It's been a full year since 'Anthem' was released, and things haven't gotten any better. Its roadmap to recovery had long been scrapped, and its developer Bioware has remained silent since it was brought up. That is until a recent blog post from the studio reveals plans to revamp the sci-fi shooter that will go into effect later this year.

New year, new 'Anthem'

'Anthem's' reworking was held in obscurity since it was rumored back in November. It started when a source with Kotaku claimed Bioware was hard at work on an 'Anthem 2.0.' Now, Bioware's general manager Casey Hudson posted an update via a blog post that confirms the studio rebooting its development for a better build to be released sometime this year.

"Over the last year, the team has worked hard to improve stability, performance, and general quality of life while delivering three seasons of new content and features," Hudson wrote. "We have also heard your feedback that Anthem needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression, and a more fulfilling end game."

'Anthem' is a third-person, multiplayer-driven ”looter shooter that runs on EA's Frostbite 3 engine.“ In it, players don mechanized suits and team up for some combat and looting across an alien world. The game was released for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC on February 22, 2019, to critical savaging for its broken gameplay and reliance on micro-transactions.

An inevitable disaster

‘Anthem’ did not turn out to be the success story that both its developer and publisher needed it to be. It was meant to be a perpetually engaging title for many players and a passive investment for both companies. However, it inadvertently crashed and burned due to a lack of focus and shoddy development by the former.

In reality, ‘Anthem’ was practically doomed from the start as evident by its controversial developer Bioware following their previous disaster, 'Mass Effect: Andromeda.' The game had undergone a roller coaster of a development phase that lasted six years. While stuck in an oven, the development team was trapped in constant turmoil, struggling mostly with the very idea of what the final product was going to be.

When it finally came out, the cracks were quite visible on the surface. Ultimately, a multitude of game-breaking bugs and lackluster storytelling did it in. Not even the allure of loot could save Bioware's creation. In fact, this was the most off-putting aspect of the game. 'Anthem' was practically built to keep its most alluring loot tucked away behind paywalls, typical of "games with live services" these days. But given the vile reputation that publishers like EA have gained with this model, the title's decline in revenue and player numbers seemed fateful.

Hopefully, Bioware's efforts to redesign 'Anthem' from the ground end up paying off and that a full year without much proactive maintenance on the studios' part is forgiven by players.
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