EA has made a mistake by allowing early Anthem PC reviews, according to Wedbush Securities Analyst Michael Pachter.
Talking to CNBC, Pachter commented on the poor reviews that EA’s latest title has been receiving. Anthem was released last Friday, but EA allowed early-access for PC players through the company’s PC-exclusive Origin Access Premier program. EA has “made a mistake”, Pachter told CNBC. According to the analyst, the title just isn’t meant as a PC game.
"My personal view is that this is just not a PC game — there is flying in the game, and maneuvering your flying character is like driving a car; the controls just don't work well for that on PC, and they work flawlessly on (video game consoles)," he said.
He predicted that the game’s console reviews will likely be 10 points higher on average than Anthem’s PC reviews, and described such a score as "still bad, but not a disaster."
Pachter also said that Anthem’s poor reviews are in line with EA’s poor execution all year, but also noted that the company’s free-to-play Battle Royale ‘Apex Legends’ has been performing very well.
"EA has executed poorly all year (they expect $4.75 billion in revenue now and guided to $5.55 billion 9 months ago). Poor reviews for Anthem are consistent with their poor execution all year," Pachter said.
Yesterday we already covered Anthem’s disappointing initial retail sales in the UK.
What are your thoughts about EA’s latest action-RPG? Does the game work better on a console? Hit the comments below.
Anthem is available globally now for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
