BioWare's 'Anthem' Delayed Until 2019 as Studio Shifts Focus on Game
BioWare looks to be focusing all their resources towards "Anthem," the open world game the company announced to be launching in 2018. Even then, "Anthem" will now be pushed back to 2019, according to reports, while a "Dragon Age" reboot has been reportedly started as a new project.
"Anthem" has been in development since 2012 and has seen a few changes at the upper levels of the project, since "Mass Effect" director Casey Hudson first left BioWare in 2014. The game has since been announced in E3 2017 and has marked a release window in 2018, but mounting pressure may have forced the company to reconsider, according to Kotaku.
Both BioWare studios in Edmonton and Austin are now working almost solely on "Anthem," even if it will be a year or more until it comes out. This means this 2018 will see the company mostly absent from the gaming scene, at least until "Anthem" comes out with marketing materials.
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There's a perceived pressure inside the company, according to sources, that BioWare is pinning all their hopes on "Anthem" being a success. "Anthem" will now launch in early 2019, while the dates for the early access and beta phases are still unclear as of now.
Given all the different launch phases that BioWare does for its games, a final launch could come about no earlier than March 2019, as Gamespot notes.
The next "Dragon Age" game has reportedly been rebooted, as well, and even the new game for a franchise as big as that looks to be a secondary priority for BioWare now, as it focuses everything on "Anthem." The public outcry over "Star Wars Battlefront 2" and EA in general means that the company is now banking on the new BioWare game to take it towards a new direction.
That could be why "Dragon Age" executive producer Mark Darrah is now pulling two jobs. He has confirmed on Twitter that he is now working as executive director for "Anthem" as well.
The video below is BioWare's "Anthem" teaser shown during E3 2017.
