Electronic Arts to Decide Fate of Anthem Game This Week

(Bloomberg) -- Electronic Arts Inc. will hold a meeting this week to determine whether it will continue trying to create a new version of the failed online game Anthem, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Anthem, a multiplayer game by the EA-owned developer BioWare, launched in February 2019 to poor reviews. In the following months, BioWare put together a small team to overhaul the game. Executive Producer Christian Dailey wrote three blog posts last year outlining some of the big changes planned. But in December, Dailey left the Anthem team as part of a BioWare management shakeup, leaving the project’s fate in question.

This week, EA executives will review the latest version of Anthem Next and decide whether to expand the team or sunset the project, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. The Anthem Next team includes about 30 people, BioWare said last year. People familiar with the project said it will need to expand to at least triple that in order to produce new content and continue attempting to overhaul the game. EA has not yet indicated whether it’s willing to commit that kind of budget to revive a maligned game.

A spokesman for EA said the company doesn’t comment on “rumor and speculation.”

Anthem Next includes major changes to the game’s core systems and user interface, the people said. It’s not clear if or when these changes will be implemented in the version that’s currently available to players.

In the video game industry, second chances aren’t unheard of. Games like No Man’s Sky and Final Fantasy XIV turned around rocky launches with consistent updates and patches. CD Projekt SA’s recently released role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 is hoping to follow a similar redemption story.

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