EA has been pretty open and upfront about
the failure of Anthem to meet expectations, but the company has maintained its commitment to the shared-world shooter. In June, EA CEO Andrew Wilson suggested
the Anthem IP will even be around for generations to come. And now, thanks to a report from Kotaku, we have an idea as to how that may look.
According to sources familiar with the game, EA is planning to completely overhaul
Anthem. It sounds like these plans are still early in discussion, as EA is reportedly still figuring out how to distribute what is being referred to as "Anthem 2.0" or "Anthem Next." All distribution options still seem to be on the table, including releasing it as a major update, multiple smaller updates over a period of time, a massive expansion like
Desitny's The Taken King, or even a brand new game.
Some of
Anthem's biggest systems — mission structure, loot, and even the world itself — are said to be underoing drastic changes, though details are still hazy. There's also mention of overhauling the social aspects of the game, difficulty, and progression system.
One specific area of focus seems to be on how the player experiences missions.
“We’re also looking at breaking up the need to go back to [Fort Tarsis] after every mission,” said one of Kotaku's sources,
“and what a mission technically is. That was always a weird disconnect. [We’re] trying to integrate the disparate parts of the game together.”
A second source told the site that they are still doing
"lots of testing things out and experimentation but still nothing concrete.”
Anthem launched in February of this year and was initially plagued by numerous bugs. Since then, the mechanics and game systems themselves have proven to be unfavorable among players. While BioWare has released numerous updates throughout the year to address these issues and player feedback, it's clear that
Anthem is a failed product right now. Hopefully, this complete rehaul breathes some life back into what initially looked like a promising franchise.