Anthem LAST

It's the final countdown

Woah, speak and you shall be heard, am I right? Honestly, I can't even recall the context with which I recently evoked the name of  the holy Anthem disaster, but right now it's returned to the news in a big way to answer that big question everyone has; what the heck's up with that game anyway? I mean seriously, it feels like we were in a whole other phase of existence when first that name cursed our airwaves, and I'm contemplating both what kept them quiet for so long and why it is we should stand to listen now. And as it turns out, I'm not the only one with such a feeling towards this game, nor are the legions of Bioware fans who are similarly curious, but all that is simply the billows before the hurricane, because I think the real question to be asked here is what should be done about Anthem. None of this about what EA might decide but totally irregardless of their decision, thoughts must be on where should this issue ultimately land; because I think that in solving this conundrum we'll have prepared ourselves for an almost identical conflict down the line.

But first, Anthem. Need a refresher? If you don't, sorry but I like doing intros. Anthem was Bioware's (of Kotor, Mass Effect and Dragon Age fame) first foray into a completely multiplayer game wherein everyone would play together to hunt for loot, complete story raids and grind in perpetuity whilst enrichening the studio on the backend through low-effort microtransactions. (The dream of any and all studios, it seems) It shook off the Bioware roots, of creating various acclaimed single player story driven RPG games, and branched out to new horizons for making a game inviting endless play, something that literally couldn't be further away from their bread and butter. (Even their single player RPGs weren't built for endless play the same way that Bethesda's were) So, as you can imagine, the game was a little bit of a mess at launch. Only, it was a bit more than a little mess; it was a lot mess. Buggy, incomplete, lacking in features, poorly optimized; pretty much the only thing the game had going for it was a decent core gameplay structure, but that was mostly nicked from 'Mass Effect Andromeda' so it's not like people couldn't experience it elsewhere. All and all, badtimes for Bioware.

Of course, then came the Schreier articles delving into the backwards work ethics and the way how the initial trailer was completely fake. (And not like the Cyberpunk 'completely Fake'; we're talking about a composite that was shoved together in order to appease some EA exec who thought all the world only likes the same games he does. Huh, kinda sounds like that Ubisoft Exec in hindsight. Wonder if they're related?) Bioware had apparently fluffed around with the Anthem project for years without any real progress until EA called them out on it and thus proceeded a truncated development period in which the absolute mess of a game we received was actually rather remarkable, considering there wasn't enough time to really make anything at all. The main takeaway, however, is that when you're pretentious enough to codename your game after Bob Dylan, (whilst making some odd claims that your game is going to be the 'Bob Dylan of gaming', whatever that means) you're probably overcompensating for something.

So the game bombed, super bombed, to the point where people were doing a Stadia and literally just counting the days until it was to be abandoned by the devs. I mean sure, there was some upcoming support coming in an update but- whoops, that update was a trainwreck too, better abandon it. But then something amazing happened. As it turns out, EA are apparently believers of second chances, as they allowed Bioware to commit to a full renewal of Anthem (which I'm guessing is a full remake at this point) called Anthem NEXT, due to reshape the very flawed foundation of that game. Could they manage it? Would Anthem become the juggernaut that all of 5 people thought it might be? Are Bioware truly not in the firing range for EA like they insist, or is Anthem NEXT their last chance to save their own hide like logic fuelled by precedent would denote?

Well I guess we're going to find out any day now because, according to a leak that absolutely was not supposed to make it to the public by EA's estimations, their fate is soon to be decided. In the two years since Anthem launched, armed with a team of just around thirty, it's unclear exactly what it is that they've all been up to over there. What with everything that's happened over the years with them losing their rally leader who announced NEXT, losing Hudson, the global pandemic, and all that nonsense; has any actual work been done? I can only imagine that they must have been laying out plans for what they would do if only EA got off their asses and funded the damn project, but who can say? Whatever it is, the results of their toils is soon to be presented before an EA tribunal for ultimate judgement, will the project be scrapped or will it receive the necessary funding; and I'm honestly not optimistic for Bioware here.

Firstly, this story involves an extended amount of development time wherein Bioware were operating without the prevue of EA making sure things were getting done, and we know Bioware's history with Anthem in that regard. Secondly, we should think about what they have worked on since then, because it's kind of looking like the Bioware hands might be full. They've announced the new Dragon Age (again), revealed a new mainline Mass Effect and a remaster of the first three, but not a word on Anthem. Makes one wonder if the thirty on the job were really working on Anthem or just treating that at their side gig. (I'm not saying, I'm just saying.) We may be looking at an eventuality where Bioware is forced to break yet another promise they made to their consumers, and cancel Anthem outright, bringing a neat end to that messy saga in a way we don't usually get too often in the gaming world. And as sad as that might be, is it perhaps for the best?

Now I don't want to throw shade on any of the Bioware staff (or at least, not any more than I already have) but they've really got to remember where their talents lie. Just as Bethesda are known for their single player content and floundered when presented to the online masses, Bioware is perhaps better off sticking to what they know and remastering their craft there. It's not as though they reached the peak of their RPG game and could not improve, there very well could still be a single player masterpiece waiting in Bioware's future, but the same cannot be said for their online ventures. They've just proven rather soundly how that world isn't even really in their wheelhouse to create for, either physically or mentally. (As in; a lot of their ideas were dumb and missed the point too.) But by that same merit I don't want to pour cold water on anyone trying something new and outside their established field of talents, so as you can see I'm of several minds right now.

I think this might be an important conversation to have amidst ourselves right now because of another recent addition to the whipping boy lineup- CDPR. Remember, Cyberpunk 2077 was announced to have some sort of seamless multiplayer mode years before the launch of the game, and that's still something we have to live with despite the mess of the base game. Whatever strengths that Cyberpunk might hold, most agree that the world and it's systems is not it, and given how that world is likely to be the focal point of Cyberpunk Online, one has to wonder whether or not that upcoming expansion is still a good idea. Perhaps it's better for single player developers to stick to what they know, or perhaps that's a callous undermining of everyone's abilities. As I said, this is ultimately quite the sticky conundrum with no clear solution. I say we see what EA has to say on things in the very near future.