Bioware’s Multiplayer Shooter ‘Anthem’ Has Officially Shut Down Almost Seven Years After Launch

BioWare’s live-service sci-fi shooter, Anthem, has shut down the last of its servers, closing the book on the critically panned title for good.

Video game publisher EA has officially turned off the last of multiplayer shooter Anthem‘s servers, rendering the game unplayable for good.

Players would take to the game for one final hurrah before the game was shut down for good, with several taking to Anthem‘s unofficial sub-reddit to say goodbye to the panned game.

It has been an honor, freelancers.
byu/Zephyr2209 inAnthemTheGame

“It has been an honour, freelancers” wrote one post from a user sharing a video of their in-game character flying around the game’s main world and battling its various enemies.

EA announced its intention to shut down servers last year and to remove the game from digital sales. The publisher would thank players for their “dedication, passion and support” and confirmed that no one would be able to play Anthem offline once servers shut off.

Anthem was originally released seven years ago by the once-belovedRPG developer BioWare. At launch, the game received severe negative reviews, earning a 59 critic score on Metacritic.

Before its launch, fans were cautiously optimistic for BioWare’s first foray into the live-service space. The company had made its name cutting its teeth on fresh IPs that would become household names, and fans hoped Anthem would be the next Dragon Age or Mass Effect from the team.

Unfortunately, this was not the case as fans would pan the game’s shallow endgame, glaring technical issues, a surface-level story that betrayed the reputation of the studio and poor progression systems.

On February 2021, it was confirmed that an expected overhaul of Anthem dubbed “Anthem 2.0” was cancelled by EA and BioWare. Fans had been anticipating the update, hoping it could turn things around like Final Fantasy XIV or No Man’s Sky; however, it was announced that the company had ceased all new development work on the game.

It’s a sad end to one of gaming’s most unfortunate cautionary tales, one that fails to be learned from. Just last year, PlayStation released its own hero-shooter, Concord. The game would similarly be panned at release and have its servers shut down just two weeks after its launch.

Just last month, former Apex Legends and Titanfall devs announced their very own multiplayer shooter, Highguard, as the final game revealed at the Game Awards. Viewers would immediately pan the title, dubbing it the next Concord ahead of its January 26 launch, prompting devs to fall silent.