It’s official: BioWare’s online RPGAnthemis officially shutting down next year.Anthemwas introduced during the EA Play event at E3 way back in 2017, where it impressed with a trailer demonstrating its flying exosuit mechanics and dense, alien world visuals. However, afterAnthemwas launched, it largely failed to retain a player base due to a number of issues with gameplay and story.
According to the official website ofEA(Anthem’s publisher),Anthemwill be “sunsetting” on August 14, 2025, just under seven years after its initial release. Since it lacks an offline mode,Anthemwill be totally unplayable once multiplayer servers go down. While you play the game until then, it appears to have been removed from virtual storefronts, and will be taken down from EA Play on August 15. In-game purchases will also be restricted for the remainder of its service life.
Anthem’s Shutdown Ends A Huge Bioware Project
What To Expect From The End Of Anthem
SoAnthemonly has about half a year of gameplay left, but if you’ve already been playing, you can pick up right where you left off. You can still reinstallAnthemif you already own it, even if you’ve uninstalled it in the interim. However, new purchases are no longer possible, and any further purchases of in-game currency have already been halted. Any previously-purchased currency will still be available to spend until the servers go down.
EA has also assured fans that the impending shutdown has not affected staffing, andBioWare will not see any layoffs due toAnthem’s sunsetting. This comes after February’s news that much of theteam behindDragon Age: Inquisitionwas laid offafter that game’s lackluster critical and commercial performance.
An Anthem Shutdown Was Ultimately Inevitable
WhenAnthemwas first revealed,it actually looked pretty impressive. I remember being wooed by its graphics and the exosuit-flying gameplay, the concept of which many have aptlycompared toIron Man.
Unfortunately,Anthemdidn’t garner great reviews, with many noting its grindy, repetitive nature, persistent bugs, and long load times among its negative aspects. Although it sold just fine, player reception wasn’t much better. Many complained of the lack of a satisfying endgame; it was fun enough while you were engaging in combat, powering up your characters, and discovering the world for the first time, but it’d kind of fall apart after completing the campaign.
AlthoughBioWare did address many of these issues in post-launch updates, lack of content (especially in the endgame) was a persistent issue for the entirety ofAnthem’s entire service life. Many saw the writing on the wall after its 2.0 update, which was touted as a total refresh forAnthem, was canceled in 2021.
Abrupt live-service game shutdowns like this one have become all too common, most recently and most notably withConcordin October of 2024.Anthemlasted a lot longer, and, although it never really recovered from its initial poor reception, a lot of players got a good bit of enjoyment out of it. The most unfortunate aspect of it is that no new players will be able to discoverAnthem, in all its flawed glory, ever again.
