“In the spirit of transparency and closure we wanted to
share that we’ve made the difficult decision to stop our new development work
on Anthem (aka Anthem NEXT),” BioWare executive producer Christian Dailey said
in a post on the BioWare blog. “We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem
live service running as it exists today.”
Dailey noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and work-from-home
orders “had an impact on our productivity.”
“I know this will be disappointing to the community of
Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working
on,” Dailey said. “It’s also disappointing for the team who were doing
brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare,
and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding
experiences of my career.
“Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy.
Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen
the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality
updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
BioWare announced in February 2020, a year after Anthem
launched to a tepid response from fans and critics, that it planned to redesign
the game. The goal in overhauling Anthem was to “reinvent the core gameplay
loop,” said then-BioWare general manager Casey Hudson. (Hudson has since left
BioWare.)
“[We] recognize that there’s still more fundamental work to
be done to bring out the full potential of the experience, and it will require
a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion,” Hudson said last
year. He explained that BioWare was pausing seasonal updates to Anthem to focus
on “a longer-term redesign of the experience, specifically working to reinvent
the core gameplay loop with clear goals, motivating challenges and progression
with meaningful rewards — while preserving the fun of flying and fighting in a
vast science-fantasy setting.”
BioWare released a handful of public-facing status updates
on Anthem in the subsequent months. BioWare Austin studio director Christian
Dailey told players that the Anthem team’s work would be “a longer process” as
it went back to the drawing board. Dailey posted two gameplay updates, one
focusing on loot and equipment goals, and one focusing on Javelin builds.
Dailey has since gone on to become the executive producer of the Dragon Age
series, replacing Mark Darrah, who left BioWare in December.
Anthem was released on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox
One in January 2019.
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