What little remains of Anthem‘s initial playerbase probably has lost all hope that the game will be revived already. But if you were hanging on, I’ve got bad news for you. BioWare has decided to scrap the planned revival with Anthem Next, due to a variety of issues with the game and development.
The original version of Anthem launched in a dismal state. The BioWare epic was billed as a direct answer to the likes of Warframe and Destiny 2, being billed as the “Bob Dylan of video” games repeatedly by folks working on it. Needless to say, but that did not pan out. The actual launch was a total mess of bugs, confusing features, and a lack of depth content. The game that was billed with a 10-year lifespan was quickly put on effective hiatus. Thanks to a consistent lack of focus on the development side of things, a lot of the work on this epic new title was slapped together; which then left the team in a state of having to clean up after their own problems. The final game was blatantly unfinished, and most of the players left within weeks.
Cut to this year, and it looks like things aren’t much better. In a new blog, BioWare Austin’s Executive Producer Christian Dailey announced that development of Anthem Next at BioWare has officially come to an end. That’s the reboot of the game that had entered early pre-production in late 2019. The plan had been to take the game into a new future with a complete overhaul of core design and the gameplay experience. This was basically the last chance for the game to continue to exist. Following an internal review of the project, EA has scuttled the whole thing.
But fear not if you’re somehow still playing, “we will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today,” Dailey said.
“During the development we’ve provided updates revealing some of the team’s work through blog posts and conversations with you on social media and it’s been inspiring for us to see the positive reactions and feedback,” Dailey said. “I’ve been incredibly proud of the work the team has been doing, and excited to see and play each new build of the experience.”
And it wasn’t just all the development issues that canned this revival. The Anthem Next project, like so many other games, was harangued by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio admitted that they just can’t make it work in this environment. “Not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams,” Dailey continued.
The reboot of the game was supposed to include a total redo of the missions and core design of the gameplay, which would have hopefully brought players back. That’s obviously not happening now. For now, the game will remain as it is, without more content. It’s only a matter of time until it’s shut down though. So in effect, that means that the game has been sunsetted. If you’re among the true diehard fans, you can still play it for now.