Ex-BioWare Boss “Always Knew” Anthem Would Get Shut Down

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After the company’s recent announcement that they will be closing their servers for the game Anthem by early 2026, there has been a surge in interest among players regarding the reasons behind its perceived failure. The conversation deepened further when Anthem’s executive producer Mark Darrah shared in an interview that he had long anticipated the game’s eventual discontinuation, expressing regret over this turn of events and attributing it to the fundamental design issues.

During a YouTube interview with MrMattyPlays, Darrah expressed his thoughts on the development of Anthem, noting that he believed the project could have taken a different direction than what eventually unfolded.

Darrah admitted that he had anticipated the departure of [Anthem] at some point. He suggested that its design could’ve been different, avoiding such a necessity.

Darrah observed that Anthem is similar to Destiny 2, a game that came out prior to Anthem. Remarkably, while Anthem has been released, it seems that Destiny 2 is managing to sustain its popularity and thrive even today.

Darrah shared that Destiny uses advanced technology for transferring data between hosts, in a direct, decentralized manner. Initially, we were unaware of such techniques, and financially, it was beyond our reach. However, had the circumstances been different, we could have found a way to achieve something similar.

Darrah, during an interview, conveyed his concern that games such as Anthem and Concord might soon vanish due to their inability to maintain long-term sustainability. He emphasized that the sacrifice of faithfulness, responsiveness, and overall gaming quality would have been necessary for these games to avoid being phased out over time. In simpler terms, he implied that Anthem needed to compromise its core features to survive in the long run, which he believes is a pressing issue in today’s gaming world.

In July, EA revealed that support for Anthem would cease in January, implying that once the servers are deactivated, players will no longer be able to access the game. Along with this announcement, they addressed queries from players regarding the shutdown, such as why those who had bought the game wouldn’t be able to play it anymore.

EA stated that Anthem was intended as an exclusive online game, meaning that if its servers are taken down, the game can no longer be played.

The growing concern about what happens to games that exist only online once they’re shut down is currently a significant point of debate in politics, potentially influencing how upcoming live-service games like Anthem are created. A movement known as “Stop Killing Games” has recently achieved its main objective with its European Citizens’ Initiative, which could lead the European Parliament to establish new regulations regarding this issue in the future.

Advocates for this movement encourage game creators to prepare backup strategies for games that might get discontinued in the future, allowing players to carry on playing games they’ve put effort and money into. Some suggestions include transferring servers to the gaming community once official support ends, or at least taking measures so that the game can continue operating without constant publisher intervention.

If game preservationists and player rights advocates succeed in their efforts, developers may not be able to predict definitively that their games will be shut down in the future. Instead, they might choose to transfer ownership of the game to players at some point during its lifespan, or maintain it in a functioning state for someone else to continue developing it.

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2025-08-21 18:26