The release date of the SF shooter Anthem has been postponed, but it is not officially delayed. How EA justifies this is quite an art, according to our author Schuhmann.
That’s quite an achievement: EA postpones a launch by half a year but claims it is not a delay.
While acting exactly as an insider report predicted a few weeks ago, they deny this insider report and say, “Everything is going according to plan.”
What’s going on? Anthem and the release in autumn 2018
At E3 2017, BioWare finally presented Anthem, EA’s answer to games-as-a-service shooters like Destiny, The Division, or Warframe.
Back then at E3, it was stated: “The launch of Anthem is planned for autumn 2018” – so for sometime between September and December 2018, just in time for grandma to place it under the Christmas tree for her favorite.
At that time, observers noted: “That’s quite early for a game that we’re hearing about for the first time now.” Also, in the following months, there was practically nothing from Anthem. No developer blogs, no interviews, no major news.
Nearly everyone assumed a postponement and discussed it extensively. Hardly anyone expected that Anthem would actually be released in 2018.
Insider report says: Release in 2018 was never realistic
In a Kotaku article, which was based on sources from the studio BioWare, these assumptions were confirmed: “The release date of autumn 2018 was never realistic,” it stated.
However, EA insisted that Anthem should be released at the latest in spring 2019, as the fiscal year ends then. It’s important for investors that something good comes in the books.
At Kotaku, it sounded like a “planned delay” that did not result from significant development difficulties. Rather, the source stated: “The date was never realistic.” It was already clear at E3 2017 that autumn 2018 would not happen.
Later date to make space for Battlefield
EA did not comment on this report. Now, a week later, the CFO spoke with a journalist from the Wall Street Journal. The EA representative said that they want to release Anthem early in 2019 and not in autumn anymore. However, this is not due to problems in development, but simply because they want to release a new Battlefield in October 2018, and that should take priority.
People are trying to create a story out of this.
Interesting: In the Kotaku report, there was not even a direct mention of delays in development, instead it was stated: The 2018 date was NEVER realistic. Even with the denial, no one addresses this.
EA also wants us to believe the following:
- Anthem is actually already almost finished and the development is going as planned. But EA has decided to wait half a year longer with the practically finished Anthem because they want to release a new Battlefield in October.
While Kotaku’s version is:
- Anthem was planned from the beginning for spring 2019.
If you believe that, EA probably only mentioned an earlier date at E3 to make the game sound more interesting and to provide a reason for presenting it big in 2017, while it should actually have been presented a year later.
EA will admit neither a delay nor problems
Strange situation. What is the explanation?
After the direct competitor of Anthem, Destiny 2, apparently was released too soon and unfinished after a reboot, EA wants to:
- Not give the impression that they are just “early” releasing to remain within the fiscal year,
- Nor do they want to give the impression that there are difficulties in development.
So they act as if they could actually release Anthem in autumn, but they don’t, to make room for Battlefield. However, this has nothing to do with Anthem itself.
In the world of EA, Anthem comes later, but there is no delay.
Anthem belongs to the top games of 2018, well … 2019:
