BioWare has shared its future plans for beleaguered multiplayer shooter Anthem, confirming it’s currently in the throes of a “longer-term redesign” that will ultimately deliver a “substantial reinvention” of the core Anthem experience.
Word of a major overhaul for Anthem first surfaced last November, when Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported that plans to radically rework the troubled shooter – into a so-called “Anthem Next” or “Anthem 2.0” – had been on the cards for some time. Eurogamer had previously heard similar word from its own sources.
Now, three months later – and a little under a year since Anthem’s rocky launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC – BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has confirmed those plans in a new blog post. “Over the last year, the team has worked hard to improve stability, performance and general quality of life while delivering three seasons of new content and features,” he wrote, “We have also heard your feedback that Anthem needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression and a more fulfilling end game.”
“We recognise that there’s still more fundamental work to be done to bring out the full potential of the experience,” continued Hudson, “and it will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion”.
To that end, BioWare will be focussing on a longer-term redesign over the coming months, with the studio aiming to reinvent “the core gameplay loop with clear goals, motivating challenges and progression with meaningful rewards”. However, the “fun of flying and fighting in a vast science-fantasy setting” will, says the developer, be preserved.