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.

 

[Freo16]

Never really saw the clubs getting involved but I seem to remember one of the Evos getting a little bit of support from the AFL page. I only remember because it really annoyed me because I thought that meant the AFL were basically saying that they were backing in WW long term when they'd never ever even acknowledged video games in the past.

It's really crazy. Video games are an insanely good marketing tool for the sport. When there's a new game out it's the kind of thing the AFL should be hammering on the broadcasts every week. I know it's not really a comparison but when a new WWE game is coming out it's all over the broadcasts.

Agreed, every time we’ve had an AFL game come out I’ve been disappointed not to see it advertised on the broadcasts or on the big screen at the games.

Even NBA 2K gets promoted on NBL broadcasts and the league isn’t even in the game, it’s probably a budget thing for AFL but it’d be nice to see it get some attention, especially as AFL 23 might be a game worthy of that attention.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Imagine the AFL bumping off one of their gambling ads for a videogame?

 

[JT_the_Man]

Agreed, every time we’ve had an AFL game come out I’ve been disappointed not to see it advertised on the broadcasts or on the big screen at the games.

Even NBA 2K gets promoted on NBL broadcasts and the league isn’t even in the game, it’s probably a budget thing for AFL but it’d be nice to see it get some attention, especially as AFL 23 might be a game worthy of that attention.

While the league isn’t in the game I think the NBL has some sort of partnership with 2K. All the team jerseys got added to the game for players to wear in the Park and there is an Aussie team joining the 2K League called NBL Oz Gaming (the third non-NBA team) which has been hyped up a bit on NBL socials.

 

[SugarShane]

Just give me updated lists, improved visuals & a really slick coach/player career mode… and even if the gameplay is only say 10% better than Evo 2, I’ll play the heck out of this game.

I know they only ever put Cricket Academy out so that people could sort out the unlicensed teams ahead of release, but if they put out Footy Academy I'd seriously be right for another 3 months getting stuck into creating players and guernseys.

 

[Frothiewalker]

Just give me updated lists, improved visuals & a really slick coach/player career mode… and even if the gameplay is only say 10% better than Evo 2, I’ll play the heck out of this game.

Only 10% better? geez I'm banking on way better. AFL evo 1 & 2 were absolute dog's piss. I found them unplayable and not enjoyable at all.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I know they only ever put Cricket Academy out so that people could sort out the unlicensed teams ahead of release, but if they put out Footy Academy I'd seriously be right for another 3 months getting stuck into creating players and guernseys.

Including Fat Ranga Misiti

 

[Flagmantle Pod]

Only 10% better? geez I'm banking on way better. AFL evo 1 & 2 were absolute dog's piss. I found them unplayable and not enjoyable at all.

As excited as we all are, don’t overhype it and expect a 2k or Fifa type product. Banking on it being significantly better than Evo but not near the games that get hundreds of millions thrown into them

 

[royboy2]

Absolutely no chance of a St Kilda Melbourne match drawing that type of crowd

 

[Frothiewalker]

As excited as we all are, don’t overhype it and expect a 2k or Fifa type product. Banking on it being significantly better than Evo but not near the games that get hundreds of millions thrown into them

Nah absolutely get what you're saying, I don't expect Fifa levels at all or no where near. I am hopeful that this game is a good starting block for Big Ant to build off.

All I'm getting it is how poor AFL evo was. I still feel dirty for wasting my money on them.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Had a quick look online and Evo 2 was getting 6/10 and 6.5/10 reviews:

AFL Evolution 2 Review: Improved, but doesn’t make the eight

Arriving amidst the chaos of an unprecedented indefinitely suspended AFL season, AFL Evolution 2 suddenly serves a much greater purpose than ever intended — i

stevivor.com

AFL Evolution 2 Review

It's good to have footy back

www.well-played.com.au

Which, funnily enough, is the same sort of score AFL Live got all those years ago:

AFL Live Review

AFL Live offers up a fun game of Aussie Rules that gets the basics right but little else.

www.gamespot.com

With that in mind my expectations are firmly set on a 7/10 game. Anything more than that is a bonus.

 

[Nickers]

Only 10% better? geez I'm banking on way better. AFL evo 1 & 2 were absolute dog's piss. I found them unplayable and not enjoyable at all.

Yeah I have pretty modest expectations, just keen for a new AFL game tbh.

 

[Flagmantle Pod]

Cant wait until my kids get to play AFL 86, Big Ant is worth billions after taking over the sports game genre following their release of AFL 23, and Freo still are chasing their first flag.

 

[Cubs2Lions]

Cant wait until my kids get to play AFL 86, Big Ant is worth billions after taking over the sports game genre following their release of AFL 23, and Freo still are chasing their first flag.

And Gold Coast are still trying to enter their first final series

 

[StoneyHawk]

Forget about the two scoreboards… are socks up or down?

 

[Freo16]

I seriously hope the game is unveiled tomorrow, I think we’ve finally run out of things to talk about here

 

[footyfreak_]

I seriously hope the game is unveiled tomorrow, I think we’ve finally run out of things to talk about here

BigAntStudios

 

[SugarShane]

I fired up AFL Live 2004 yesterday to play the minigames again since they are legendary and this thread had me needing some brain bleach.

