BioWare's much maligned sci-fi looter-shooter Anthem might be on its way out, but not if the fans have anything to say about it, and they've been joined by countless communities who have lost their games to the annals of time.
Anthem Next was announced in 2020, and the assurance was that it would redo and revamp a lot of the core cogs of the Anthem experience to "bring out [its] full potential." Around 30 people were assigned to Anthem Next, and BioWare stated that the fans would be in the loop with any and every update, as they are the beating heart of Anthem. "I am so proud of the work the team has put into this game, and at the same time there's so much more that we-and you-would have wanted from it," said general manager Casey Hudson, who has since left the studio.
Yet, it transpired that publisher Electronic Arts is on the fence about the future of Anthem. According to a report from Bloomberg, the funds required to effectively hone and polish the game into a brand new form that makes the most of its original parts and the lessons learned is looking pretty pricey. With Dragon Age 4, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and Mass Effect 5 in the pipeline, it would be rational to see Electronic Arts shelve Anthem Next in favour of these three shoo-ins from BioWare. However, this would be a pretty poor showing from the companies. Nothing new has been heard about Anthem Next since May 2020, and key players like studio director Christian Dailey have disappeared, casting the status of the fledgling project into shadow.
The community believes in what Anthem could be, and the subreddit has been flooded with messages championing the hashtag, "#IBelieveInAnthem." What is stunning though, is that a lot of these posts are coming from players of other games. "The heroes over at Gigantic come to send their support! While our game might be dead, we don't want to see another game with rich lore and vibrant world be lost to the ages, so #IBelieveInAnthem," said SkrillRKnight, attaching a screenshot of the colourful brawler Gigantic, which was shut down only one year after launch.
Advert
Another Redditor roleplayed as G-Man from Half-Life, rallying Anthem players towards their goal. Games like Crucible from Amazon Game Studios, Paragon from Epic Games, Team Fortress 2 from Valve, and Bleeding Edge from Ninja Theory are mentioned, and players are redirecting optimism into the subreddit from those titles which were eventually abandoned. Oh, and there's this edited clip of The Matrix Reloaded as another show of solidarity.
The report from Bloomberg said that the team working on Anthem Next has seen the "#IBelieveInAnthem" trend, and it's lifting their spirits while the discussions over its future continue. We'll let you know what happens with Anthem, but for now, its community is getting by with a little help from its friends.