Talking Point: Did ANTHEM Deserve the Hate?

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ANTHEM is dead. Or at least, it soon will be, depending on when you’re reading this.

Although ANTHEM didn’t become a massive hit, it’s easy to forget there was a lot of excitement surrounding the game before it launched on February 22nd, 2019.

This game was released when BioWare was still highly respected, before the studio’s reputation declined. It was a fresh title from a developer known for quality work at the time.

While 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda received a lot of online jokes, many people believed ANTHEM was BioWare’s most important project. They hoped it would show the studio was back to its best, offering a fresh and successful experience after Andromeda’s difficulties.

However, not everyone was enthusiastic about ANTHEM. Even though it came out before people started strongly disliking ‘live service’ games, many were skeptical about needing to be constantly online and its heavy emphasis on playing with others.

Initially, ANTHEM was hard to understand for many players. The game’s advertisements presented it as a fast-paced, action-packed shooter, but the developers also emphasized that it would still be a BioWare RPG with strong storytelling, memorable characters, and a detailed world.

ANTHEM seemed to struggle with a conflicting vision. BioWare wanted to stay true to what made them famous, but they lacked the experience needed to create and consistently support a successful online game, having only previously dabbled in that area with the enjoyable multiplayer mode in Mass Effect 3.

Electronic Arts hoped ANTHEM would compete with games like Destiny, but many doubted BioWare’s ability to deliver from the start. Ultimately, ANTHEM didn’t feel like a typical BioWare game, and the studio lacked the necessary experience to make it a truly successful, independent title.

The game’s multiple delays didn’t inspire confidence either. Originally planned for spring 2018, the launch was first moved to fall, and then again to February 2019. While delays can sometimes indicate a developer is committed to quality, the constant shifting of the release date started to worry people.

As we previously noted, there was real excitement building for the game before it launched. We could see this because our news and articles about ANTHEM were getting a lot of views and engagement at the time.

Interest in ANTHEM reached its highest point in early February when a public demo was released on PS4. The demo was only available for one weekend, but our readers generally responded positively, according to a poll we conducted on our website.

Nearly half of the players (41%) reported spending a significant amount of time – hours, in fact – playing the game. A further 22% described the demo as “absolutely superb.”

However, many potential participants also seemed hesitant, possibly foreshadowing the eventual letdown.

Just over 30% of viewers thought the demo was decent but not outstanding. Another 30% found it only okay, or were disappointed with it, considering it to be poor.

To be honest, we weren’t very impressed with ANTHEM either. We spent a good amount of time playing the early ‘VIP Demo’ – which was essentially a closed beta – and in a preview article, we felt the final game needed to be significantly improved to live up to its potential.

We initially disliked the game because it felt incomplete, but we later discovered the final version had many of the same issues with its design and how it worked as the early demo.

A few weeks later, we published our complete review of ANTHEM for PlayStation 4, giving it a score of 5 out of 10, which we consider average.

We previously noted that ANTHEM had the potential to improve and become a more unified game, but feared it wouldn’t get the opportunity – and unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

While the combat in Anthem is fun and visually impressive, the game as a whole feels rushed and poorly designed. Many of its systems are underdeveloped, making it hard to recommend over other, more polished live-service games on PS4. It has potential, but needs significant improvements – maybe check back in a year to see if it’s been fixed.

Other reviews were equally negative, leading to a poorly received launch for the game. Dedicated players were especially frustrated, noting a significant lack of things to do after finishing the main story.

When ANTHEM launched, it quickly became clear the game had serious problems, and BioWare knew they faced a huge challenge to fix them. Unfortunately, first impressions are critical for games, and ANTHEM never overcame the negative reaction it received at the start.

Only a few weeks before the game’s release, EA publicly announced its sales goals, predicting it would sell 6 million copies within the first six weeks.

As a fan, it really felt like the publisher went all-in expecting ANTHEM to be huge right away. When it didn’t launch as a massive success, they seemed to pull the plug on support pretty quickly. BioWare kept trying to fix things with updates for a while after that, but honestly, the initial disappointment had already hurt the game badly.

It’s honestly surprising that ANTHEM was online for as long as it was. After nearly six years, the game is finally being taken offline.

Looking back on Anthem, do you think it was unfairly forgotten, or did it simply not live up to its promise? Share your opinion in our polls, and then tell us about your time with the game in the comments!

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2026-01-12 23:08