With just 10 days remaining, Electronic Arts will end support for BioWare's multiplayer game Anthem by switching off its servers on January 12, 2026. This closure marks the final chapter for a title that struggled to find its audience despite high expectations. The decision highlights ongoing debates about the longevity of live-service games.
The announcement for Anthem's sunset came last summer from EA, which stated, "After careful consideration, we will be sunsetting Anthem on January 12, 2026." As of January 2, 2026, players have only a short window left to experience the game, which launched as BioWare's ambitious entry into online multiplayer territory.
Anthem, developed by BioWare—a studio renowned for single-player RPGs like the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series—faced significant challenges upon its 2019 release. It aimed to blend narrative depth with cooperative gameplay but ultimately faltered, as noted in a Eurogamer review by Oli Welsh, who described it as a game "shaken apart by its own identity crisis." Ambitious plans for an Anthem 2.0 overhaul, intended to revitalize the experience, were eventually scrapped.
This failure compounded BioWare's difficulties following the troubled 2017 launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda and contrasted with the 2014 success of Dragon Age: Inquisition. The 2024 release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, after a decade of development that briefly explored multiplayer elements, did little to stabilize the studio's position.
The server shutdown underscores frustrations in the live-service model, where purchased games become unplayable once online support ends. Advocacy groups such as Stop Destroying Games and Stop Killing Games are pushing for regulatory protections to prevent such occurrences. For Anthem, low player numbers likely made ongoing server maintenance unsustainable, though questions remain about alternatives like community-hosted servers.
Looking ahead, BioWare's future may rest on its next Mass Effect title, amid uncertainties from EA's impending acquisition by a Saudi Arabian entity focused on sports. No special shutdown event has been confirmed for Anthem.
