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.

 

[jdoggdrool]

Wowee, the chicken littles in here lol.

Kudos to Ross and co for getting in and posting among us plebs, regardless of your opinion on the situation most game devs etc won't do that.

Wowee, the amount of people coming in here and talking about the number of people complaining.

 

[Flagmantle Pod]

How can you tell that? Genuine question.

By reading this thread

 

[Treehill23]

Wowee, the chicken littles in here lol.

Kudos to Ross and co for getting in and posting among us plebs, regardless of your opinion on the situation most game devs etc won't do that.

Most game devs also have gameplay footage out more than 3 days before release

 

[mickelboy182]

Lots of things seemingly beyond their control, yet something as simple as a small gameplay clip of this complete build is still nowhere to be seen.

Any other gamedev in the same situation is copping it from all angles on this board, that's the simple truth.

 

[jdoggdrool]

By reading this thread

If what you gleaned from reading this hellhole of a thread was that this is the most faithful representation of AFL in video game format, I want whatever you're smoking.

I learned that man is destined to suffer.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

By reading this thread

The demos showed loads of innovations, despite its flaws. I was criticising the gameplay for being a bit incomplete and missing stuff, but it's still ahead of million steps of any AFL game before it, on that demo alone. I don't get the impatience, lets be realistic, the game getting more development time would be best. The bitter people can always go play the Wicked Witch collection, while Big Ant continue with development.

 

[mickelboy182]

The demos showed loads of innovations, despite its flaws. I was criticising the gameplay for being a bit incomplete and missing stuff, but it's still ahead of million steps of any AFL game before it, on that demo alone. I don't get the impatience, lets be realistic, the game getting more development time would be best. The bitter people can always go play the Wicked Witch collection, while Big Ant continue with development.

What innovations? It looks better, as you'd expect with the progression of technology. Not sure there was much else shown that stood out. The gameplay still looked pretty problematic.

 

[offtherails9]

Very embarrassing from Big Ant. One of the worst build ups to a release you would ever see.

Little to no information for the general public (just an event for twitch guys and AFL players), then the delay.
Apart from loyal online fans, barely anyone knows anything about the game.

Was midly excited for this game and kept looking back to see if they'd released any info at all over the past few weeks, but this is so grim.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

What innovations? It looks better, as you'd expect with the progression of technology. Not sure there was much else shown that stood out. The gameplay still looked pretty problematic.

Goal kicking, motion capture, AI placement, tactics, the academy and customization.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Goal kicking, motion capture, AI placement, tactics, the academy and customization.

We haven't seen half of that though.

 

[Cubs2Lions]

Was midly excited for this game and kept looking back to see if they'd released any info at all over the past few weeks, but this is so grim.

You thought that’s bad, just think of the poor mods on this thread now that have to watch us annoying souls not do anything out of order for another month or so.

This month is gonna be one firestorm on this thread

 

[jdoggdrool]

Goal kicking, motion capture, AI placement, tactics, the academy and customization.

I'll accept the motion capture - the rest is still TBD on whether it's an upgrade.

 

[mickelboy182]

Goal kicking, motion capture, AI placement, tactics, the academy and customization.

Not only is the majority of that stuff we have barely seen, the AI placement stuff actually sent me. That was one of the biggest complaints about the build, it was absolutely awful.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

You thought that’s bad, just think of the poor mods on this thread now that have to watch us annoying souls not do anything out of order for another month or so.

This month is gonna be one firestorm on this thread

From what I can tell all the regulars are still here. Because they haven't done anything wrong.

Most people do the right thing. Not everyone agrees with everyone else, and that's OK. It's a discussion forum after all.

Would still be a nightmare for the mods though, to read everything to weed out those that do break the rules

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Not only is the majority of that stuff we have barely seen, the AI placement stuff actually sent me. That was one of the biggest complaints about the build, it was absolutely awful.

The player walls and players being in specific places and outnumbering to defend were what I was focusing on. I know of those flaws like too many players around the mark, but I couldn't imagine that being in future builds, only in that demo.

 

[new0066]

Little to no information for the general public (just an event for twitch guys and AFL players), then the delay.
Apart from loyal online fans, barely anyone knows anything about the game.

That’s not entirely true, AFL posted about the game multiple times on their social media, the event with players & others got shown on 7&9 news and it mentioned the launch of the game. So there was info of the game to the general public.

Tho I will say they could of released more info & game play earlier but to say there has been no info for general public is just a complete lie

 

[andy_c91]

BigAntStudios JNT BA I think right now would be a good time to release some sort of video to showcase the gameplay and features. At least something for us to watch over and over again and allow discussion . I’m not of the opinion the game is not ready and this will allow us the players to provide feedback on forums like this and given its a month away maybe allow BA to improve your game further. Seeing the game being delayed is disc related, I would love to see a downloadable demo version of the game available on all platforms just like the nets challenge for cricket 22. A game that just allows players to run around in a training facility and do kicking and hand balling drills. This will also provide a opportunity to showcase player movements and key mechanisms like kicking hand balling and marking and honestly I would play the shit out of it

 

[jdoggdrool]

to say there has been no info for general public is just a complete lie

It's more technically inaccurate than it is a complete lie.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I think its a win/win. Big Any get more development time, mad people can return to Evo 2.

 

[boncer34]

I think its a win/win. Big Any get more development time, mad people can return to Evo 2.

But the games ready. They don't need more time.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

But the games ready. They don't need more time.

Big Ant said they were still developing it, patches will come on day 1.

 

[Xtreme]

I think its a win/win. Big Any get more development time, mad people can return to Evo 2.

Must wallop Geelong to warm up for Monday

 

[Bakesy]

But the games ready. They don't need more time.

“Ready”

 

[Mootsy]

Very embarrassing from Big Ant. One of the worst build ups to a release you would ever see.

Little to no information for the general public (just an event for twitch guys and AFL players), then the delay.
Apart from loyal online fans, barely anyone knows anything about the game.

Was midly excited for this game and kept looking back to see if they'd released any info at all over the past few weeks, but this is so grim.

I mean I get the disappointment about the release date being pushed back, but that was out of Big Ant's control, and the rest of what you say might be a bit of an exaggeration, grim?? I dunno.. The launch evening of AFL23 was exactly for that reason, to showcase gameplay from streamers to the public. The trailer was also launched the same evening and pre-orders were launched soon after. The only thing missing is perhaps another gameplay trailer closer to release, but now that April 13 is out of the question, they still have a month or more to maybe show something else.

I think one thing you might not realise is that some of this may very well be out of BA's control because of certain complexities and budgets etc, for instance how does one go about showing a trailer on television every day in 2023 when social media does that to a similar degree for the actual target market. It's sort of like, my aunties and uncles might watch channel 7, but a lot of the demogrtaph of a video-game may not even watch commercial tv anymore and use Kayo etc or something else. My uncle is less likely to care about a game trailer on TV, yet he is more likely to watch the commercial stations, if that makes sense.

I'm sure BA and team would like to come here and just talk openly about this stuff, but they probably can't etc..

 

[Andonis1997]

Hey BigAntStudios thanks for being so transparent with us about the delays.

Can I ask, as a guernsey nerd, have you seen all of this season's guernseys? Such as the North charity guernsey they'll wear against our Blues, and some of the Gather Round guernseys?

And are all these implemented in the game?

Cheers