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.

 

[andy_c91]

Is this up to date gameplay? Worried if that's the case

Most likely no and if I remember correctly it was mentioned somewhere it might still be a few versions behind the final version which would also include the day one patch.

 

[Michaels]

I'm saying this for context only and not for people to piss and moan, just take it at face value.

This wasn't the final build and is obviously pre patch too.

I'm hazarding a guess that a lot of what people are saying is already noted and tweaked.

Anyway, BigAnt genuinely look at all feedback and suggestions so all ill say is keep it respectful and don't be douchy about it.

 

[stkilda7894]

Why do people assume there's sliders? There has been nothing to confirm this as far as I'm aware?

 

[mclovin99]

looking at the gameplay maybe an extra months wait for xbox users is a blessing in disguise… graphics wise it looks great but everything else…

Nah id rather be disappointed playing it at launch like everyone else.

 

[Michaels]

Yeah, I liked a few going back with the flight, they were pretty impressive. There were some contests in there that simply had to be spoils though.

I wonder if spoiling stats vs marking stats play a part.

 

[andy_c91]

Why do people assume there's sliders? There has been nothing to confirm this as far as I'm aware?

Again if my memory serves me well, ba has mentioned most of the features in their other games will be included in afl 23 which includes sliders.

 

[Selim]

Why do people assume there's sliders? There has been nothing to confirm this as far as I'm aware?

simply because any modern sports game 'should' have sliders

 

[stkilda7894]

Again if my memory serves me well, ba has mentioned most of the features in their other games will be included in afl 23 which includes sliders.

They also mentioned single player career would be there as well. Right now I'm taking everything they've said with a grain of salt

 

[MustyDartin]

One play i liked in-particular was at the 10.35 timestamp, the intercept mark, chip kick, then henry who had originally marked and kicked, ran into the space and received the ball again creating an overlap. Went inboard, and from there holmes took a mark and played on straight away without stopping, probably the most fluid movements we've seen so far from the ai. The play kept developing from there, and lead to a nice goal from hawkins.

 

[mclovin99]

The marking looks the best its ever been though by a mile. Players running forward before the marking icon instead of standing still is a big oooof

 

[T2B_]

It's definitely going to be interesting to me to compare to Evo 2, gameplay-wise.

See I'm the first to admit the issues with Evo 2, but at the same time, I've played it a lot, like quite a lot, even until quite recently. I played a coach career mode until forced retirement (what is that, 20 seasons?) and then several more of a new profile.

And honestly, I've had a fair amount of enjoyment from what is now a fairly patched up Evo 2. Still far from perfect, but it gets a surprising amount right and sometimes, entire passages of play do feel extremely realistic. Other times laughably janky or the AI gets away with murder, but it's usually better than not these days.

I know a day 1 AFL 23 is not totally comparable, but I'm interested to see if it plays and feels good enough to not be too immersion breaking and still, well, fun.

 

[melbournemartin]

A few notes with timestamps. Green = looks good. Red = looks bad.

- 2:20 Starting off on a bad note, there is zero movement from the players at the ball up.
- 2:35 Sydney kicks a goal and there are a few cheers but a bunch of boos. Love it! It would be great if this were tailored to specific crowds and not just home vs away, e.g. at a Melbourne home game vs Collingwood there should still be many Collingwood fans.
- 3:05 A few Geelong passes that look nice. There is a free guy on the wing so the AI hits them. He then moves to the middle but only because there is a free player. All looks good until a kick is smothered, which is fine
- 3:30 There is Sydney player tackled and the ball spills free. 4-5 players just stand around it doing nothing. I had presumed it was going to be a free or ball up but it was play on, with a legit 3-4 second delay before anything happened. There are several other instances of this. In general it looks like there is not much going on in terms of group dynamics... things are very 1 v 1
- 3:42 Instead of taking a set shot from ~50 out on a bit of an angle the Swans player passes it to a teammate even further out on a tighter angle.
- 4:02 Let's just appreciate how beautiful the set shots look in this game!
- 8:15 A lovely animation of the Swans player running back with the flight and taking the mark
- 8:32 WTF? Sydney player on the wing doing a 50 metre handball back towards the Geelong goal to no one in particular? Which Geelong score off... There are lots of very long handballs i see
- 9:48 Again, related to the gang activity, you see a Sydney player in a big pack and there are zero shepherds and only one Geelong player goes for the tackle. Things are looking very 1v1.
- 10:56 Jeremy Cameron

