Once, BioWare was above reproach. The company’s “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” along with their “Mass Effect” and “Dragon Age” trilogies – even with those bummed out by the third Mass’ ending – had cemented its place as one of the great game development studios out there in the early part of the new millennium.
Then things began to go wrong. “Mass Effect Andromeda” was heavily compromised and released to disastrous results, the company effectively abandoning it and putting that franchise on ice for years to come.
It was a game that needed much more attention and planning, but that was focused on its big new multiplayer-focused IP “Anthem” which launched just over a year ago very mixed reviews and poor sales.
Both those two games now regularly top “biggest disappointment” lists on gaming sites and channels and so the company now has to work to turn the bad press about its games around. This week, developer BioWare has announced in a blog post that a small overhaul team will be “going back to the drawing board” to reboot “Anthem” in an effort to save the $100+ million budget game from oblivion.
Players who are into MP titles seemingly abandoned “Anthem” fast soon after release, jumping over to either “Apex Legends” or perennial favorite “Fortnite”. So, late last year, BioWare abandoned its roadmap for improving the game and now has gone into more detail about “Anthem: NEXT” – a full overhaul from a team of just thirty or so who’ve set out to fix a game many hundreds spent years working on and couldn’t get it quite right.
The plan is to “go back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short”. They warn it will be a “longer process” than some would hope, and so the obvious question is even if they succeed – will there be anyone left to care?
We may hear more at next month’s EA Live event where a “Mass Effect” remaster or even remake is rumored to be getting an announcement.
Source: Screen Rant
