Anyone who has been waiting for the new version of Anthem has to be strong now. Anthem 2.0 or Anthem Next is no longer coming. The developers of Bioware had to announce the end of the project and now they want to focus on Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Anthem 2.0 will no longer work
Bioware says goodbye to Anthem 2.0: In an emotional one Blog post Christian Dailey, Studio Director and Head of the Anthem Team, announces the end of the planned new version. This decision was anything but easy. What was originally planned for Anthem Next, you can read here:
more on the subject
First look at the big 2.0 update for Anthem
The first approaches on how to improve role play and loot systems have also already been shown.
19:52
Anthem 2.0 is supposed to save the game – but how?
What is the reason for the end? Anthem struggled hard after its unsuccessful start in February 2019. The ratings of the international gaming press fell short of the expectations of the studio and publisher Electronic Arts. The current average is 59 points (via Metacritic). There is no official information on the number of players, but reports were already piling up in 2019, that matchmaking in An them
You can also read which gaming problems Anthem had to struggle with in the GameStar test for the loot shooter:
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Anthem im Test
Why Anthem Next failed
Bioware pushed many patches and updates and presented ambitious plans within a roadmap. But the fundamental problems with the heavily criticized loot system or the missing endgame could not be easily resolved. So Bioware decided to heavily revise the shooter and, similar to No Man’s Sky, launch a next version. While the attempt at the space shooter was crowned with success, Anthem was apparently irredeemably lost.
2020 thwarted the developers’ plans, not least because of the pandemic, as Christian Dailey explains in the blog:
“2020 was a year like no other, and while we at Bioware continue to make progress on all of our game projects, working from home has impacted our productivity during the pandemic, and not everything we did as a studio before COVID-19 can be achieved without undue stress for our teams. “
The effort was obviously simply too great and you couldn’t keep your own schedule in the home office.
How’s the “old” Anthem going? Christian Dailey further explains that the live service of the loot shooter will continue to exist. Nothing should change about it. Only the major revision is no longer coming.
In this video we clarify whether and for whom Anthem is worthwhile even without a major general overhaul:
10:15
A lot has already been repaired at Anthem – For whom is it worth returning?
Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Bioware is focused on upcoming projects
Bioware apologizes for disappointing fans of the gamewho had hoped for big improvements. The team itself is also disappointed, but developing games sometimes involves such difficult decisions.
The Studio Director concludes with the words:
“Game development is tough. Decisions like these are not easy. Going forward, we need to focus our efforts as a studio even more and strengthen the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles as we continue to deliver quality updates for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
To the Anthem Community: Thank you for your passion and creativity. Your feedback and suggestions will surely help set the direction for the team, and personally, your kindness and encouragement over the past year was very much needed. Please take care of yourself and be nice to each other. Strong alone, stronger together. ”
There were already teasers for Mass Effect 5 and Dragon Age 4. The Legendary Edition of the Mass Effect trilogy will also be released in May. We asked the developers your questions and received detailed answers:
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Mass Effect Remaster: More than a graphics update
What do you think about the end of Anthem Next? Do you think it’s a shame that the new version no longer appears?