Anthem shuts down forever in one week

[ThunderBoy]

We'll admit that we weren't paying enough attention to the state of Anthem—BioWare's troubled 2019 jetpack-powered open-world shooter—to notice EA's July announcement that it was planning to shut down the game's servers. But with that planned server shutdown now just a week away, we thought it was worth alerting you readers to your final opportunity to play one of BioWare's most ambitious failures.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/01/biowares-anthem-will-soon-be-completely-unplayable/

Sad news.....
Meanwhile, I can Play Quake 3 online. A Game from 1999..... but no to a 2019 game....

 

[YOJOJO27]

heya dude, don't usually interact here, but tbh the game had some nice ideas, it's a shame it was handled by the money grubby hands of EA, hopefully somebody takes these ideas and makes a better game for us... flying robot fighting? fans?

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

 

[Ikagura]

.... it was still alive?

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

.... it was still alive?

I genuinely thought it had already shut down years ago

 

[PacGuy]

While I agree with everyone saying "Who cares" it's still sad. It's like if someone came into my house and took my copy of a shitty book. Maybe I'll never read it again, but I bought the damn book. Sad foreshadowing is what this is.

 

[skramz]

first time i've heard about this game LOL

 

[Ikagura]

I genuinely thought it had already shut down years ago

You're generous! I assumed it was for four!

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

While I agree with everyone saying "Who cares" it's still sad. It's like if someone came into my house and took my copy of a shitty book. Maybe I'll never read it again, but I bought the damn book. Sad foreshadowing is what this is.

Yeah, that's fair honestly. While it's easy to dog on Anthem for being a bad game, people should still have offline access to a game they purchased regardless, even if it's only 5 people still playing.

 

[Ikagura]

but tbh the game had some nice ideas.

Yes, seeing the people in armour flying made me think of Warframe with a bit more punch.

While I agree with everyone saying "Who cares" it's still sad. It's like if someone came into my house and took my copy of a shitty book. Maybe I'll never read it again, but I bought the damn book. Sad foreshadowing is what this is.

Saying "who cares" isn't constructive imo, if I don't care I wouldn't even click on the topic to begin with.

Yeah, that's fair honestly. While it's easy to dog on Anthem for being a bad game, people should still have offline access to a game they purchased regardless, even if it's only 5 people still playing.

It's also another example of the issue regarding online-dependant video games.

 

[gastd]

Yes, it's a shame but somehow not really surprising.

 

[BrawlMan]

It was always a matter of when, and not if. I'm just shocked it didn't shut down any sooner. Given what's gone at EA and the buyout at this point, it doesn't surprise me too much.

 

[Ikagura]

There should be an equivalent of the "Killed by Google" site for GaaS and Multiplayer focused games that got shut down by their companies (and telling if there's a private server or not).

 

[Leon]

As a big proponent of the "stop killing games" initiative, it saddens me it's dying like this, i miss the days when you could host servers yourself.

That said, hackers found a way to revive the crew 1 from the dead, maybe they can do the same with anthem one day.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I like how it took billions to produce, had a loving (if small) userbase and the potential to generate revenue seemingly forever (as most games do), then they decided to take all that work, the combined effort of hundreds of people, and shove it in the trash alongside candy wrappers, cigarette boxes and leftover pizza no-one had the stomach for anymore.

Why in the world is this ok? There used to require something catastrophic for a game to just vanish like this (usually a force of nature).

Rogue Entertainment lost the source code to Strife after a computer crash back in their old office.

EA willingly destroyed Anthem (along with hundreds of other games).

I can still play Strife, though.

Just senseless, man.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

I'm honestly more surprised that it lasted this long.
I don't like the idea of a game vanishing off the face of the earth, but this is the eventual fate of all live service games. I'd rather they just stop using this business model all together.

 

[Ikagura]

As a big proponent of the "stop killing games" initiative, it saddens me it's dying like this, i miss the days when you could host servers yourself.

I still feel like it's like trying to stop a truck at full speed while being on foot...

That said, hackers found a way to revive the crew 1 from the dead, maybe they can do the same with anthem one day.

I hope many will still be passionate enough to do that (without getting any C&D).

Rogue Entertainment lost the source code to Strife after a computer crash back in their old office.

Damn! This is too bad... At least we can still use Sourceports or reverse engineer the process but still...

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Damn! This is too bad... At least we can still use Sourceports or reverse engineer the process but still...

Yeah, it's been since reverse-engineered and even re-released.

Anthem gets none of that.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

I forgot that game even existed lol.

 

[medisinn]

Sad, but inevitable. It only happened in the first place because EA forced BioWare to make a live-service game instead of what they (used to) do well. Sounds like it had a solid foundation, you'd think they would have handed it off to another studio to give it another shot at life while letting BioWare move on to other stuff. Weirdly enough it might get more attention from the community once it gets taken offline. It'll be seen as a dead game that had potential instead of a living one that had none. Perhaps some private servers will sprout up?

 

[moonbits]

They should pass a law that forces studios/publishers to let people host servers for games if they plan to remove them.

It would not pass but it a nice idea.

 

[YOJOJO27]

Sounds like it had a solid foundation, you'd think they would have handed it off to another studio to give it another shot at life while letting BioWare move on to other stuff.

IT DID!! The movement was smooth and unique, the freedom of flying and the Beautiful graphics/ aesthetic carried the game for me, it's such a shame that a lot of it was... "under baked" for a lack of a better word, most people yapping negatively about it haven't even touched it/seen it, i can only hope some indie Developers carry the "Iron Man-like" gameplay & combat, and make a more cohesive and complete package, but all i can do for now is dream

 

[iamthemilkman]

Even though I typically loathe live service games, Anthem was better than Andromeda and Veilguard. It had fantastic graphics and gameplay, and they could've turned it around if they hadn't canceled the 2.0 update, because what was there was definitely salvageable.

Every live service game that's completely playable solo should receive an offfine mode one it reaches end of life. Hopefully The Division 1 and 2 get offline modes at some point because those are some of the best live service games. Destiny 1, too.

 

[Anoobis]

I thought it was long gone. I never played it myself, but I got a ton of enjoyment out of it, through following the ongoing disaster that was its beta and launch. It was coming out alongside Fallout 76, and each day I would hit YouTube to see which game had a fresh controversy, because one reliably would.

 

[Lena CE]

Honestly a solid game. My buddy was intent on getting the platinum trophy before the servers shutdown so I hopped back on for the first time in 4ish years and I enjoyed myself! Still gorgeous, still feels great to play, still has ok loot systems and has solid content loops. It isn't spectacular in most ways and was in desperate need of some content shakeups, but what was there kept me engaged for nearly 100 hours and if I dove into minmaxing my builds and playing the horde mode they added post-launch I likely could have kept going for a bit longer.

Wildly overhated, its like a 6 or 7/10 at worst and that's perfectly fine. A sales flop, a game that couldn't retain players, a game that had its chance at redemption dashed by EA execs, but a decent game that I will honestly miss. It is always a shame when anything that people pour their hearts and souls into becomes vaporware. No one deserves that fate no matter how maligned.