5

Jeremy Cameron

Age

31

Ht

196cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.5

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

2.6

5star

D

10.0

3star

K

7.1

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

4.6

4star

T

2.0

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.4

4star

G

2.0

5star

kicks inside 50 on his left and Hudson says "onto the non-preferred". I'm curious how the game knows about a player's preferred foot and how the commentary reflects it. From memory in AFL Live 1 there were no preferred feet.
- 11:25 I'm liking a lot of the pans to the crowd, including here with the Swans fans looking upset after a Hawkins goal
- 12:50 By this point, after watching 7 shots for 7 goals straight, I was realising that goals were going straight through the middle... exact... how will the AI ever score a behind unless there is a load of wind?
- 14:35 is a clear example of you have a pack of players at the drop of the ball but never more than 2 (1 per team) go for the mark. Basically no pack marks which is such a big aspect of footy to be missing
- 15:27 again we see a Geelong player mark the ball at centre half forward and handball back out to the wing into traffic?
- 17:08 player songs are elite. Love it. There also seems to be multiple song animations (e.g. some have had the player grab the camera, but this one didn't)

 

[chenny420]

Nah id rather be disappointed playing it at launch like everyone else.

me too tbh

 

[ESSENDON INSIDER]

looking at the gameplay maybe an extra months wait for xbox users is a blessing in disguise… graphics wise it looks great but everything else…

bro the animations are sick and the way they create space, cutscenes are rlly good. only negatives were ai being too good which is fine bc that should be a easy fix

 

[andy_c91]

They also mentioned single player career would be there as well. Right now I'm taking everything they've said with a grain of salt

Fair enough, take it how you want.

 

[stkilda7894]

simply because any modern sports game 'should' have sliders

Any modern sports game should also have a single player career, up to date gameplay 24 hours before release, and a marketing campaign. Really hope you're right though because sliders are definitely needed

 

[andy_c91]

One play i liked in-particular was at the 10.35 timestamp, the intercept mark, chip kick, then henry who had originally marked and kicked, ran into the space and received the ball again creating an overlap. Went inboard, and from there holmes took a mark and played on straight away without stopping, probably the most fluid movements we've seen so far from the ai. The play kept developing from there, and lead to a nice goal from hawkins.

Hopefully that is the payoff of having some afl assistant coaches help with developing the AI

 

[melbournemartin]

Overall impressions are pretty mixed. When there is 1 v 1 play the game looks decent, but anything with 3+ players looks very odd, particularly for tackling and hard/loose ball gets. Contested marking too. I worry that those things will be harder to fix as adding in gang tackles or shepherds is more than just a simple tweak but more of a significant gameplay change. So for something like that I am worried it is close to what we will get and can't be explained away by "submission version" or "pre-patch".

Also where are the behinds? Every kick was "gun barrel straight". I suppose that is something that would be easier to tweak.

I did like that the AI used the wings and players ran into space much more than previous games. It wasn't all 1 v 1 contests. However, there were still some very dumb decisions made by the AI.

I do like the use of handball by the AI to players in space, but I found they almost never used their momentum to their advantage. I coach footy and it's a pretty standard ethos that if you mark the ball and handball it to a player they should be on the run... that's the point. Here you often see handballs to stationary players, who are then easy tackle targets.

 

[chenny420]

bro the animations are sick and the way they create space, cutscenes are rlly good. only negatives were ai being too good which is fine bc that should be a easy fix

a bit hyperbolic from myself, sure. some of the animations look good, especially the set shots and another of a player running back with the flight and marking. but some of the other animations are very clunky and theres often players standing around doing nothing.
i wouldn’t say say that the only negative was the ai being too good, much how the only positive is the graphics like i said

 

[T2B_]

Most of these issues can be solved from sliders etc but the standing around the ball waiting for someone else to grab it is perfectly fine if you’re trying to depict Freo

Or Carlton. Often our guys seem to stand and wait for Cripps to gather the ball haha.

But in all seriousness, maybe there's a chunk of AI code missing here for some reason? Maybe a heap of the effort has been in getting the zoning and moving into space etc. Dunno.

 

[Flagmantle Pod]

Or Carlton. Often our guys seem to stand and wait for for Cripps to gather the ball haha.

But in all seriousness, maybe there's a chunk of AI code missing here for some reason? Maybe a heap of the effort has been in getting the zoning and moving into space etc. Dunno.

At least you have a bloke willing to get the ball. We’ve got a team full of ball watchers atm.

The zoning looks really easy to pick apart, reckon everyone in these gaming tournaments will go straight to man on man if it’s avaliable

 

[Nicho50]

After watching all videos I feel like there’s more negatives than positives but I guess that’s what patching is for.

There were speccies in the trailer that Ross said was taking from an in game match and not doctored but we haven’t seen any speccies or attempted speccies in any of the video.

Might be an old build and that’s why but why are we seeing old builds when it’s a day off releasing. That is the concerning part should we be seeing the final version game play so close to being out?

 

[hawk699]

So keen for this game can’t wait to play it

 

[FearTheBeard13]

25 hours to go..

 

[Selim]

theres one passage of play i kinda really like at @12.25 player handball forwards but is surrounded by cats players, they then handballs backwards and kicks forwards, felt thats a super realistic play