Once I was in the menu I was reminded of the Mission mode they had. Very similar to scenario editor in the Cricket games, but back in AFLL2004 it was a whole game mode that you had to progress through to unlock the next one and unlock FMVs. It was a really cool mode and I spent a lot of time on it.

They had historical and fictional, but basically here's the score, timeline, and what's happened up until now, and here's what you need to do. So these days you could have things like the Miracle on Grass, Carlton needing to hold off Collingwood and win R23, or from 2021 Brisbane in R23 needing to hit a certain percentage to reach top 4.

They were a lot of fun because they weren't just your stock standard "play 4 quarters and win".

 

[jdoggdrool]

Once I was in the menu I was reminded of the Mission mode they had. Very similar to scenario editor in the Cricket games, but back in AFLL2004 it was a whole game mode that you had to progress through to unlock the next one and unlock FMVs. It was a really cool mode and I spent a lot of time on it.

Mission mode absolutely rocked.

 

[Xtreme]

Had a quick look online and Evo 2 was getting 6/10 and 6.5/10 reviews:

AFL Evolution 2 Review: Improved, but doesn’t make the eight

Arriving amidst the chaos of an unprecedented indefinitely suspended AFL season, AFL Evolution 2 suddenly serves a much greater purpose than ever intended — i

stevivor.com

AFL Evolution 2 Review

It's good to have footy back

www.well-played.com.au

Which, funnily enough, is the same sort of score AFL Live got all those years ago:

AFL Live Review

AFL Live offers up a fun game of Aussie Rules that gets the basics right but little else.

www.gamespot.com

With that in mind my expectations are firmly set on a 7/10 game. Anything more than that is a bonus.

I don't know, I like Big Ant games (DBC / cricket series in general, I even liked the AO tennis games.... even though realistically the tennis wasn't fantastic!). But as previously mentioned they don't have EA SPORTS/2K style 34987324983743209847384923473987 budgets at their disposal.

Only 10% better? geez I'm banking on way better. AFL evo 1 & 2 were absolute dog's piss. I found them unplayable and not enjoyable at all.

I found AFL Live lacklustre in various areas (the ball magnet thing was what really annoyed me!). Plenty of AFL games in the past have had certain charm about them. All a developer has to do is re-create the magic of Aussie Rules Footy on the NES and they have a winner!

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I don't know, I like Big Ant games (DBC / cricket series in general, I even liked the AO tennis games.... even though realistically the tennis wasn't fantastic!). But as previously mentioned they don't have EA SPORTS/2K style 34987324983743209847384923473987 budgets at their disposal.



I found AFL Live lacklustre in various areas (the ball magnet thing was what really annoyed me!). Plenty of AFL games in the past have had certain charm about them. All a developer has to do is re-create the magic of Aussie Rules Footy on the NES and they have a winner!

All the AFL games were a complete mess until Live 1, then there was some coherency for once. They just needed more iterations. It's taken 12 years to get a sequel to even build on the only game that went in the right direction.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Nah, if you couldn't find fun in the EA or IR Gurus ones, then you were playing blindfolded.

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Nah, if you couldn't find fun in the EA or IR Gurus ones, then you were playing blindfolded.

Agreed. AFL Premiership 2006/07 was a ton of fun for its time and had a good amount of customisation and features for career mode which were the firsts of its kind back then. Live 1 is still the best AFL game to me but hopefully ‘23 dethrones it!

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Nah, if you couldn't find fun in the EA or IR Gurus ones, then you were playing blindfolded.

Probably nostalgia. I go back to it now and it's pretty terrible. It's mostly just a mark, kick, mark, kick game with bad stiff animations. It's very awkward and detrimental to hand pass in The IR Gurus games. Whereas Live 1 was the first footy game to make hand passing really necessary, and the game flows.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Probably nostalgia. I go back to it now and it's pretty terrible. It's mostly just a mark, kick, mark, kick game with bad stiff animations. It's very awkward and detrimental to hand pass in The IR Gurus games. Whereas Live 1 was the first footy game to make hand passing really necessary, and the game flows.

I know you love it like a son, and shit on every other AFL game like they murdered your son, but Live had it's fair share of issues too.

There's a reason it was a 6/10 game.

 

[gunbarrelstraight91]

Probably nostalgia. I go back to it now and it's pretty terrible. It's mostly just a mark, kick, mark, kick game with bad stiff animations. It's very awkward and detrimental to hand pass in The IR Gurus games. Whereas Live 1 was the first footy game to make hand passing really necessary, and the game flows.

I used to hate on those games when it was wet and you’d be infront in the marking contest yet the defender behind you took chest marks no matter what you did. I think that was 07

Probably nostalgia. I go back to it now and it's pretty terrible. It's mostly just a mark, kick, mark, kick game with bad stiff animations. It's very awkward and detrimental to hand pass in The IR Gurus games. Whereas Live 1 was the first footy game to make hand passing really necessary, and the game flows.