Anthem Developer Blog – One Month to Go

BioWare’s upcoming co-operative action-RPG Anthem should be going live in about a month, on February 22, 2019. And with that in mind, BioWare’s general manager Casey Hudson brings us this blog post where he looks back at the game’s six years of development and talks about its impending launch. Check it out:

Well folks, this is it! It was a little over 6 years ago that we first started working on Anthem, and we’re down to exactly one month left until launch.

Back in 2012 when we first conceived of Anthem (then codenamed DYLAN), we wanted to create a whole new fictional universe, full of BioWare quality story and character. We also wanted it to be an experience you could share with friends, and to have a story that doesn’t just come to an end, but takes place in a world where things are happening right now.

We knew there would be challenges. People are skeptical of the idea of story in an online game, and for good reason. Often, the nature of online multiplayer games tends to fight story agency and interesting character interactions. And, even in the best online games, it’s easy to lose interest or run out of things to do when your friends aren’t online.

We designed Anthem to address these design challenges by trying something new and different. With Anthem, we aim to integrate the fun of multiplayer missions with your friends, and single-player story agency and characters, into a connected narrative experience – set in a world designed to be always changing, and where anything is possible. The result is an intentionally unique structure which is fundamental to Anthem’s design and even the universe it’s set in.

Anthem will launch with a ton of content, including a substantial main story that introduces you to the world and its characters. But there’s still a missing ingredient that we haven’t been able to test Anthem with: you. So, over the next month as you start to have opportunities to try what we’ve created, I ask you to keep one thing in mind: The launch of Anthem is not the end – it’s the beginning of an ongoing story in which you are a critical element. If there’s something you want more of, we can build it. If something isn’t right, let us know. And the story itself will unfold over time based on how you play the game. Soon, we will reveal more about our plans for how we intend to support that ongoing stream of content and features.

But when can you play? We are just days away from the first of several opportunities you’ll have to jump into Anthem and try it for yourself:

• If you have pre-ordered or are an active EA Access subscriber, you’ll be able to participate in the VIP demo starting January 25.
• Then, on February 1, the open demo goes live and everyone will be able to spend the weekend playing Anthem.
• If you subscribe to Origin Access Premier you’ll be able to start playing the full game through Early Access on February 15. Or you can play the first 10 hours on the same day through the Play First Trial.
• And finally, our worldwide launch date is February 22!

I’ll be spending a lot of time in the world of Anthem myself. I hope to see you there!