It is big news to game enthusiasts today as the online action RPG of EA, Anthem, will officially be closed on the 12 th of January. The news is a surprise to most of the players anticipating the announcement of more updates and improvements to the game over the last two years.
Anthem Shutdown Announcement: EA announced the official closing of Anthem, an online action RPG, scheduled for January 12th, following a decline in player engagement and ongoing server shutdowns.
Development and Launch of Anthem: Anthem launched in February 2019 with high expectations, but was marred by technical issues and lack of content updates, leading to disillusionment among players.
Game Removal and Server Closure: The game will be removed from EA's storefront on August 15 and become unplayable once servers shut down on January 12, 2026, effectively bricking the game.
Initial Criticisms and Developer Promises: Anthem received poor reviews at launch due to reliance on grinding and bugs, with BioWare promising fixes that took time to implement, damaging the game's reputation.
Studio Restructuring and Workforce Reduction: BioWare has undergone significant layoffs and restructuring, currently focusing on developing Mass Effect 5, with the studio's staff reduced to fewer than 100 employees.
The news was posted by Patrick Soderlund, who is Vice President of EA Worldwide Studios in an emotional Blog. I am sad to report that is the end of Anthem. We put our beating hearts and souls into this game and it kills our hearts to have to see it end,” Soderlund wrote.
Anthem was introduced in February 2019 having a promising following and expectations. The immense open-world gameplay of the game, amazing graphics, and the story made the beloved of all game players across the globe. However, in spite of opening success, Anthem was affected by various technical problems and the absence of content updates that made the game disappointing and frustrating to the players.
On January 12, 2026, the beleaguered online shooter Anthem developed by EA is closing down entirely. Before that on August 15, the game is going to be taken out of the storefront of the company. It will also be downloadable thereafter provided that it is in your library.
Certainities of the game have started to decline. As of today, players can no longer buy premium in-game currencies, but they may continue operating on the existing balances in order to purchase stuff. Anthem is an online only game hence, after the January 2020 period when the servers are removed, it will be bricked.
The game had a dismal launch in 2019 due to a mix of weak receptions that criticized its grindiness and general lack of polish. This was not eased by several bugs that affected early builds. The developer BioWare assured that they would fix the problems, but it was long before they could be implemented.
By then, the damage to the brand was too severe. BioWare ceased active development of Anthem in 2021, which was followed by the game’s director leaving the company. In other words, we all kind of knew this shutdown was coming.
EA says that no layoffs occurred at the company as a result of this decision. However, that’s likely because BioWare has already been through several steep staffing cuts. EA laid off 50 BioWare employees in 2023. This was followed by even more layoffs after Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed.
BioWare currently has an operating staff of less than 100 people. The company is currently focused on the development of Mass Effect 5.
