Multiplat AFL 23 - PS/Steam Releasing May 4, Xbox TBC

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

WHEN CAN I PLAY? READ BELOW:

• PlayStation (Physical): Thursday 4 May
• PlayStation (Digital): 8:01am AEST Thursday 4 May
• Steam: Currently 8:01am AEST Thursday 4 May, may be moved to 12:01am AEST
• Xbox (Digital or Physical): TO BE CONFIRMED, unlikely to be 4 May

Spoiler: Specific Big Ant quotes about the release:

Those that pre-ordered PS versions will be able to play on Thursday, disks will have already been mailed by retailers, they will also be available in-store.

Steam will also be available Thursday.

Stating the obvious, we are still having issues with XBox.

Seriously, anyone that looks hard knows there’s issues - why do you think there are so many exclusives for a particular platform that are not marked as exclusive, but are only on that platform.

If I took that road, life would have been a lot easier.

Xbox digital and retail will release at the same time - that is not a decision we get to make.

It applies now and I will no doubt pay a price.

Spoiler: Other Quotes

Re: commentary team

Spoiler: Other Quotes

Hamish is still there, Daisy didn't make it into the final version of the game.

We added Gary and increased the workload of Harf.

Re: game availability/release dates

I can never give 100% guarantee about anything in the future, but as it stands today, the statement I am prepared to make it that all stock that is at retailers on 4 May will be available for sale.

As to the amount that will be there for sale, and whether it is enough, that is a question I cannot answer.

It will be made digitally available on the various platform holder electronic stores.

Clarifying, the game will not release prior to 4 May 2023.

I am vague as there is one platform that has had sufficient stock at retailers and the other has not, and I cannot name them (contractual reasons).

The game will not be further delayed because of the numbers of units in stock.

Re: Steam listing

I've already put in a request for the screenshots to be replaced with current ones, they'll probably only be there for a day.

As much as the feedback has generally been positive, these are old, meant to be placeholder only and were not meant to go live.

Re: playing lists

All playing lists are accurate for the 2023 season.

Re: content creator footage

This is all prior to day one patch (as some have noted updates like numbers etc are apparent)

Re: Career mode

A head's up on Career mode.

At the AFL 23 Launch night I mentioned the non-team based Individual Career Mode in an interview with Dean (Twistie3). As alluded to at that same event, we were working with the AFL and AFLPA to include as many past legends in the game as possible.

The great news is that we have received approval for far more AFL legends than were previously envisaged, but this has meant that we had to make the tough decision to divert resources away from the Individual Career mode development. The individual Career Mode function will not make it into AFL 23, Career Mode will be entirely team based. I expect this mode to be include in future iterations of the game.

Re: microtransactions

You do not have to make purchases, things can be earned.

Re: general development

So fundamentally flawed, in so many ways, it’s bananas.

We are doing AFL as it’s a passion project, without us doing it there would not be one being made.

So much more upside with making games that are played internationally, let alone one that will not even be played in every state in this country.

 

[StrappingTape]

Respectfully - this is the reality of sports media in Australia. It is cutthroat and you've seen it rear its ugly head again with various pages jumping on the player ratings/clunkiness/other criticisms and advertising them as fact - because they don't have anything else to go off of. Most people don't have the benefit of seeing your posts here - so how would they know that all of the ratings/criticisms being written about are from a dev build?

While I see your point about limiting the information that's available, waiting until close to release to get media coverage etc... the longer you wait the less control you have over the narrative and the more this kind of misinformation is going to spread. It just seems really risky to me to be a few weeks from release and the only thing anybody has seen is a 6+ month old dev kit and articles about the old build.

This may or may not be the case at all with this title but what you've described is because as a general rule of thumb, any game that hides away before release and then reviews come in on release day etc is because it's dropping as a shit show on day 1 and it's to mitigate the bad press that will impact sales. Unfortunately everything BA is doing is just hitting on all the hot spots for people who've been burned before, combined with their history of dropping logs on release people are putting 2 and 2 together and probably getting 5 but I can easily see why. If it's the AFL driven then they need to talk to them for next year and get them to do what BA want because the strategy this year is not great for what is locally a huge game release.

 

[AFL23fan]

Did anyone who went to the launch party put down there email to get it early?

 

[stkilda7894]

2k have done it a couple of times where they'll drop info rather late.

EA have done it with their NBA Live games.

I have a genuine question for you, whether you know tomorrow or two days before release what's the difference? You'll have the same information before it releases regardless.

How's NBA Live going

From what i've seen from FIFA, Madden, MLB, F1 the last few years, they've been going pretty in-depth months in advance as to what changes have been made and what we can expect. Builds community hype if well received, but can be a detriment if gamers aren't satisfied with features. Is that what we are seeing here with a reason why we're all very much in the dark still? I really hope not and don't believe this to be the case as we're all confident this game will exceed any AFL game we've had before.

Wasn't aware that 2k leave it late like Big Ant generally do. Each company to their own I guess

 

[palmomagpie]

Finally got around to chucking my pre-order in. Funnily enough looked at my "EB World" card and the only games I've bought from there are AFL Live, AFL Live 2, AFL Evolution, Read Dead 2, AFL Evolution 2 and now AFL23. At risk of sounding like a stinge (look away Big Ant), does EB still price match? JB has it cheaper but I don't have one close as don't really want to rely on postage

 

[StoneyHawk]

Finally got around to chucking my pre-order in. Funnily enough looked at my "EB World" card and the only games I've bought from there are AFL Live, AFL Live 2, AFL Evolution, Read Dead 2, AFL Evolution 2 and now AFL23. At risk of sounding like a stinge (look away Big Ant), does EB still price match? JB has it cheaper but I don't have one close as don't really want to rely on postage

Ye p they sure do and you can still trade aso.

