A Day One patch is also encountering issues of its own.
AFL 23 has launched on PC and PS5 with myriad issues, as developer Big Ant has admitted that Day One — or Day Zero — patches are also proving problematic.
The footy title was expected to go live at some point late yesterday evening, though reports look like it unlocked in the wee hours of this very morning.
Over on Steam, users aren’t being very kind to the release.
“Wait for a patch or two,” wrote one user. “The game looks better than AFL Evo 2 (2020) but plays worse than AFL Live (2011). I’d even say it plays worse than the dreaded Evo 1/2 as well since there are no gameplay sliders either so we can’t even fix it ourselves.”
“This game is horrible. DO NOT WASTE $100,” wrote another. “There is no player career mode, not ultimate team. Season mode is only one season. Just lacking any form of content at all. And the AI is horrid, you can literally run from one side of the field to another back and forth and the other team wont stop you. This game is a national disgrace.”
Big Ant has taken to Twitter with an update on the launch of AFL 23, writing, “Big Ant Studios are aware of issues with the initial day one patch for AFL 23 and working to remediate them at the earliest opportunity.”
Speaking directly with Stevivor, a representative from Big Ant confirmed that “[w]e’ve had issues introduced with the zero day patch and are trying to resolve asap.”
The muddled launch comes just days after Xbox players were informed their version of the title had been delayed into June of this year.
We’ll keep you informed as the situation progresses.
Update: Big Ant has detailed “issues with the initial day one patch” for AFL 23.
“In order to ensure the best gameplay experience possible, we have made a small patch that addresses gameplay and stability issues that will be released today,” Big Ant wrote last night.
“We will then re-introduce other elements of the game over the next week to ensure the best possible result for AFL fans,” the studio continued.
Big Ant’s update came at a time when users flocked to social media with clips mocking the functionality of the title. Most clips show broken AI that actively gets out of the way of a ball carrier rather than trying to tackle them.
Played a quick game of AFL 23 without knowing the controls or difficulty level, stacks up with FIFA pic.twitter.com/W0nxR3n6N9
— Jack Davies (@jvckdavies) May 4, 2023
#PS5Share, #AFL23 lol pic.twitter.com/txmmRIwM08
— luke (@LukePH10) May 4, 2023
How can a game be fun when on the hardest difficulty you manage to win by 35 goals and have a player kick 22 goals. @BigAntStudios how do we get a refund? #AFL23 don't buy it. pic.twitter.com/SnV1GmAwMY
— Matt Modica (@RealMattyBoyAU) May 4, 2023
At the very least, we’d suggest players wait until Big Ant releases a week’s worth of patches before dropping cash on it.
AFL 23 is available now on Windows PC via Steam, PS4 and PS5. It heads to Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X in June.
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