Update 2: As of Friday 4pm PT, PS4 and PC players might now be in luck - but the Xbox One servers are still experiencing problems. "The main issue impacting the Anthem VIP demo on PC and PS4 has been resolved," reads an official statement from EA and BioWare. "Anyone who has had an issue on those platforms should restart the game and attempt to join again. Our team is still working on fixes for some of the issues we’re seeing on Xbox One."
Update 1: BioWare boss Casey Hudson has revealed that server capacity problems aren't actually at the root of Anthem's problems, despite the common error message.
Turns out to not be a server capacity issue. Seems to be a different issue that didn’t come up in previous scale testing. Teams are on it... https://t.co/nnDi2xK1s6January 25, 2019
Original story: The Anthem demo went live today - and then things quickly went wrong. Scores of players are sharing error messages informing them that "the EA servers reached max capacity" before they could even play, or worse, they're just sitting forever at loading screens mid-session. New online games often have problems on the day they launch a demo or even a full version, but that doesn't make it any less annoying for folks who were hoping to make the most of their early time with Anthem game during the VIP access period.
Here's one error message many folks are encountering at the moment, pulled from Twitter. At least you get to enjoy a nice view of Fort Tarsis while you're waiting for something to happen?
Ah, the fate of any new AAA game on launch/beta day: Server issues. I know some people will rage at the #anthem devs while stuck waiting, but dealing with an influx of this many players bombarding the servers is hard! Best of luck to those working to resolve it! #AnthemVIPDEMO pic.twitter.com/622D4kZOpxJanuary 25, 2019
Better the above issue than another common error that just leaves you hanging in the loading screen:
@EAHelp @anthemgame #anthem #AnthemVIPDEMO game freezing in this progress... Mission not start pic.twitter.com/5qRKqKu6J0January 25, 2019
And here's the official EA support account, assuring would-be players that server capacity is being expanded and please it won't go any faster no matter how many angry tweets you send at us.
We're adding more server capacity to the #Anthem demo right now. Hang tight while we work to get everyone into the game.January 25, 2019
Though some players were able to get in at first, many players - including several streamers I've been checking in on - have been kicked out at various intervals during the time of this writing. Hopefully that's a sign of EA doing work on the backend to bring everybody online, and not just stuff going extra wrong.
It's never good when months worth of leadup and excitement T-bone directly into server difficulties. If it's any consolation, Anthem executive producer Mark Darrah is feeling the frustration too.
pic.twitter.com/Z4unvt2ae8January 25, 2019
The demo will open up to everyone across PC, PS4, and Xbox One next weekend, so hopefully everything's sorted out by then!
Check out our Anthem FAQ if you have any lingering questions about BioWare's new online action RPG.
