EA Is Shutting Down BioWares Anthem Next Year
The Anthem is silenced. Electronic Arts pulled the plug on Bioware’s ambitious, yet ultimately flawed, multiplayer action game. After a troubled launch in 2019, Anthem never truly found its footing, and EA announced the game would be sunsetted on January 12, 2026. Freelancers can still take flight in the open world until then, but the marketplace is now closed. No more premium currency will be sold. Bioware’s first foray into the live-service arena failed to capture gamers’ imaginations, marking a painful chapter for both the developer and its fans.
EA to Shut Down Anthem
The lights are going out in Anthem. Electronic Arts has announced that the game’s servers will be deactivated on January 12, 2026, effectively ending its lifespan. Freelancers, brace yourselves: after this date, the online-only world will fall silent, and the game will no longer be accessible.
The skies over Bastion will soon fall silent. Electronic Arts has announced that Anthem will be sunsetting its servers on January 12, 2026. While the legacy of the Freelancers will live on, the world of Anthem will no longer be supported after this date. Players can still take to the skies for the next 180+ days, enjoying the game in its current state. However, effective immediately, the purchase of in-game premium currency has been disabled. Spend your remaining shards wisely, Freelancers, for the final flight approaches.
The skies of Anthem may be darkening, but the echoes of its Anthem’s past still resonate. Though new recruits can no longer join the ranks via digital storefronts, veteran Freelancers can still answer the call. Existing owners can reinstall and soar through its world as long as the servers remain live. The anthem will fade from the EA Play playlist on August 15, 2025, yet the lights at BioWare remain bright; EA assures fans that the sunsetting of Anthem won’t lead to studio layoffs.
BioWare’s Anthem arrived on February 22, 2019, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, a bold leap from their single-player RPG legacy into the shared world of multiplayer action. But this ambitious venture struggled to ignite a lasting flame, its player base dwindling until BioWare ceased further development in 2021, leaving a world of potential unexplored.
BioWare, once a giant in the single-player RPG landscape with iconic franchises like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, has stumbled. The latest blow? Layoffs triggered by Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s failure to meet EA’s lofty sales targets. Whispers now circulate that the studio has been reduced to a skeleton crew, a shadow of its former self, with reports suggesting a headcount of fewer than 100 after a wave of departures and reassignments within EA. The question looms: can BioWare rise from the ashes, or is this the beginning of the end for a legendary studio?
The next chapter of Mass Effect is taking shape, guided by the very hands that forged the original trilogy’s legend. BioWare veterans Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and other key architects are charting a course for the future.
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