Anthem Release Date Might Get Delayed, According to Report

According to a new report, it seems likely that Anthem might not be coming out in 2018, after all. Rather, it might instead come out in the first quarter of 2019. The report hasn’t been officially confirmed nor denied as of writing this article. That being said, the prospect of a delay, given all of the happenings in gaming lately, doesn’t sound impossible at all.

Last year was definitely not EA’s, nor Bioware’s year. And, if a recent report from Kotaku is on the money, as they usually are, 2018 isn’t gonna be much better. It seems that Anthem, EA’s much-anticipated “Destiny killer” won’t be making its fall 2018 launch date, as originally intended. Instead, a Q1 2019 launch is looking more likely. According to the report, it’s not likely that the game will come out any later than March 2019, before the end of the fiscal year. Apparently, BioWare is pulling all the stops on the development, taking people off of other projects to work on Anthem.

Now, the fact is that the development of Anthem started many years ago, in 2012. But, then again, as the report points out, new franchises often have very long development cycles. That being said, there’s plenty of reasons as to why they decided to move the release date. According to one unnamed source, the fall 2018 launch date was “never realistic”. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that that might not be the only reason. After all, 2017 has been a year of abject failure for both BioWare and EA. First off, we had Mass Effect Andromeda, which everyone but YouTubers making worst-of lists still remember. That was a pretty bad blow to both companies. But then, Star Wars Battlefront II happened, all hell broke loose, and now EA has to walk on eggshells for a good long while.

That’s not to say that all of the factors are internal. The beating that Activision and Bungie have been taking about Destiny 2 might have also made EA and Bioware rethink some of their decisions. Another external factor, according to the report, are “video game pundits” that “seize any opportunity to stoke anger at big publishers”, which are causing anxiety to the developers by spreading misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric about EA.” While I do see their point, I have to say: It’s not like that rhetoric was unfounded. EA has pulled some pretty shady stuff last year. Hopefully, Anthem will redeem both EA and BioWare.