BioWare Shares Anthem Next Initiative Is Going To Be “A Longer Process” To Properly Revitalize The Game

Players and non-players of BioWare’s 2019-released Anthem are certainly aware of the issues that have been pressed heavily since its release well over a year ago. And while the game was coming forward to be an anticipated release, especially after the lesser received Mass Effect: Andromeda, evidently that did not happen to be the case for the new property.

And even after the initial shipping of the game was established and the plaguing issues were addressed, the game did not properly receive its necessary fixing to make the game playable. Some problems users faced range from minimal stuttering to full on bricking consoles from being usable.

However, it was not until this past February – nearly a year since the game released – that BioWare announced Anthem will be receiving a revamp overhaul to the game with the titular ’NEXT’ initiative. The studio explained that the next step for Anthem “will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion.” The team states that the next few months will illustrate big revisions to the core gameplay in efforts to undo the damage.

But now that we have entered these next few months, BioWare returns to share that this process will be a bigger feat to overcome than anticipated. In a recent blog post, the developer shares that the team behind the project is reworking fundamental elements of the game and doing so is a crucial and expensive on time process.

The Anthem incubation team has kicked off and we are starting to validate our design hypotheses. Incubation is a term we use internally – it essentially means we are going back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short and to leverage everything that you love currently about Anthem. And yes, the team is small but the whole point of this is to take our time and go back to the drawing board. And a small team gives us the agility a larger one can’t afford.

Chrisain Dailey, BioWare Austin Studio Director

BioWare goes on to disclose that the efforts taken to revise the entire formula for the game are aimed to be different when players return after the project is completed. But for now, disappointed fans will have to be a bit more patient to finally witness the envision that the studio is pursuing for Anthem Next.

It will surely be tricky to say the least for BioWare with a smaller group managing this project. While majority of the team will be working on other upcoming titles in the meantime, it is unsure how this will spin out. One major concern is how the initiative will be managed since prominent Producer Ben Irving departed from the studio back in August. Without initial superiorities present, this could result with a larger issue at hand if not properly addressed when finished.

Regardless of who is at BioWare currently, the team does look to be listening and taking advice from exterior voices. Most notably from Sean Murray helming No Man Sky’s Hello Games. The studio head faced scrutiny following the 2015 release of the expansive space explorer, but in a few short years turned the whole operation around and used that experience to set BioWare in the right direction previously. You can read the full report by heading here.

Despite the inconsistencies and incessant problems reported for Anthem, Rectify Gaming happened to overlook the issues and received the game more generously last year. “Strong alone, stronger together, Anthem is a fantastic action-RPG experience for solo players or groups,” David Rodriguez’s synapse for his review reads.

Do you plan on returning to Anthem when Next is completed?

Anthem is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: BioWare