BioWare Says It’s Giving Up On Anthem

Further development on Anthem has been canceled, BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey announced today.

“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 wrote. “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.”

Anthem originally released in 2019, BioWare’s attempt to glom onto the success of live service games like Destiny. It was heavily criticized for feeling incomplete, forcing BioWare to return to the drawing board in pursuit of a No Man’s Sky-style reboot.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Anthem publisher EA would soon be making a final decision on whether to continue bankrolling attempts to overhaul the project.

Dailey’s explanation also puts blame on the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, forcing the studio to adopt work from home strategies, for not being able to meet expectations.

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“Game development is hard,” Dailey added, succinctly summing up the last year. “Decisions like these are not easy.”

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports the small team that was still working on Anthem has been moved to development on the next Dragon Age game.