This is the Anthem, throw all your hands up
We haven’t heard much of anything about BioWare’s upcoming Anthem since its reveal at E3, but it seems like the expected launch window of “Fall 2018” isn’t going to happen. According to a report by Kotaku, three people closely tied to the project have stated that the game will not be making a 2018 release date. One person goes so far as to say the announced date was “never realistic,” though nothing further is mentioned.
Also according to this report, EA won’t allow BioWare to delay the game beyond March 2019, which is the end of the fiscal calendar for the company. So if fall is out, then the game is definitely coming out in 2019, at least. I suppose this would be an attempt to keep the game in the public conscious before it becomes old hat, but that time crunch sounds like hell.
The rest of the report goes over how EA might not be as trusting of BioWare after the relative failure of Mass Effect: Andromeda and how recent controversies with Battlefront II and Destiny 2 are weighing down on the project. Everything is looking like if Anthem flops, BioWare will be finished. BioWare seems to have learned from the mistakes of others, so they are pledging to be more open about the design process going forward.
While I may not have been as receptive to the company’s more recent output, I wouldn’t want to see BioWare close down. They’ve created some of the best Western RPGs ever and losing that kind of talent would just sting. It would also continue to paint EA as the destroyer of studios, which is something they really can’t afford to look like moving forward. Hopefully everything works out and Anthem can be the Destiny we’ve always imagined.
