Yes, you can still play this game, even though we could have guessed that Electronic Arts had already discarded it.

There is much debate about when and where BioWare, the former king of RPGs, began its decline. However, there is no doubt when it hit rock bottom: in 2019, with the release of Anthem, a live service cooperative looter-shooter that had little in common with the games that once made the studio great. The game was poorly received. About a year after launch, BioWare promised to overhaul it, but another year later, in 2021, Electronic Arts executives decided otherwise and shut development down entirely. Despite this, the game’s servers have remained online ever since, but that will soon come to an end. Anthem’s servers will permanently shut down on January 12, meaning the game will no longer be playable.

BioWare has been the subject of controversy more than once. Many players disliked the ending of Mass Effect 3 in 2012. Dragon Age 2 was heavily criticized the year before, and 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda was a buggy, chaotic experience that never truly recovered, even after patches. But Anthem was the lowest point. A mortal wound that left onlookers wondering whether the once-beloved studio was heading toward a bleak and silent end.

It felt like the culmination of Electronic Arts’ philosophy, summed up by BioWare veteran David Gaider: the studio did not need to worry about its traditional fans, because they would buy whatever was released. Instead, the focus was on attracting non-RPG players, a far larger audience that BioWare was trying to capture.

Since officially ending development on Anthem, BioWare has released two games: Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The remastered trilogy of classic Mass Effect titles was well received, but the new Dragon Age met a far more muted response. Whether the end of Anthem represents BioWare’s disgraceful downfall or the beginning of a new chapter will depend entirely on how the next Mass Effect performs.

Source: PCGamer