Former Anthem Executive Producer Believes It Damaged Developers’ Careers and Mental Health

Following the shutdown of servers for the online game Anthem earlier this week, Mark Darrah, the game’s executive producer, released a detailed video discussing its development. In the over three-and-a-half-hour video, Darrah talks about his role at BioWare, the game’s origins – including its early planning stages and his work on the Dragon Age series – its unveiling in 2017, and how the game evolved as the gaming landscape changed.

Darrah feels that Anthem negatively impacted those who worked on it, affecting both their careers and well-being. He also points out that BioWare has struggled to move past the game’s troubled launch. “I don’t think I, or many others, fully recovered from the experience,” he admitted.

According to Darrah, the game Anthem significantly harmed the careers and well-being of many developers. He believes the problems BioWare has faced in recent years can be traced back to the period surrounding Anthem‘s development. While he doesn’t attribute everything since 2019 solely to Anthem, he says the game caused lasting damage that continues to affect things today.

I’ve been following BioWare for ages, and I remember Darrah being a big part of some of their key games. He was the executive producer on Dragon Age 2, which definitely caused some debate when it came out, and then he also led the team on Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game I really enjoyed.

EA announced back in July 2025 that Anthem would be shutting down this week. Before the servers went offline, many fans revisited the game to enjoy it one last time. A frequent topic of conversation among these players was how much potential Anthem originally had.

One player lamented the closure of Anthem, calling it a wasted opportunity. They noted that its demise serves as a stark reminder of how difficult it is to sustain a game focused on collecting loot and completing missions for years on end, especially considering Anthem‘s reputation as a potential ‘Destiny killer’.

One player shared that they played Anthem for the final time last night, enjoying a last tour of the game world and completing a few missions. They acknowledged that while opinions vary, the game clearly had a lot of promise, especially with its impressive flying mechanics.

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2026-01-14 16:17