EA’s Biggest Flop Has Been Getting Far More Support Than It Deserves

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Electronic Arts has a mixed track record with its games – while many have been hits, others haven’t resonated with players. Some failures were so significant they sparked widespread criticism and damaged the company’s reputation. Surprisingly, even these unpopular games often manage to find a dedicated fanbase, receiving more support than some might expect.

Games sometimes fail at launch for many reasons, like serious technical problems or a lack of exciting features that players were expecting. Excessive in-game purchases can also create negative feedback, as Electronic Arts has seen happen with some of its titles. Usually, unsuccessful games are quickly discontinued, but occasionally a few manage to stay online, either because developers continue to improve them, release updates, or because a dedicated, though small, player base continues to enjoy them despite the issues.

EA’s Anthem Has Been The Subject Of A Recent Fan Revival Project

2019 brought a major disappointment with the launch of Anthem, an online action RPG. The game was plagued with technical issues, including frequent crashes, and simply didn’t grab players’ attention. Problems like repetitive missions, confusing menus, poor performance, and a lackluster reward system led to Anthem being a significant failure – one of the biggest EA has ever seen.

The overwhelmingly negative response to Anthem led to the cancellation of any planned improvements, and a potential overhaul of the game, known as version 2.0, was abandoned in 2021. Despite its flaws, a dedicated group of fans is still trying to keep the game running. As reported by PC Gamer, members of the Anthem subreddit are working to maintain the game’s servers. Following EA’s recent server shutdown on January 12, 2026, these fans are attempting to acquire the necessary code to preserve Anthem independently of EA’s support.

A YouTuber named And799 recently demonstrated that Anthem is back online with several players able to log in. However, these efforts are very early stage, as the official EA servers went offline just over a week ago. Former executive producer Mark Darrah suggested the server code could be recovered, and the recent server tests shown in the video are encouraging, though they represent only the beginning of what will likely be a long-term project.

It appears only the most devoted fans of the troubled game Anthem are still trying to keep it running, employing complex workarounds just to get it working. While they’re hopeful EA will eventually revive the game’s servers, many feel the servers were already online for too long considering its issues.

Extreme Player Efforts For A Private Server May Be Better Served Elsewhere

Bringing Anthem back online after the official servers were shut down is incredibly difficult, and EA could shut down any attempt with legal action. Even if a fan-made server succeeds, it’s unlikely to attract many players, as the game never built a large, dedicated fanbase in the first place. Unlike other EA games that recovered with updates, like Star Wars Battlefront 2, Anthem didn’t improve enough to gain lasting popularity.

Considering all the issues with Anthem, it’s fair to question why so many people are trying to bring it back. Live service games need a lot of players to thrive, and Anthem’s player base is very small, even though getting past EA’s server shutdown is remarkable. The effort being put into preserving Anthem could potentially be better spent on reviving other games with larger, more active communities.

Despite the game’s difficulties, a dedicated fanbase has kept the Anthem community alive. The subreddit moderators have faced resistance to archiving the channel, largely because of efforts to revive the game. Whether people enjoyed it or not, Anthem now represents an important, if cautionary, tale in gaming. Its failures offer valuable lessons for developers hoping to avoid similar pitfalls, and as long as the servers remain online, those lessons are readily available for study.

Even without considering any potential benefits, it feels right for the game’s narrative that Anthem is ending. Most unsuccessful projects aren’t revived, though it’s often surprising how dedicated fans can be, even when a revival doesn’t really make sense.

If you could bring back the servers for any game other than Anthem, which one would it be? Share your thoughts in the comments or discuss it on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-01-25 17:12