BioWare’s online game Anthem, which suffered a disastrous launch in 2019, won’t be making a No Man’s Sky or Final Fantasy XIV-style comeback.
In an official blog post, BioWare executive producer Christian Dailey announced that new development work for the game, which had the moniker of Anthem NEXT, has stopped.
“2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams,” Dailey wrote.
Dailey added that BioWare will be focusing on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, as well as providing updates for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Prior to Anthem NEXT’s cancellation, the developers had been working to provide a “fundamental restructure” of the game, which currently has Metacritic scores in the 50s and 60s. BioWare had previously previewed its ideas to improve Javelin builds in October 2020, which included a new skill tree system and Artifact upgrades.
Dailey said that the development updates had been well-received by fans, so it’s a shame that we won’t see Anthem NEXT being realized. Anthem will be remain available “as it exists today”, however.
