Anthem was supposed to be something big: An action MMO where you could feel like Iron Man together with friends, shoot down enemies and loot. Now comes the final blow for the failed project: EA announces the shutdown of the servers for 2026.
When will the servers go offline? These will be shut down on January 12, 2026, as the publisher EA announces (Source: ea.com). Until then, Anthem will still be playable, but not afterwards.
Anthem was designed to be an online-only title so once the servers go offline, the game will no longer be playable.
Starting today, you can also no longer purchase premium currency for the in-game shop. However, you can spend what you have left until the final server shutdown. From August 15, 2025, Anthem will also be removed from the list of EA Play titles.
Here you can see a trailer for Anthem:
A lot of wasted potential after disappointing release
What happened to Anthem? The action MMO was released in a poor state: The core gameplay was fun, but the gameplay systems around it were not. The loot was especially criticized. The story, actually a strength of developer BioWare, fell short of expectations.
Shortly after the release, the developers abandoned all plans for new content and first worked on improving the game’s framework. The goal was Anthem 2.0, a sort of relaunch of the MMO. This was meant to improve everything and become BioWare’s own “No Man’s Sky” moment. But Anthem 2.0 was ultimately shelved as well.
The news that the servers of Anthem will now be completely shut down was received quite differently. Many didn’t even know that the servers were still up – others still have a heavy heart, as they actually liked the game. And sometimes this is mixed, as the reactions on Reddit show.
- “TIL the servers were still running. Too bad this wasn’t a No Man’s Sky, Cyberpunk 2077 sort of deal where they fixed it over time.. Super unfortunate, this game had tons of potential.” (Gardevoir_Best_Girl on Reddit)
- “Dammit. I’ve really enjoyed playing Anthem with my wife. It’s the best Iron Man simulator ever made.” (Transientmind on Reddit)
- “Damn shame about that game. I genuinely really like a lot of it like the gameplay, graphics and traversal. But it’s just so empty and repetitive. Here’s hoping it can inspire a better game.” (Macapta on Reddit)
The BioWare team thanks everyone for their dedication, passion, and support over the years, adding in an attached FAQ that the termination of Anthem will not lead to layoffs.
The timing of this announcement is unfortunate: The Europe-wide petition “Stop Killing Games” recently actually hit the 1 million signatures mark. If the measures demanded there come into effect, players might well be able to play Anthem forever. You can read more about it here: Initiative to save video games had little hope, YouTubers and Twitch streamers come to the rescue
