The development of the ambitious MMO Anthem was definitively concluded in February 2021. The game was originally meant to be supported for over 10 years, but in reality, it lasted only a few months. Many MMO fans still hold a grudge against BioWare to this day. Now, the current Creative Director of BioWare, John Epier, talks about Anthem and what can be learned from the game’s failure.
What has BioWare learned from Anthem? In an interview with Edge magazine regarding BioWare’s new game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Epier says:
We are a studio that has always focused on deeply immersing ourselves in story and role-playing. I am proud of many things with Anthem – I was involved in this project for a year and a half. But at the end of the day, we developed a game that focused on something we didn’t necessarily master.
For me and for the team, the most important lesson was that you need to know what you are good at, and then focus on that. Don’t spread yourselves too thin. Don’t try to do a bunch of different things for which you don’t have the necessary expertise. Many people on this team came here to develop a story-driven single-player role-playing game.
The new Dragon Age is said to be a pure single-player role-playing game
What does he want to do better with Dragon Age? While they experimented with some ideas for Dragon Age, the game ultimately became what they wanted to make from the very beginning: a single-player role-playing game with a strong focus on the story – and that’s all it needs to be.
A somewhat annoying analysis from the perspective of an Anthem fan
How does this sound from an Anthem player’s perspective? As someone who enjoyed playing Anthem, it feels a bit insulting. Because the realization “Oh, we can’t actually do this” could have been recognized well before the release. Even during the turbulent development, BioWare knew that they were struggling with the MMO elements and needed to improve on them.
The promise was precisely to transfer the ability to create a world and tell stories, for which BioWare was known, into a new medium: the MMO.
They wanted to create a vibrant universe for players with BioWare quality that still offers MMO qualities like satisfying progression and long-term motivation. Just because a game has good storytelling does not exclude the presence of good MMO mechanics.
Team with MMORPG experience was already working on Anthem Next
It wasn’t just a fantasy or wishful thinking to want an MMO that combines the best of both worlds; it was quite plausible: After all, BioWare had a team in Texas that successfully developed the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic for years, and they were supposed to take over the further development of Anthem. They should have been more integrated into the actual development. And after the release, BioWare Texas was even supposed to completely overhaul Anthem and develop Anthem Next, with better MMO mechanics.
But ultimately, EA found it too expensive and deemed it no longer worthwhile and pulled the plug.
Did BioWare learn the right lessons from Anthem? From the perspective of an Anthem fan, the lesson from Anthem should have been:
- If we make a game that requires new skills, then we bring in new people who have those skills, and involve them in the development.
- Instead: If a new game requires skills that we don’t have, then we’d rather give up completely.
Even today, Anthem still has many fans who lament the failed MMO that offered so much untapped potential in their eyes, and for which there are still no real alternatives. Particularly, the gameplay loop of flying and shooting is appreciated by many: Players love Anthem, BioWare’s failed MMO, so much that it hurts them
