BioWare Bets Everything On Anthem, 2019 Release Could Destroy The Beloved Developer

As the creators of some of the most beloved, story-driven video games ever produced, BioWare has a lot of fans. Some of its best works include the BioShock franchise and the original Mass Effect trilogy. Unfortunately, the disaster that was Mass Effect Andromeda has put BioWare in dangerous waters. It seems everything is now riding on the studio’s next title called Anthem, which was just pushed back to a 2019 release date.

In a recent investigative report by Jason Schreier at Kotaku, insiders revealed that BioWare is now doubling down on Anthem. The online, multiplayer, open-world title will reportedly determine the studio’s fate and failure could mean uncertainty for its future.

A troubling sign that the studio is now putting everything it has in developing Anthem is moving most of its talented staff members to work on the game. The company still has people working on Star Wars: The Old Republic and a new Dragon Age game, but none of those are going to matter of its flagship title ends up being a bust.

First announced during E3 2017, Anthem publicly had a release window of late 2018. However, an insider pointed out that this was not realistic in any way, and was beyond any scope of reality for the company.

In fact, considering all of the things that the launch will involve both before and after release, early 2019 is actually pushing it. After all, BioWare will still need to deal with the Beta, the EA Access, and the patches of potential bugs that could break the game. Everything was far too unstable.

As Forbes notes, the 2019 release window was obvious to anyone who knew anything about developing open-world, multiplayer games. However, the most alarming aspect of this news is that a failed game could destroy yet another beloved studio under the clawed wing of EA.