BioWare's 'Anthem' Set For 2019 Release; EA Maintains There's No Issues in Development
It was recently confirmed that BioWare's next intellectual property release, "Anthem," will be getting a 2019 launch date. However, publisher Electronic Arts has denied earlier reports that the release date change was caused by a delay in the game's development.
In a statement provided to Wall Street Journal's Sarah E. Needleman, EA confirmed that it had moved the release of "Anthem" to early 2019 from its original fall 2018 launch date.
About a week before EA's confirmation, Kotaku reported that at least three sources had told them about the release date being moved to early 2019. The report added that the fall 2018 timeline was "never realistic," even though it was what was announced during the Electronic Entertainment Expo last July.
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The same report pointed to issues with the game's development process that ultimately delayed the game's release.
However, EA disputed Kotaku's previous report and said the adjustment in "Anthem's" release timetable was due to its plan of releasing a new "Battlefield" game in October. EA also said that they deemed that a new IP like "Anthem" was likely to get more attention when launched during a "quieter quarter."
Reacting to Kotaku's report, EA finance chief officer Blake Jorgensen told Wall Street Journal: "It's not a delay. People are trying to create a story."
Meanwhile, in EA's Q3 2018 earnings call, the company CEO Andrew Wilson also addressed reports surrounding the release of "Anthem," saying (via Seeking Alpha): "The first thing about Anthem is regardless of kind of how it's being portrayed, we are not looking at that as a delay in the game. We've chosen to launch Anthem in Q4 and the date is really determined by portfolio of balancing consideration not for product readiness reasons."
"And when you think about Anthem as a brand new IP, we also believe it make sense to give it its own launch window so that we can give us a focus and attention that it deserve and give it some free air," Wilson added.
BioWare and EA had been building the excitement around "Anthem" since it was officially announced in the company's media event during E3 2017. The title has been advertised as an online multiplayer action-adventure and not a role-playing game, unlike BioWare's other popular IPs such as the "Mass Effect" franchise.
