After more than a year of internal overhaul of Anthem, EA and BioWare have decided to stop development of the 2019 action RPG and move on to other projects.
In an announcement written today by executive producer Christian Dailey, he explains that the decision to stop working on Anthem was motivated by a combination of the effects of COVID-19 and a desire to focus on other BioWare projects, such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
“However, 2020 was a year like no other and while we continue to make progress with all of our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic impacted our productivity and not everything we planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be achieved. without putting undue stress on our teams, ”he wrote.
“I know this will be disappointing for the community of Anthem players who have been excited about the improvements we’ve been working on. It’s also disappointing for the team that did a brilliant job. And for me personally, Anthem has brought me to BioWare, and the past two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.
“Game development is tough. Decisions like this aren’t easy. Looking ahead, we need to focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles, while continuing to provide quality updates for Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
Dailey also notes that Anthem’s existing live service will continue to run as it is for the foreseeable future.
Anthem had a rocky launch, plagued with bugs and criticism that while the battle was interesting, the story was a drag and the endgame didn’t have the chops to sustain the game in the long run. As the game stumbled through 2019, EA ultimately chose to overhaul Anthem in late 2019, taking more than a year to completely overhaul the game’s core loop and systems like loot, quests, and social elements. Earlier this month, EA reportedly reviewed the state of the game and then called for development to cease at that point.
In an exclusive interview with IGN, Laura Miele, EA’s Chief Studios Officer, expressed her views on Anthem development’s shuttering, in contrast to EA’s decisions regarding the game’s overhaul with the Star Wars decisions: Battlefront 2. Battlefront 2 was successfully overhauled after launch based on feedback from the community, if not perhaps as dramatically as Anthem planned.
“What’s really important about Battlefront 2 is that we said we were going to do something,” explains Miele. “We made a commitment to players and we had to act on what we said we would do, so our teams are clear when we say publicly that we are going to do something we need to deliver. Creating new content for games can also be done. come to a natural conclusion for a variety of reasons and when that happens we try to be as transparent as possible with the community and explain why. ”
Miele then pointed to Battlefront 2’s post-launch community as an example, saying that while the game’s community had requested more post-launch content than what DICE was going to deliver, the studios kept that feedback in mind for future Star Wars games. .
In contrast, while Anthem also had a community interested in the overhaul, Miele says the best decision based on the resources BioWare has at their disposal was to focus development on the other games instead.
“We’ve believed in Anthem every step of the way, we’ve invested in this game for nearly a decade and we’re proud of the work the team has done,” said Miele. “Starting with the game’s launch two years ago, the BioWare team listened to player feedback and made updates and improvements to the game.
“However, 2020 and 2021 are unprecedented years when it comes to game development, so we need to prioritize both the player experience and what’s best for the people working on these games. We want to make sure that BioWare can focus on the making the following Dragon Age and Mass Effect games are the best they can be while also continuing to provide quality updates for [Star Wars: The Old Republic]Ultimately, that’s the best way we can serve our players, by focusing on these fan favorites and meeting the expectations of the community.
“Anthem was a creative risk and its challenges taught us a lot about game design and even how to improve our development process. This benefits not only developers but also players.”
Miele spoke at length about EA’s relationship with its gaming communities and its goals of adapting based on fan feedback in the rest of our interview, which you can read here.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine