Anthem Overhaul Officially Cancelled, BioWare Studio Director Announces
Anthem NEXT had been in development since late 2019 after the game received poor feedback at launch in April the same year. By Vineet Washington | Updated: 25 February 2021 12:46 IST
Anthem release was fraught with a lot of issues on PS4, Xbox One, Windows
Highlights
BioWare said VID-19 related challenges impacted its productivity
Anthem developers will now focus on Mass Effect and Dragon Age sequels
Anthem overhaul aka Anthem NEXT has been cancelled after being in development for about a year. BioWare Studio Director Christian Dailey shared through a blog post that challenges due to the COVID-19 outbreak have had an impact on productivity and derailed their plans that were set in motion before the pandemic. Anthem released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in February 2019 but it was fraught with a lot of issues, so much so that Sony started issuing refunds for the
Earlier this month, it was reported that EA executives were meeting with BioWare to discuss the future of Anthem and make a final decision on whether or not to continue with the Anthem 2.0/Anthem Next reboot. Now, we know the result of that meeting- Anthem is officially scrapped.
Last night, BioWare announced that it was ending development on Anthem, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down progress and now, things have reached a point where stressful crunch work would need to be done to get a new version of the game released. While development on Anthem is coming to an end, the game will continue to be playable in its current form with live-service features intact.
Is Bioware Offering a Refund After Cancelling Anthem?
BioWare has officially cancelled its ongoing work on Anthem NEXT.
Anthem. Following criticism of
Anthem‘s story, repetitive gameplay and lack of endgame content – not to mention some serious bugs – the developer had been in the process of significantly redesigning the game in a project known as
Anthem NEXT. However, BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey announced on Wednesday that work on the game will cease because of the impact of the pandemic: “Not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams.” For players who have patiently stuck with the game since launch, the question has turned to whether or not they can expect a refund.