The Grabbit Den! The Anthem Twitter Discussion Thread

Anthem Update
blog.bioware.com/2021/02/24/anthem-update/
by Author -Christian Dailey - Posted onFebruary 24, 2021

Friends,

In the spirit of transparency and closure we wanted to share that we’ve made the difficult decision to stop our new development work on Anthem (aka Anthem NEXT). We will, however, continue to keep the Anthem live service running as it exists today.

Since Anthem’s launch, the team has been working hard to continually improve the game, releasing multiple updates that brought with them a variety of improvements and introduced new content to play. Towards the end of 2019 we expanded on that effort and started working on a more fundamental restructure of the game.

During the development we’ve provided updates revealing some of the team’s work through blog posts and conversations with you on social media and it’s been inspiring for us to see the positive reactions and feedback. I’ve been incredibly proud of the work the team has been doing, and excited to see and play each new build of the experience.

2020 was a year unlike any other however and while we continue to make progress against all our game projects at BioWare, working from home during the pandemic has had an impact on our productivity and not everything we had planned as a studio before COVID-19 can be accomplished without putting undue stress on our teams.

I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we’ve been working on. It’s also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.

Game development is hard. Decisions like these are not easy. Moving forward, we need to laser focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, and Mass Effect titles while continuing to provide quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

To the Anthem community, thank you for your passion and creativity. Your feedback and suggestions most certainly help shape the team’s direction, and on a personal note, your kindness and encouragement were much needed last year.

Please stay safe and be kind to each other. Strong alone, stronger together.

Christian

Fuck DA4 and ME5!

Andy McNamara @therealandymc (Director of Comms Strategy at Electronic Arts)
I wasn’t at EA when Anthem launched or part of any planning for NEXT, but I was here for many discussions leading to this moment. This stuff isn’t as easy as people think. Everyone involved with the game, including those in leadership, were concerned about players & the game.

I see people ripping BioWare for this, and I know I can’t change that, but covid has been a global challenge and these type of decisions aren’t easy for them. Anyway, less hate. More hope. Folded hands I am saddened about Anthem but the teams are hard at work on some amazing stuff.

Anthem Development Ceases, BioWare to Focus on Dragon Age, Mass Effect
www.ign.com/articles/anthem-development-ceases-bioware-to-focus-on-dragon-age-mass-effect

EA chief studios officer Laura Miele says game was a 'creative risk" that taught the company a lot.

In an exclusive interview with IGN, EA chief studios officer Laura Miele offered her thoughts on the shuttering of Anthem development, contrasting the decisions EA had made in regards to the game's overhaul with those it made on Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Battlefront 2 was successfully overhauled post-launch based on community feedback, if not perhaps as dramatically as Anthem was planned to be.

"What’s really important about Battlefront 2 is we said we were going to do something," Miele explained. "We made a commitment to players and we needed to act on what we said we would do, so our teams are clear, if we publicly say we’re going to do something we must deliver. Creating new content for games can also come to a natural conclusion for various reasons and when that happens we try to be as transparent as we can with the community and explain why."

Miele then pointed to Battlefront 2's community post-launch as an example, saying that even though the game's community had asked for more post-launch content beyond what DICE was going to deliver, the studios were keeping that feedback in mind for future Star Wars games.

In contrast, while Anthem also had a community interested in its overhaul, Miele says that ultimately the best decision based on the resources BioWare has at their disposal was to focus development on its other games instead.

"We’ve believed in Anthem every step of the way, we’ve invested in this game for close to a decade and we’re proud of the work the team has done," Miele said. "Starting with the game’s launch two years ago, the team at BioWare has listened to player feedback and brought updates and improvements to the game.

"However, 2020 and 2021 are unprecedented years when it comes to game development, so we must prioritize both the player experience and what’s best for the people working on these games. We want to make sure BioWare is able to focus on making the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games the best they can be, while also continuing to provide quality updates to [Star Wars: The Old Republic]. That’s ultimately the best way we can be in service to our players, focusing on these fan favorites and delivering on the communities’ expectations.

"Anthem was a creative risk and its challenges have taught us a lot about game design and even how we can improve our development process. This not only benefits developers, but players as well."

Do you have any internal knowledge that you are so confidently throwing the date September 2019 as the date they've abandoned the game? I'd like to point out that the pandemic outbreak began not long after. 

Pandemic happened  It was too significant of a global event to just chuck most of it on the failure of Cataclysm - if it was so, they'd inform about decision to stop working on Anthem Next much earlier, but they didn't.

David Mergele @elegrem
Last day working on Anthem today. Been on this project since mid 2017. Cheers to all my amazing teammates I've had, lost, and gained. Onto the next project at BioWare. #StrongerTogether

Anthem @anthemgame
Maintenance has concluded. Thank you for your patience.

In this 2019 GDC talk, BioWare's David Hoang and Daniel Nordlander the process of creating some of the unique traversal system of Anthem.

In this 2019 GDC session, BioWare's Ben Cloward shows off the shaders created for Anthem and demonstrates how shaders enabled the art team to create a wide variety of environments, weather conditions, and materials and solve many of the challenges faced when creating a large, dynamic world.

I was just given a friendly heads-up that after June 12, EA will be removing game extras from their servers such as wallpapers, soundtracks, and art books for a number of games, including (but not limited to):

Anthem
Dragon Age Origins
Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age Inquisition
Jade Empire Special Edition
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect Andromeda

Link for the full list: codelist.biz/2022/05/31/ea-announces-the-removal-of-digital-content-from-all-these-games/

I don't know if they will be available elsewhere after that date, but I think it's a good idea to d/l them and save them off somewhere (if you haven't already).