Plenty of BioWare fans may not perk up until they hear new Dragon Age and Mass Effect details, but today there’s a spark of hope for fans who still want to see Anthem succeed. According to a new report, BioWare is working on a major overhaul of Anthem, referred to internally as either “Anthem 2.0” or “Anthem Next.”
At Kotaku, Jason Schreier reports that “dozens if not hundreds” of BioWare staffers are working on a plan to improve Anthem, across BioWare’s studios in both Edmonton, Albert, Canada and Austin, Texas. Currently, it’s not known whether Anthem will receive these planned changes on a rolling basis, or as a single expansion release a la Destiny: The Taken King or Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn.
“We spent a few months just tearing it down[…] and we’ve been rebuilding for another few months since,” a source tells Kotaku.
EA’s rumored efforts are reminiscent of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. MMO fans will recall that Final Fantasy 14 launched in extremely rough shape, but was ultimately rebuilt from the ground up into the outstanding game it is today. BioWare seems to want the same for Anthem. A spokesperson for Electronic Arts declined to comment on the matter to USgamer.
Anthem launched in a rough state, and the months since have seen reports of internal turmoil at BioWare, prominent departures from the development team, and changes to the post-launch support schedule that didn’t inspire much confidence in Anthem’s longevity.
In June, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the publisher would remain committed to Anthem. A month later, Anthem’s lead producer Ben Irving left BioWare shortly after the delayed launch of the Cataclysm update. Head of live service Chad Robertson announced a transitional to seasonal updates for Anthem in September. At the beginning of this month, Robertson also exited Bioware.
Anthem joined the vault for EA Access subscribers in mid-September, and was not among the live service games lauded in EA’s recent quarterly earnings report. In addition to Anthem, Bioware is working on Dragon Age 4 and, according to the new Kotaku report, a Mass Effect game is in the early stages of development at BioWare’s Edmonton studio.
