Anthem quickly became one of the most anticipated games to watch for coming out of their announcement trailer at E3 2017. The game looked to be a combination of Destiny and Iron Man with Bioware at the helm of it all. Some gamers even started calling the Bioware RPG the “Destiny Killer”. A lot has changed since then.
Development Problems?
Back in March, one of the lead writers behind Anthem, Drew Karpyshyn left the company for the second time. Karpyshyn is best known for his work on the Mass Effect series. GM of Bioware Casey Hudson (shown above) did confirm that Karpyshyn finished his work on the project before leaving the company.
Story will always be an important part of every BioWare game. Drew has wrapped up his work on the project, but Anthem’s Lead Writers and their teams continue to do amazing work developing the world, story, and characters.
— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) March 11, 2018
Karpyshyn wasn’t the first developer to leave the project over the past year. In October 2017, Steven Gilmour announced, via his LinkedIn profile, that he has left Bioware. Gilmour was the lead animator behind Anthem and previously worked on projects like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Inquisition (no, he did not work on Mass Effect: Andromeda). For those of you who have played Andromeda, you know how important this departure was for the development of Anthem.
These departures, along with the unfortunate tragedy regarding the death of Anthem designer Corey Gaspur, could have hindered the project over the past year.
EA is All-in on Anthem
After the failure of Mass Effect: Andromeda, EA has reportedly “Doubled-Down on Anthem”. This report comes from Jason Schreier of Kotaku. Schreier said that:
“Even with both of BioWare’s studios all-in on Anthem, some developers have expressed anxieties, in large part because of 2017’s other events. First there was Mass Effect Andromeda, a high-profile failure that disappointed fans last spring and led to the closure of BioWare Montreal, as well as Mass Effect getting put on ice. Veteran members of the Anthem team were thrilled to finally unveil the game at E3 in June 2017, but a month later, BioWare studio head Aaryn Flynn departed, to be replaced by Casey Hudson. Both men are well-respected at the company, but this sort of top executive shuffling often leads to worry.
Then, in November 2017, widespread player anger over loot boxes and microtransactions in EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II shook up the entire video game industry. From what I’ve heard, the loot box controversy has led a number of big video game studios, including BioWare, to reexamine their plans for microtransactions in future games. Although Anthem’s microtransaction plans are still undecided (and, I hear, may only involve cosmetics), the outrage has left some developers on edge.”
There is so much to talk about regarding the Kotaku article. From its rocky start in pre-production to the pressure Bioware employees are feeling while developing this game, it is abundantly clear that EA is all-in on the “Destiny Killer”.
What Will We See at E3 2018?
Anthem will be attending E3 2018 under EA’s briefing Saturday, June 9th at 2:00 PM EST. As for what will be shown, EA and Bioware have teased a new cinematic trailer along with new gameplay during their EA Play event.
There is something waiting for us beyond the wall… https://t.co/J0lr4GQrYV pic.twitter.com/iFq4fJARsX
— Anthem (@anthemgame) June 1, 2018
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