It’s no secret thatAnthemhas a rough launch. Practically becoming the poster child for a failed game launch, it quickly became one of themost panned BioWare games in the company’s history, second only to a mobile game.
Shortly after release, it was revealed that a lot aboutAnthemwasn’t really put together until its E3 2017 trailer, which was largely faked.Development onAnthemdidn’t really begin until the last 18 months before its launch, with the last portions of that being rushed. The plan since then, it seems, was to attempt to turn the game around by rebooting it, which some have calledAnthem NextorAnthem 2.0. However, development on that has only been worked on by a 30-man team, and recent silence around it has been concerning.
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A new report from Bloomberg now indicates that the fate ofAnthemwill soon be decided. EA will be holding a meeting some time this week (the week of February 8) on whether it will continue development on revampingAnthemor effectively cancel it. Bloomberg cites three anonymous people familiar with the matter.
While some of the changes forAnthem Next have been revealed, there’s still not much known about the project. Executive Producer Christian Daily only touched on this a few times last year, and this was beforeDailey moved over toDragon Age 4. It’s been nothing but silence since.
While Dailey moving from one project to the next isn’t a death knell, thestate ofAnthem Nextcould be. Again, there’s not much known, but EA will reportedly be making its decision by looking at the latest version of the game. It seems the specific choice will be whether to invest and expand the 30-man team for the project or abandon it altogether. According to Bloomberg’s source, continued work onAnthem Nextwill need to at least triple the size of that team in order to make new content and continue overhauling mechanics.
From the publisher’s perspective, it’s hard to say which way it may lean withAnthem.There’s a lot of factors involved, including budget in continuing to work on a badly-received game, and an EA Spokesman reportedly declined to comment on the matter. Perhaps more uncertain is when, or whether or not, the results of this meeting will be announced. With many questioningAnthem 2.0’s future, it seems this meeting may be the one to put the final nail in that coffin or to give the project new hope, but communication on that matter may be a whole other story.
Anthemis currently available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
