As planned, Anthem will continue its development by BioWare’s live team in Austin after launch. However, the announcement that the lead developers are stepping away from Anthem to focus on the next Dragon Age has raised concerns among players.
Live team takes care of Anthem: BioWare Edmonton was primarily responsible for the development of Anthem, but was supported by the studio in Austin.
BioWare Austin is responsible for, among other things, Star Wars: The Old Republic and has also contributed to the DLCs for Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
After the launch of Anthem, the game will be fully handed over to BioWare Austin. The studio will take over the live service and thus continue to shape the future of Anthem.
This was always planned so that BioWare Edmonton could focus directly on the next project after the launch of Anthem – as indicated by the insider report from Kotaku.
Players are concerned: Some players were worried that the lead figures of Anthem would now turn away from the game and work on new titles. Several US media outlets also immediately picked up on the topic.
The executive producer Mark Darrah and the lead producer Michael Gamble, both from BioWare Edmonton, are said to no longer be involved in the work on Anthem and instead focus on the next Dragon Age.
The game director Jonathan Warner, also from Edmonton, is still listed under the Anthem team but is taking a leave of absence due to a family health issue.
The reins of Anthem have been taken over after launch by the lead producer Ben Irving and the head of live service Chad Robertson, both based in Austin.
This is what BioWare says: The officials from BioWare quickly addressed the topic. Mike Gamble stated on Twitter that there were many (false) speculations about the handover of Anthem to BioWare Austin. However, the studio’s commitment to Anthem has not changed.
The head of live service Chad Robertson added that the team is 100% committed to Anthem and is excited to show players the new content currently being worked on.
However, they also want to ensure that they do not overpromise. Therefore, they will only talk about upcoming things once they are almost completed.
BioWare is currently working on improving some criticisms of Anthem, even though they had to postpone many features of the roadmap:
