The new AFL video game, AFL 23, has received a poor reception upon its launch on Thursday with bugs and issues roasted by the footy world.
The game was initially delayed and eventually only released on PlayStation and PC platforms on May 4, with the Xbox release not coming until June, suggesting a hurried race to get the game out the door.
And indeed the game came in hot, with serious issues found by players on day one.
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RATINGS: See every AFL player’s overall score in AFL 23
From poor AI which allowed gamers to bounce their way up and down the field untouched, to bizarre glitches, and even to completely missing modes, the game was simply not ready to be released.
A day one patch – a downloadable update which attempted to fix the flaws – was offered to gamers – in the morning but even that patch had problems, with a secondary patch released in the afternoon.
“Big Ant Studios are aware of issues with the initial day one patch for AFL 23,” the developers tweeted.
“In order to ensure the best gameplay experience possible, we have made a smaller patch that addresses gameplay and stability issues that will be released today.
“We will then re-introduce other elements of the game over the next week to ensure the best possible result for AFL fans.”
The game promised a mode called Pro Team, which emulates the popular FIFA Ultimate Team mode with trading cards, yet this was not available at launch.
Fans also reported errors playing games against online opponents, a stadium construction bug which saw the interchange bench appear in the middle of the ground, and a much more limited career mode than was expected.
