Anthem NEXT Update Canceled Due to COVID-19 Complications

Bioware said it will cease new development work on new content for Anthem, including the Anthem NEXT update. BioWare Austin Executive Producer Christian Dailey went over details in a BioWare blog post. He noted that the current version of the game will remain live.

Dailey claimed that the team was devoted to improving Anthem and work began on a “more fundamental restructure of the game” in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic that began early 2020 complicated these efforts, as working from home impacted productivity. Continuing to work on all the plans that materialized ahead of the pandemic would put, “…undue stress on our teams.”

BioWare announced the Anthem NEXT update back in February 2020. Dailey was placed in charge of the update, which was going to improve gameplay, progression systems, and elements. However, Dailey was later moved from working on Anthem to Dragon Age 4 development when BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson and former Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah, left the studio.

Dailey went on to say that the studio will “laser focus” on upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles going forward. BioWare will also continue to provide updates for the studio’s MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

BioWare’s next release will be the Mass Effect Legendary Edition which releases on May 14, 2021 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The studio is currently talking to modders about providing support for existing mods for the Legendary Edition’s PC release.

em>Anthem is immediately available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.