BOOTLICKER TAKE INBOUND:
All I wanted was a new game with updated rules, rosters, face scans, stadiums, and graphics, so literally the bare minimum, so I am not too cut about it.
Still, having the gameplay be indistinguishable is pretty wild. I had expected that, at the bare minimum, the new animations they already have made for Rugby 25 would have been added alongside the existing RLL4 animations.
My guess is that when TruBlu's licensing rights lapsed July last year, the NRL have gone to Big Ant (or vice versa) to just pump a game out ASAP.
Since Big Ant were just about to release their Tennis game and deep in the shit developing Rugby 25, they have just allocated a very small team to updating RLL4 to their current engine/graphics, and adding any rule changes. Add a few more people to implement their Ultimate Team gamemode, give the UI a new lick of paint, go out and get new face scans, and Bob's your uncle.
I really do believe that its just a case of getting their base back under them so we can get back to regular releases, and build from there. So yeah, this years game will be a cash grab, but beggars can't be choosers as they say, and I've been begging for years lol