Mass Effect: Andromeda truly changed the old status quo for BioWare. After years of successful development of beloved series, such as
Dragon Age and
Baldur's Gate, the studio had to face an unknown thread - losing the studio's reputation as a leader in the RPG genre, especially after Electronic Arts' decision to shut down Visceral Games after years of development on their
Star Wars project.
Anthem was presented for the first time at last year's E3 and as for now, is the biggest and most important project in the BioWare history. The teams in Edmonton and Austin are singularly focused on Anthem and most of other projects were put in a coma. According to Kotaku's three informants, the game won't be released this year and the developer has to do anything it can to launch the title before April 2019. EA doesn't want to hear about delaying the game any further than March 2019, when the company’s 2019 fiscal year comes to an end.
The stakes are high and the developers understand it very, very well, "Anthem, the studio’s first new franchise in eight years and EA’s first big stab at a Destiny-style persistent online world, feels different. To BioWare staff, the stakes feel higher than they ever have. As one developer told me, there’s a belief that if Anthem doesn’t live up to EA’s expectations, BioWare will look very different in the future, especially after the disappointment of Mass Effect Andromeda led to EA absorbing BioWare Montreal into the studio EA Motive," the report reads.
But what about the next Dragon Age? Apparently the game is code-named "Joplin" and was recently rebooted. This time, BioWare has to implement more "live" elements into the game, possibly meaning some unnecessary online features and more loot boxes. Even Mark Darrah, the executive producer on Dragon Age is currently working on Anthem, so it's probably for the best to not expect these games anytime soon. Hopefully, BioWare won't share the faith of Pandemic, Visceral Games, Bullfrog Productions and many, many others...
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