Disappointingly, Electronic Arts and Bioware have announced the abrupt cease in development on "Anthem," though the change in plans won't affect the title's live service moving forward.

So much for 'Anthem 2.0'

The sad news came in an announcement written by the game's executive producer Christian Dailey. In it, he revealed that due to a combination of Covid-19 concerns and the desire to increase focus on other projects such as the next "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect" games, his team's priorities had ultimately shifted away from "Anthem."

Dailey empathized in his post that "working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity." He added that not everything he and his studio had planned pre-pandemic could be accomplished "without putting undue stress" on the teams.

"Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic."

'Anthem' was already doomed

"Anthem" is an open-world action-packed RPG featuring warriors sporting mech suits and advanced weaponry. What was initially shown seemed like an impressive change of pace for developer Bioware, best known for its "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age" titles.

Unfortunately, "Anthem" has been facing an uphill battle since it launched two years ago. It struggled out of the gate due to many hitches that included performance issues, missing features, and an over-dependent live servicing.

As a result, the RPG has been met with a barrage of panning from critics and players alike.

The developers have gone on record stating their desire to turn things around--going as far as to plan a relaunch for the game shortly. It seems those plans were to come to fruition sometime this year, according to sources. Unfortunately, as Dailey had put it, mounting challenges with development have caused those plans and more to capitulate unexpectedly.

'Anthem' wasn't the first

True to a fault, Bioware and other studios under EA have scrutinized select titles released during the past decade. The studios' previous disaster, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," suffered from even worst issues on launch that was enough to have its development process placed under a magnifying glass.

That's why "Anthem" had faced skepticism from its announcement leading up to its launch, and the same will undoubtedly apply to Bioware's future projects. The next "Mass Effect" especially will indeed be picked apart the moment its gameplay is revealed.
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