelin unlocks
  • Client and platform login bugs

Expect BioWare to continue updating Anthem players on the state of the game going forward. One undeniably positive aspect of the VIP demo was how BioWare was in constant communication with its community about the ongoing issues and its efforts to solve them. This will hopefully continue well past launch.

VIP demo players who want more Anthem, or those who have yet to give the game a try just yet would do well to know that the open demo goes live on Friday. It will be the last and only chance to play Anthem before it launches on February 22, or comes out in early access on February 15 for subscribers to one of EA's services.

Anthem launches February 22 on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: BioWare