Why Many Fans Won’t Leave Destiny for Anthem

Bioware is set to release Anthem on February 22. In short, Anthem is an action RPG shooter that will see player characters venturing out into untamed landscapes teeming with enemies and other potential threats while clad in customizable exo-suits that pack plenty of firepower as well as other useful capabilities. There are single-player elements in the game, but for the most part, it is meant to focus on the co-op multiplayer side of things. As such, there are a lot of people who have been speculating about whether Anthem will be competing with Destiny 2 for the same potential players. Something that could cause a fair amount of friction.

Will Anthem Steal the Destiny 2 Fanbase From Beneath Bungie?

To an extent, the comparisons between Anthem and Destiny 2 are very understandable. First, both of them are loot shooters. Second, both of them are loot shooters with a strong emphasis on co-op multiplayer. Third, both of them are loot shooters with a strong emphasis on co-op multiplayer that happen to be situated in a sci-fi setting. There are other games that fall under those particular criteria, but there aren’t a lot of them that can claim the same high-profile nature as Anthem and Destiny 2.

With that said, there are some striking differences as well. For instance, there are some indications that Anthem might be more accessible than Destiny 2 in the same that it won’t be as much of a hardcore grinder that cater to people who are willing to put in significant amounts of time and effort to get the best of what can be found. Likewise, the gameplay of Anthem isn’t the same as the gameplay of Destiny 2. In fact, Anthem might actually be closer to Warframe than to Destiny 2, though even there, it is far from being a one-for-one copy. However, the differences between Anthem and Destiny 2 don’t stop there. This can be seen in how Anthem has an increased interest in storytelling via interaction with NPCs, which is perhaps unsurprising when it is a Bioware game. Furthermore, players will have a much easier time switching between Javelins in Anthem than between classes in Destiny 2, which is bound to be something that will appeal much more to some players than others. Combined, these characteristics could very well enable Anthem to carve out its own particular niche in the market for loot shooters with a strong emphasis on co-op multiplayer, thus enabling it to compete head-on with Destiny 2.

There is bound to be some competition between Anthem and Destiny 2. Both of the games are loot shooters, meaning that there are bound to be people who are interested in both games, meaning that there will be competing claims for their limited time and attention. However, even though Anthem and Destiny 2 share a lot of surface likeness, the two are nonetheless very different games that offer very different experiences. As such, it seems safe to say that Anthem won’t be stealing out Destiny 2‘s fanbase from underneath Bungie because the two games’ potential player bases are not one and the same in spite of some significant overlaps.

Final Thoughts

There are a couple of caveats that need to be kept in mind when it comes to the previous statement. First, we don’t have the full picture for what Anthem will be like because it hasn’t been released to the public at this point in time. As a result, it can be rather difficult to make comparisons between it and Destiny 2 because there is incomplete information for one side of the comparison. Second, even if we knew what Anthem was like in perfect detail, there is no guarantee that said information will remain useful for the foreseeable future. Simply put, there is no such thing as a game that launches perfectly, particularly not when the game developer is working in a new genre that is not particularly familiar to it and its employees. Due to this, it seems certain that there will be a significant period of adjustment following Anthem‘s initial launch, which could result in a very different product by the time that the most substantial changes have been made. In other words, while it looks like Anthem won’t be stealing Destiny 2‘s fanbase now, who knows what the future will bring?