Anthem was supposed to be BioWare’s Destiny, but it died just 2 years after release. Now a developer talks about the shooter and says the team knew the game was not finished.
What is Anthem?
- Anthem is a shooter created by the Canadian developer studio BioWare and was released on February 22, 2019, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
- With Anthem, BioWare ventured into the successful concept of Destiny: brave heroes defend against monsters and dangers threatening humanity from a common outpost.
- Players assume armored battle suits and fight with sci-fi weapons in a shared open world against various threats of the loot shooter.
- Anthem initially wanted to deliver 10 years of content, but was discontinued after 2 years.
Developers were aware of the state of Anthem
What does the developer say now about Anthem? Ian Saterdalen is a game developer who worked for BioWare from September 2019 to March 2020. On Twitter, Saterdalen has now commented on the release of Anthem.
Saterdalen talks about the very short development time of Anthem, which according to him was just 15 months. He also states that the team knew the game was not finished.
We knew it was not finished because this game was literally developed in 15 months. That is outrageous for a game of this scope.
Ian Saterdalen via Twitter
In the comments of the post, Saterdalen also addresses some statements from various Twitter users.
One user even praises the team, stating that the condition of Anthem was very impressive for only 15 months of development time and asks how they managed it. Saterdalen responds that many in the team worked over 90 hours per week during the 15 months.
Another user believed that EA pressured the developers to meet the deadline, but Saterdalen sees it differently:
I don’t think EA is to blame for everything. A developer and a publisher should have a healthy relationship of trust and transparency. It’s a two-sided relationship that I think was unsatisfactory on both sides.
Ian Saterdalen via Twitter
What was the problem with Anthem? Shortly after the release of Anthem, it was clear that the game could not meet the expectations of many fans. The game system could not convince. On Metacritic, the loot shooter had a weak score of 59 at release.
A year after release, BioWare announced that they wanted to extensively revise Anthem. Subsequently, about 30 employees were to carry out a rework of the loot shooter. But in March 2021 came the big announcement: Anthem dies just 2 years after release.
Anthem is also a topic that is often discussed in the MeinMMO editorial team. In May 2022, Leya Jankowski and Schuhmann discussed in the MeinMMO podcast the slow death of the shooter and why the loss of Anthem is so sad for the entire gaming community:
Anthem should never have died – The tragic death of the great shooter from BioWare
