Bioware is still chasing that Anthem dream as it ditches Acts for seasonal updates

See all those stars in the sky, glittering in the vast cosmic distance and decorating the night with their brilliance? Just like Anthem and your dreams after you turn 30. EA and Bioware’s grand sandbox that would have mixed Iron Man gameplay with a vast cosmic saga fell flat on its face on arrival, with the following months painting an even grimmer picture for the beleaguered title.

While gameplay bugs were squashed, the fact that Anthem’s core gameplay hook became a tired and unappealing grind that saw players fall away in the following months. It hasn’t helped much either that Anthem’s planned roadmap has largely been tossed to the curb, with new content coming weeks if not months after it was promised.

One such slice of new gameplay was the recent Cataclysm event and while Bioware says that there was an alright “increase in player engagement,” the idea of second and third Acts that would introduce new content into Anthem’s sandbox is pretty much being binned. “We hear your concerns on core issues in Anthem and are acting on it. Those systems require a more thorough review and re-working versus quick fixes,” BioWare Head of Live Service Chad Robertson wrote in a developer blog.

We’ve got a team working on that now, and early results are promising. In order to address these long-range plans, we are moving away from the Acts structure for updates. Instead, we have additional seasonal updates planned for this year that we think players will enjoy. These events will deliver challenges and chases similar to what you’ve seen, and are built around some fun themes we’re bringing to the game.

As I’ve said previously, we want to be transparent with you that we know more work needs to be done to make Anthem better. We also want to ensure we’re backing up our words with a great game you can play.  So I don’t have any news today to share about the long-term changes we are bringing to Anthem. What I can say is that we will continue to engage with you, our community, through PTS when we can show you what is coming.

It’s the usual PR-approved chat about Bioware promising to double down on Anthem, listen to the community and make changes where necessary for a game that is currently struggling to keep its head above water while several other live service titles swim laps around it.

Last Updated: September 18, 2019