EA and BioWare have are National Anthem 2.0 project, canceling plans for what was meant to be a revitalizing rework of BioWare’s failed 2019 online shooter Hymn
This comes straight from BioWare, which this afternoon published a blog post about the decision noting that Hymn, as it exists now, will remain online for the foreseeable future.
“It is also disappointing for the team that did a brilliant job,” said BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey. In the full post, Dailey adds that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many of the studios to develop intricate projects, including the already precarious Hymn
“For me personally, Hymn is what brought me to BioWare, and the past two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career, ”writes Dailey.
Planned as his own take on a persistent online shooter like Bungie’s Destiny Hymn launched in early 2019 with a host of issues and sales well below EA’s expectations. Shortly after launch, reports of serious crunch in the studio surfaced, along with other details that paint a troubling picture of Hymn‘s pre-release development.
Despite the reception, the CEO of EA said at the time that the company was not yet ready to reduce losses Hymn and by the beginning of 2020, BioWare halted its season update plans to instead work on a full overhaul of the game, the now fateful National Anthem 2.0 or Anthem Next
Earlier this month, a report from Bloomberg leaked that EA would soon be making a decision on whether the National Anthem 2.0 project must continue. Following today’s news, Bloomberg is reporting that separately according to its sources National Anthem 2.0‘s small team of developers goes to the dragon era team.
“Game development is difficult. Decisions like this are not easy,” said Dailey’s post on the BioWare blog. “To move forward, we need to focus our efforts as a laser-focused studio and strengthen the next dragon era, and Mass effect titles while continuing to deliver quality updates to Star Wars The Old Republic