EA has introduced it would shut down BioWare’s Anthem on January 12, 2026.
As a result of Anthem’s solely content material is on-line, this implies the sport might be unplayable after that date.
Premium in-game forex will cease being bought at present, although present balances will nonetheless have the ability to be used till the sport shuts down. The sport might be faraway from EA’s storefront on August 15, 2025, however will nonetheless be obtainable for obtain if it is already in your library till it formally shuts down.
Anthem launched in February of 2019 to lukewarm evaluations, together with our personal 6.5/10 which criticized the grindiness, lack of polish and selection, and a mismatched story. The sport had bought 5 million copies as of December of 2023, which fell wanting EA’s goal of 6 million copies in the primary few months. Although EA continued to replace and enhance Anthem in the months that adopted its launch, in February of 2021, EA ceased energetic growth on the sport. The next month, its recreation director departed the corporate.
In an FAQ, EA acknowledged that no layoffs occurred on the firm as the results of Anthem’s sundown. This can come as a reduction, on condition that EA has undergone quite a lot of large staffing cuts in the previous few years which have left employees reeling.
In Could, EA shut down Cliffhanger Video games and canceled its in-development Black Panther recreation, shedding an unknown variety of people in the method. That very same month, it carried out obligatory return-to-office for all employees.
Simply the month earlier than, EA laid off roughly 300 folks, and nonetheless earlier this 12 months EA restructured Anthem developer BioWare, transferring some builders to different tasks and shedding others. That was all simply in 2025. Final 12 months, EA underwent an enormous restructuring that resulted in 670 employees laid off company-wide, and the 12 months earlier than that in 2023, 50 people have been laid off at BioWare and an unknown variety of others have been lower at Codemasters.
As for BioWare, it is at present totally targeted on Mass Impact 5 after the gross sales failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You’ll find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.