Former BioWare Developer Challenges Notion That Anthem Shouldn’t Have Been Created

Anthem’s servers have been offline for a week now, marking a somber moment in BioWare’s journey. The downfall of this live-service looter shooter reportedly prompted EA to allow the studio to remove the multiplayer components from what would eventually become Dragon Age: The Veilguard, hinting at a potential return to the studio’s roots. However, as Anthem fades into obscurity, former BioWare producer Mark Darrah is challenging the idea that the game was a complete departure for the studio.

In a conversation with a YouTuber, Darrah delved into the rise and fall of Anthem. When asked if he wanted to clarify any misconceptions about the game, he noted that while many blame EA for pushing the historically single-player RPG studio into the realm of cooperative loot shooters, it wasn’t entirely their fault. He explained that, at the time, the idea of creating Anthem felt like a natural progression for a studio that had undergone many transformations, so he finds the argument that they shouldn’t have attempted it to be less convincing.

“My feeling is that BioWare has always been changing,” he stated. “By that logic, we should never have made Neverwinter Nights because we were a 2D RPG maker. We should never have made Mass Effect because we were known for tactical RPGs, not action RPGs. So I don’t think that argument holds much weight. Studios evolve, they experiment, and was Anthem too ambitious? Absolutely. But could you see that at the time? I’m not sure you could.”

Ideally, developers would be free to learn from missteps like Anthem without facing dire consequences, but reports suggest that its development caused significant internal turmoil at BioWare, from which they are still recovering. The company was downsized last year as a small team focuses on the next Mass Effect installment. It remains to be seen if this will be enough to steer the studio back on course after a challenging decade.