Anthem Next officially canceled, development efforts shifting to the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect

Anthem flight
Anthem flight (Image credit: EA)

What you need to know

  • Anthem Next was a planned overhaul of Anthem's many gameplay mechanics, such as the loot system.
  • Anthem Next has been canceled according to an update shared by BioWare.
  • The studio is now shifting to focus specifically on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games.

Anthem Next, the planned overhaul for Anthem that would see the game's systems evolve in response to player feedback, has been canceled. This news comes straight from BioWare, who shared a blog post from studio director Christian Dailey on why the decision was being made.

Dailey explains that the resources needed to properly develop Anthem Next, combined with BioWare shifting into work-from-home mode because of the global pandemic, a difficult call had to be made.

"I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we've been working on. It's also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work," Dailey writes. "And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career."

Daily also states that moving forward, BioWare is completely pivoting to "laser focus" on the next Dragon Age and the next Mass Effect games.

More immediately, BioWare has Mass Effect: Legendary Edition coming on May 14, 2021, bringing a remaster of the first three Mass Effect games to modern platforms, with a whole host of differences.

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Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.