Developer BioWare's next ambitious project "Anthem" will have to wait, as the game's publisher, Electronic Arts (EA), compels the developers to improve the quality of the game.
This was after the disappointing reception for BioWare's last big AAA title, "Mass Effect: Andromeda" last year which became controversial due to how it seems to have been rushed and was nowhere near the quality of previous "Mass Effect" titles. Now, EA seems to be putting a lot of pressure on BioWare to make a strong comeback in the science-fiction (sci-fi) roleplaying game (RPG) genre in the form of "Anthem."
Such was "Andromeda's" repercussions that a restructuring of BioWare Montreal was even necessary to fix or mitigate the troubles which the game caused for the studio.
Beyond that, some unidentified sources also told Kotaku that the initial Fall 2018 release target for "Anthem" was just unrealistic. That said, the website also speculated that "Anthem" could not be delayed further past March 2019 since this is when EA's fiscal year ends.
Apparently, a lot depends on "Anthem," particularly BioWare's reputation and standing with EA and should the upcoming game become poorly received in the future like "Andromeda." The developer studio might head for the worst. This is why BioWare is now shifting their efforts toward "Anthem" despite having a fantasy RPG sequel to the "Dragon Age" franchise and a "Star Wars: The Old Republic" massively multiplayer online roleplaying (MMORPG) game to maintain.
This essentially transformed BioWare into a single-game development studio over the past few months to have every resource in the studio dedicated to "Anthem." BioWare also aims to avoid repeating the mistakes of multiplayer games such as "Destiny 2," which is now in hot water due to its increasingly disgruntled player base. This is because "Anthem" is also mainly a multiplayer game, and a lot of things can go wrong with the genre as recent reports have indicated for "Star Wars Battlefront II," which was also published by EA.
Regardless, "Anthem" will either make or break BioWare once it comes out on the rumored release year, 2019. So far, EA has refused to comment on the speculations, and the official release of "Anthem" still shows Fall 2018 on the website.
