Anthem was never planned as a BioWares Destiny killer – was only briefly discussed internally

One of the reasons why Anthem failed was that it could not be completed for release. According to a developer, it also failed to meet the expectations of fans who were hoping for a competitor to Destiny.

Two years after the release, Anthem was dead again, even if it actually died much earlier. Developer Ian Saterdalen, who worked for BioWare from September 2019 to March 2020, recently commented on Twitter. We reported about it.

He lays out some hard facts:

  • Anthem’s game system was not convincing
  • The game was also not finished in the 15 months of actual development.
  • Add to that the entitlement of the people who portrayed Anthem as a “Destiny killer.”
  • The trailers for Anthem looked really good:

    Anthem shows off the four different combat suits in the launch trailer

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    Taking on Destiny would have been a tremendous push

    Where did the comparison come from? Similar to Destiny 2, Anthem was a shared open-world shooter. Anthem was often compared to the popular shooter for consoles and PC by journalists and gamers, and the requirements increased. And the comparison still exists today.

    “Personally, I felt like Anthem was still trying to compete with Destiny, even though that probably wasn’t the team’s goal. I enjoyed it at first, but then the story got boring for me. Still, I thank the team for their efforts in creating something fresh that could have been successful,” wrote user Hazeus on Saterdalen’s tweet.

    We briefly discussed it, but we didn’t have the know-how to take on Destiny

    Thanks for the feedback, Saterdalen adds, “I think Anthem may have been positioned in the public eye as a ‘Destiny killer’. This idea was also discussed internally, but we didn’t have the resources or know-how to take on Destiny. This idea was quickly dismissed because it would have been under enormous pressure. You have to walk before you can run.”

    Here is the original tweet:

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    In another comment on the initial tweet, a user notes that he had more fun playing Anthem than Destiny. He is also glad that the developers are going back to their roots.

    Saterdalen writes: β€œThe same applies to me. I hope they can hit the bull’s eye with the new Dragon Age.”

    The extensive new update in an MMORPG also hit the mark:

    New update in MMORPG of Lord of the Rings makes dad happy – he can now play much better with his 8-year-old son

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