Bad news for all players waiting to hear more information on Anthem Next, the title that was presented as a 2.0 version of the Anthem, created specifically to significantly improve the gaming experience and, as has already happened with how Final Fantasy XIV o No Man's Sky, try to fix the conditions and win over the public again. In fact, in the last few minutes BioWare ed Electronic Arts announced that the Anthem update has been canceled and the new game development has been abandoned.
Through a message shared on the official BioWare blog, Christian Dailey, executive producer of the title, has released a long statement regarding the development of this new version, to answer the doubts of fans who, especially in recent days, have begun to wonder what the future of the game would be. Here is the full statement:
In a spirit of transparency, we wanted to share that we have made the difficult decision to stop our new development work on Anthem (also known as Anthem NEXT). However, we will continue to keep Anthem's live service running as it exists today. Since the launch of Anthem, the team has worked hard to continually improve the game, releasing multiple updates that have brought with them a number of improvements and introduced new content. Towards the end of 2019, we expanded this effort and started working on a complete overhaul of the game, starting right from its foundation. During development we have provided updates that reveal some of the team's work through blog posts and conversations with users on social media and it has been an inspiration for us to see the reactions and positive feedback. I was incredibly proud of the work the team has done and excited to see and play each new build of the experience. 2020 was a year unlike any other, however, and as we continue to make progress on all of our BioWare gaming projects, working from home during the pandemic impacted our productivity and not everything we had planned. as a study before COVID-19 arrived. I know this will be disappointing for the Anthem player community who have been thrilled to see the improvements we've been working on. It is also disappointing for the team that was doing a brilliant job. And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the past two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career. Game development is difficult. Decisions like these aren't easy. Moving forward, we need to focus our efforts as a studio and strengthen upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles by continuing to deliver quality updates to Star Wars: The Old Republic. To the Anthem community, thank you for your passion and creativity. Your feedback and suggestions certainly help shape the team's leadership and, on a personal note, your kindness and encouragement were invaluable last year.
