Well, so much for the ‘danger’ of Anthem’s cancellation that I reported. After video game companies and fans-alike poured their hearts out in support of BioWare, EA has canceled Anthem 2.0. The game suffered problems at launch and beyond, so EA put a team on the game to overhaul it. Unfortunately, a host of terrible circumstances weighed the team down. What hurt most was the team meant to oversee the overhaul was a skeleton crew, nowhere near enough to turn the game around. The universe brings balance, however! Due to Anthem’s failure, BioWare is cutting multiplayer from Dragon Age 4.

Here is the cancellation update from BioWare’s Christian Dailey, and the Twitter announcement:

An update on Anthem from Christian Dailey: https://t.co/twmWXAXj3B

— BioWare (@bioware) February 24, 2021

It was a bad sign when Anthem 2.0/NEXT developers were mostly silent about the game’s progress. BioWare did post on their blog here and there, but the news disappointed gamers more often than not. Some announcements were more substantial than others, but none made us confident that Anthem would make a complete turn-around. Between a lack of content and vision before release and a missing all-hands-on-deck approach, Anthem was a doomed game from the start. EA will continue to support Anthem servers, so fans may still play.

However, BioWare introduced some excellent mechanics that I hope they don’t erase. The flight of the mechanical suits and the combat was nothing short of exhilarating. Rather than forget what could have made the game great, it’s best to focus on the backbone of what made it terrible – the live service model that keeps trying to gain a foothold in the industry. It looks like BioWare, at least, is coming to terms with the risk of live service games.

Dragon Age 4’s Salvation!

Anthem’s downfall is Dragon Age 4’s time to shine! After Anthem fell apart and EA subsequently canceled Anthem Next, gamers received fantastic news! EA is allowing BioWare to strip away every single multiplayer component from Dragon Age 4. Now, we no longer have to worry about the state of the game. When EA first talked about DA4 adopted live service elements, fans were ready to riot! 

Related Post: The new Dragon Age is still happening!

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has a hand in Dragon Age 4’s salvation. The game showed EA that single-player games still have a place in the industry. Gamers have been trying to tell EA this for years. Thank goodness they opened their eyes to the prospect before another beloved franchise experienced a bitter end.

Studios chief Lara Miele told IGN that EA is listening to what fans want, “which resulted in us green lighting Skate, College Football, Command & Conquer and additional content for Battlefront II.” I’m still of the mindset that EA is listening to the money, however. They watched service games kill franchises and lose money, and they’re not ready to see their wallet hurt more than it already does. Yet, I’m optimistic. EA is making moves, and as long as those shifts in priorities benefit gamers, I can’t complain much.