It’s no secret thatAnthemhad something of a troubled launch, but fans of the game placed all their hope in the elusiveAnthem 2.0. Waiting for any sort of news on this has been an adventure in and of itself, but now the project is officially canceled. This news comes directly from Christian Dailey, the head of theAnthemreboot project, so there’s no denying its legitimacy. In summary, Dailey explains that the team that was working on Anthem will now be dedicating its resources towards other things likeDragon Age,Mass Effect, andStar Wars: The Old Republic.
Anthemreleased on February 22nd of 2019, and it just recently celebrated its two-year anniversary. This occasion likely prompted both Bioware and EA to reevaluate its plans forAnthemand figure out what the best way forward was. In his statement, Dailey gives a little bit more insight on what went into the decision to cancelAnthem 2.0.
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In his message, Dailey gives two main reasons for why development onAnthem 2.0is no longer happening. The first reason likely won’t surprise anyone, as it relates back to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dailey says outright that Bioware’s plans for 2020 and beyond have been directly impacted by the pandemic and that it simply isn’t possible to do all the things it had intended to without putting undue stress on its workers. That last part is particularly sensible, asgamers have recently rallied against crunch cultureand the exploitation of video game developers.
Beyond this, Dailey also explains that Bioware as a team needs tolaser focus its efforts into creating the bestDragon AgeandMass Effectgames that it can. These titles are obviously more established among fans thanAnthemis, so it makes sense from a business perspective to take this approach. Interestingly, he also mentionsStar Wars: The Old Republic, reassuring fans that the online game will continue to receive quality updates and new content. To close out, Dailey explains that this is upsetting for him and the team that worked onAnthem 2.0as well, but says he is still proud of all the work they did.
Fans had beenspeculating about how much of a chanceAnthem 2.0really had, and now the answer to that is clear. Though this is certainly disappointing for fans of the game and those that have followed its development closely, it’s nice of Bioware to give those fans some closure by revealing that the project was cancelled instead of leaving fans guessing.