 

[SomeNorthFan]

Does anybody know which 30 stadiums have been included in the game? Has there been any info on this other than "And over 30 detailed stadiums"?

 

[StrappingTape]

Finally got around to chucking my pre-order in. Funnily enough looked at my "EB World" card and the only games I've bought from there are AFL Live, AFL Live 2, AFL Evolution, Read Dead 2, AFL Evolution 2 and now AFL23. At risk of sounding like a stinge (look away Big Ant), does EB still price match? JB has it cheaper but I don't have one close as don't really want to rely on postage

I think from experience it depends on who you cop when you go in. Either yes, no or only if the same product is available in the same shopping centre cheaper... so answer = variable in my experience!

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Does anybody know which 30 stadiums have been included in the game? Has there been any info on this other than "And over 30 detailed stadiums"?

Sweet summer child

 

[SugarShane]

I think from experience it depends on who you cop when you go in. Either yes, no or only if the same product is available in the same shopping centre cheaper... so answer = variable in my experience!

Yep we're not in the city so mine will only match whatever is available locally. The only other shop in our town that sells games is a Big W so they won't match a JB or anything else.

 

[andy_c91]

new twisties3 video on AFL 23 with Ross the boss:

 

[offtherails9]

Not overly interesting in UT although I'll check it out.

More interested in a few of you freaks creating some old teams to run around with though. 08 Hawks would be nice.

 

[Michaels]

Yet EA and 2k go out of their way to make it as casino-like as they can to try and get people to spend as much as they can (and in many cases, more than they can). The level of grind required to keep up with the spenders is increasing as well.

If the interest is in making it even and fair and not pay to win etc etc etc then there should be no issues with making like Cricket 22.

serious question, what kind of hours have you sunk into 2k NBA games or FIFA games to come to that conclusion? I think you have gone pretty strong handed there.

Do they want to make extra money? Of course, it's a business. Are they twisting anyones arm and forcing them to spend just to be able to play or compete at a sufficient level? Absolutely not.

 

[bdawwg1021]

Was there any review on the in game commentary from the launch party? Hopefully it's not a sh*t show...

 

[Michaels]

Did anyone who went to the launch party put down there email to get it early?

yep email is down.

Haven't received anything yet but I didn't know it was meant to be early. I just assumed it was on release.

 

[Michaels]

Was there any review on the in game commentary from the launch party? Hopefully it's not a sh*t show...

Most of the people who played didn't put the head sets on to hear it as they were playing with people they knew so were chatting to each other or asking the devs questions.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

serious question, what kind of hours have you sunk into 2k NBA games or FIFA games to come to that conclusion? I think you have gone pretty strong handed there.

Do they want to make extra money? Of course, it's a business. Are they twisting anyones arm and forcing them to spend just to be able to play or compete at a sufficient level? Absolutely not.

Heavy handed?

I don't think I am considering the mechanics have been ruled illegal in some countries and being investigated in many others for the reasons I've mentioned.

I have no problems if it's implemented like Cricket 22. That seems.like an excellent version of the concept.

 

[SugarShane]

yep email is down.

Haven't received anything yet but I didn't know it was meant to be early. I just assumed it was on release.

Just an outside observer here but if you're getting a download code it pretty much can't be early can it? It's just a code to access the product and the product releases when it releases.

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Solo career confirmed

 

[Michaels]

Just an outside observer here but if you're getting a download code it pretty much can't be early can it? It's just a code to access the product and the product releases when it releases.

That was how I viewed it as well to be honest.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

new twisties3 video on AFL 23 with Ross the boss:

Great video, got more out of that than anything to date. Does he post here? If he does, thank you very much!

Career mode sounds like everything I wanted. Pumped for that. Focus on improving AI too is very encouraging based on the AI we saw at the reveal.

I've said what I've said on Ultimate Team.

Only nitpick is Ross the Boss mentioned that animations won't change, and the ruck animations in particular looked really wonky in the gameplay footage from the reveal, so hopefully he meant they have changed since that demo build, but now that they're good they're locked in.

 

[SugarShane]

Solo career confirmed

Appreciate him posting the actual full video, even if Michael J Fox was the only bloke he could only find to hold the camera.

Also confirmed no scenario mode unfortunately Says he wants it, and it will come, but no indication if he means in an update or in a future iteration.

 

[Rowdoss]

Just an outside observer here but if you're getting a download code it pretty much can't be early can it? It's just a code to access the product and the product releases when it releases.

I know games media, IGN types for example, always get their early copies these days via store codes. Im not sure how it works but they often get games up to 3 weeks early. The obvious problem with that is, Ross suggested he still had boxes to tick to get the game onto some digital storefronts.

 

[SugarShane]

Only nitpick is Ross the Boss mentioned that animations won't change, and the ruck animations in particular looked really wonky in the gameplay footage from the reveal, so hopefully he meant they have changed since that demo build, but now that they're good they're locked in.

It did sound like he was referring to their remaining workload, and not necessarily the build they were using.

But he also went on to say that Mitch Robinson was coming in to do more mocap so who knows.

 

[Michaels]

Solo career confirmed

**** yeah!!

so good.

from a streamers perspective hearing that we will eventually have the ability to spectate games to stream tournaments is amazing!

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Appreciate him posting the actual full video, even if Michael J Fox was the only bloke he could only find to hold the camera.

Also confirmed no scenario mode unfortunately Says he wants it, and it will come, but no indication if he means in an update or in a future iteration.

To me it sounds like it wont be a yearly release (personally I dont think sports games should be) and instead maybe once every 2 years with frequent updates and honestly as long as they can patch/insert things into their games as they go then why not? I can imagine their UT mode alone is gonna require a lot of updates every time a new legend is added in/mo-capped etc