EA is killing a game I didn't even know was alive

Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that BioWare's online-only sci-fi shooter, Anthem, is scheduled to sunset on January 12, 2026.

The news of the game's upcoming demise came as a shock to many (myself included) who assumed it had already been shut down some time ago. BioWare and EA released Anthem in February 2019, and the game struggled to find an audience in the crowded shooter genre.

Reviews for Anthem were middle of the road, at best. Windows Central's own Brendan Lowry writes, "amazing combat, astounding visuals, and excellent all-around production value but suffers from baffling design choices and awful writing."

Anthem Launch Trailer - YouTube

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Ultimately, Anthem fell short of its sales goals, and updates ceased when the team should have been celebrating the game's second anniversary in February 2021.

Anthem director Jon Warner would leave BioWare shortly after.

If you were following Anthem around this time, you probably suspected it was already on its way to being shut down. If you're like me, you probably just assumed the shutdown happened and you missed an announcement.

Well, surprise!

Anthem was still alive and kicking, though barely clinging to any semblance of life. The game was eventually added to the EA Play catalogue, which also expanded its potential player base to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, but it did little good as many of the game's core problems remained.

BioWare and EA shared an FAQ of what players could expect from the sunsetting process for Anthem, and the good news is you still have time to play before the shutdown hits.

What you should know if you want to play Anthem before shutdown

If you're looking to try out Anthem before its permanent closure, there are a few important things you should know. The sunset date for Anthem's servers is January 12, 2026. Once the game's servers close, there will be no way to play or access Anthem, as the game lacks an offline mode.

"Anthem was designed to be an online-only title," the BioWare team wrote in a blog post, "so once the servers go offline, the game will no longer be playable."

While the servers for Anthem will remain online until January, players looking to dive in via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or EA Play subscriptions will only be able to install and play Anthem as part of those subscription services until August 15, 2025.

At that time, only players who purchased the game will be able to download and play Anthem. Anthem is no longer available to purchase on the Xbox or Xbox PC storefronts. It has also been delisted from Steam.

Anthem featured in-game currency that could be purchased, and players who have in-game coins can continue to use their remaining balance until the game sunsets in January. However, new purchases of in-game currency have already ceased.

EA has confirmed that Anthem's inevitable demise has not led to additional layoffs at BioWare. The studio has already undergone multiple rounds of aggressive and targeted restructuring following Anthem's failure to capture the market.

BioWare's 30-year run has culminated in an incredible list of classic titles, including Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (a remake of which was also canned), and The Mass Effect franchise.

There are approximately 100 employees still under the BioWare banner who are reportedly working on Mass Effect 5.

The news that BioWare will not be affected by layoffs is welcome in a week when Microsoft has laid off roughly 9,000 employees across gaming, sales, and marketing in an effort to bolster its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

June's layoffs were in addition to a restructuring in May that left an additional 6,000 Microsoft employees without jobs. Like Microsoft, Electronic Arts (EA) has invested heavily in AI tech, telling investors that AI is "the very core of our business."