Bioware, once the celebrated developers for bringing Western RPGs into the limelight of mainstream gaming, has been struggling. The recent disappointment of Mass Effect Andromeda, while decent on its own, failed to meet expectations of the series and forced Bioware Montreal to scale down significantly. Its owners EA is also struggling last year in general, particularly them sparking the loot box fiasco of 2017.
A report by Kotaku, speaking to several sources, suggests that Bioware’s two remaining branches, Edmonton and Austin, are all hard at work on its new IP Anthem, revealed at last year’s E3. Anthem has been development since 2012, with Mass Effect lead Casey Hudson leading the project until he left for Microsoft in 2014. He has now since returned, now as the studio’s head.
Only small teams in Bioware are left to work on the still-running Star Wars The Old Republic MMORPG and the new Dragon Age game. Even Mark Darrah, the executive producer for the new Dragon Age, is also serving that role for Anthem, based on a recent tweet.
Thanks to the loot box fiasco of Star Wars Battlefront II, the developers are re-examining their micro-transactions plans. Seeing the current fan reception to Destiny 2, another live game in which Anthem share similarities, they are also currently engaging with fans of Anthem early, being as transparent as they can on Reddit.
As such, the Anthem may end up missing its expected 2018 launch for 2019, March 2019 being the last month in EA’s 2019 fiscal year.
It sounds like Anthem will be the Hail Mary pass for Bioware, and let’s hope it will succeed in some ways, they cannot afford another disappointment. EA has a history of not keeping unsuccessful developers for too long.
Source: Kotaku