On January 12, 2026, it will be over: The Anthem servers will be shut down. MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya talks about her frustration and wasted potential.
The feeling that Anthem gave me, I have never recaptured.
When I soared through the skies in my frog green Javelin, like Iron Man, throwing a venom bomb at my enemies’ feet, diving down directly, and giving them a powerful kick one by one to wipe out entire enemy groups – man, that simply felt indescribably good.
The flying with the suits makes Anthem unique to this day. Every little maneuver through tunnels with shiny stones, past musty ruins and far over sparkling water can be executed so precisely that even a non-violent outing through the open world was an experience in itself.
Yes, Anthem was truly not perfect. Fundamental systems like the loot system were simply poor and did not feel rewarding. Raids quickly became monotonous. An endgame? Non-existent.
And yet I have been mentally unable to let go of BioWare’s loot shooter for seven years now. There is still so much potential in this game. Anthem could have become one of the most relevant service games of all time.
However: On January 12, 2026, the servers will be shut down forever.
A shame, I say.
Anthem represented a change that many did not like
We have to turn back the clock and take a trip to 2019. In that year, everyone wanted to be like the colorful battle royale shooter Fortnite.
2019 was the year Fortnite cemented its status from “hype” to a fixed cultural institution and finally established the “games as a service” (GaaS) model as the industry standard. The battle pass became the norm. Fortnite became more than just a game – it became a living platform with event caractère that attracted the masses. We remember the “black hole event“: In October 2019, Fortnite “ended” spectacularly. The entire map was sucked into a black hole, and the game was offline for almost two days. Millions of people worldwide stared at a black screen.
MMORPGs had such online dynamics long before, but are more complex and expensive to develop.
2019 also marked the year of an identity crisis for many studios. “How can we be more like Fortnite?” seemed to be the driving force. Large, established single-player studios turned to service games. Bethesda released Fallout 76 – praised today, ridiculed and mocked back then. Ubisoft tried to force almost every franchise into a service model. At that time, this was particularly evident with Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which also flopped.
And BioWare, known for epic single-player RPGs like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, made Anthem.
From a publisher’s perspective, this was understandable: If you succeed in this ecosystem, a steady cash flow follows. A single-player game like The Witcher or God of War sells well in the first months but hardly generates any more revenue afterward. A service game generates income over the years through battle passes and microtransactions, which was and still is attractive for investors of large publishers (EA, Bethesda/Zenimax, Ubisoft).
This change was painful for many studios and teams, and some did not manage to adapt due to a lack of time, expertise, and resources.
And yet: Anthem should have never died
Back to the year 2026.
In the meantime, games like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 have shown that strong single-player titles are not dead and are still incredibly lucrative. Meanwhile, service games like Arc Raiders or even Fortnite continue to achieve great success. Because yes, both models can wonderfully coexist.
Just recently, the former lead developer of the loot shooter explained what Anthem really failed at from his perspective. Here, the blame is mainly placed on poor management. Other projects like Dragon Age: Inquisition tied up resources that were then lacking for Anthem. For a long time, the team was not even clear what the identity of the loot shooter should be and what they were actually developing toward.
That was hard to see from the outside at the time.
And to this day, I wonder: What would have happened if Anthem had been given a fair chance to evolve and grow?
Because especially with service games, it is not uncommon to have a disastrous launch. In Final Fantasy XIV, the servers had to be completely shut down and the game nearly relaunched. ESO brought community experts into the studio to repair the game in its early phase. The today-celebrated Warframe was also on the brink of extinction, as fair service systems had to be learned first. The list is long.
Anthem still has something that many studios long for: a damn passionate community that still mourns the game to this day. I surely do.
Anthem offers a perfect power fantasy that feels like the best Iron Man simulation of all time. The massive, vertical combat feels so powerful. And the story was deeper and more developed for a loot shooter than with most genre representatives.
I am convinced: With a bit of love, patience, and more resources, the fundamental problems with the loot system could have been fixed, and a proper endgame could have been built with expansions. The community would have stuck with it – to this day.
The memory of Anthem will always remain lovingly positive for me. But it is also a stain on the gaming industry – for all the wrong reasons.
