According to the announcement made by Electronic Arts (EA), BioWare’s space-themed, multiplayer shooter game, Anthem, will be shut down permanently on January 12, 2026.
Many people, including myself, were taken aback when we learned that the game was not yet being discontinued, as it seemed to us that it had been shut down long ago due to poor performance in the competitive shooter market since its launch in February 2019 by BioWare and EA.
The reviews for Anthem were generally average to good. As put by Brendan Lowry from Windows Central, it boasts impressive combat, stunning graphics, and overall top-notch production quality, yet it’s held back by confusing design decisions and poor storytelling.
In the end, Anthem didn’t meet its sales targets, and no new updates were released when the team could have been marking the game’s second anniversary in February 2021 instead.
Anthem director Jon Warner would leave BioWare shortly after.
If you had been keeping tabs on Anthem at that point in time, chances are you might have sensed that it was likely about to be closed down. Just as I did, if you’re anything like me, you may have thought the closure occurred without any formal notice being given.
Well, surprise!
Anthem managed to survive, though it barely resembled its former self. Eventually, it found a place on the EA Play catalog, broadening its possible audience to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. However, this addition didn’t significantly improve its situation as many of its fundamental issues persisted.
Bioware and EA released a joint FAQ detailing the Anthem sunset process, and fortunately, there’s still some gameplay time left before the service ends.
What you should know if you want to play Anthem before shutdown
If you want to experience Anthem before it shuts down permanently, here are some crucial points to consider. The scheduled shutdown for Anthem’s servers is on January 12, 2026. After this date, it will no longer be possible to play or access the game because it does not have an offline mode.
The BioWare team stated in a blog that Anthem was intended to be exclusively available online. This means that when the servers are shut down, the game can no longer be played.
From now till January, Anthem’s servers will continue to operate. However, individuals aiming to explore the game through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or EA Play memberships can only download and play Anthem under these subscriptions up to August 15, 2025.
In the present situation, only those who previously bought the game can download and enjoy playing Anthem. Regrettably, it’s not possible to buy Anthem on either the Xbox store, Xbox PC marketplace, or Steam anymore. It has even been removed from these platforms.
In simpler terms, the game Anthem offers an internal currency that you can buy. If you still have some in-game money left, you can continue using it until the game officially ends in January. However, as of now, you can’t buy any more in-game currency.

BioWare, after the closure of Anthem, has not experienced any extra job losses, as confirmed by EA. The studio had previously gone through several significant and strategic reorganizations due to Anthem’s inability to attract a substantial market share.
Over three decades, BioWare has built a remarkable collection of timeless games, such as Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series (which originally had a remake planned), and the Mass Effect saga.
Approximately 100 staff members, as per reports, are currently employed under the BioWare brand and are believed to be developing Mass Effect 5.
It’s reassuring to hear that BioWare won’t be impacted by job cuts this week, as Microsoft announced layoffs affecting around 9,000 employees from various departments like gaming, sales, and marketing, with the aim of strengthening its commitments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
In June, Microsoft conducted further job cuts, which followed a reorganization in May that resulted in the loss of employment for an additional 6,000 employees. Similar to Microsoft, Electronic Arts (EA) has made substantial investments in artificial intelligence technology. They have communicated to their investors that AI is essentially integral to their business operations.
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2025-07-04 02:39