Anthem is BioWare and Electronic Arts' online co-op action RPG, released on February 22nd, 2019, with squad-based play in a shared sci-fi open world[1].

Where did Anthem come from?

Development started at BioWare in 2012 after Mass Effect 3, with the game teased at E3 2014 and formally shown off at E3 2017[1].

What does Anthem mean?

The name was picked in a rush days before E3 2017 after the working title "Beyond" hit trademark issues, and BioWare later attached a lore concept called the "Anthem of Creation" to justify it[1].

How do you use Anthem?

Players squad up to run co-op missions in a shared open world, grinding for higher-tier weapons and gear in a session-based online format[1].

Is Anthem still popular?

No, the game declined sharply after the March 2019 boycott, with Forbes noting at the time that the game's state alone was pushing players away naturally[2].

Why did Anthem players boycott the game?

A server-side bug on March 9th, 2019 briefly caused legendary and masterwork loot to drop far more often, and after BioWare patched it out, players organized a boycott from March 11th to 15th[2].

What was Anthem's Metacritic score?

Anthem scored 55 on Metacritic, which is BioWare's lowest-rated release since the studio was founded in 1995[1].

What was Anthem originally going to be called?

The working title was "Beyond", and BioWare had already printed staff T-shirts under that name before trademark problems days before E3 2017 forced the switch to "Anthem"[1].

What did the Kotaku report on Anthem reveal?

Jason Schreier's April 2019 report interviewed former BioWare developers who described years of unfocused pre-production, unclear direction, and heavy crunch hours during Anthem's development[1].

How did BioWare respond to the Kotaku Anthem report?

BioWare put out a public statement the same day, sidestepping or dismissing most of the specifics while acknowledging "there is always room to improve" on crunch[5].

Anthem

2019video gamedeclining

Published August 15, 2026

Anthem is BioWare's 2019 online action RPG that became notorious for a troubled development cycle, a March 2019 player-led boycott over a patched-out loot bug, and a Kotaku exposé detailing years of pre-production chaos at the studio.

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Overview

Anthem is an online co-op action RPG from BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts that launched on February 22nd, 20191. The game pairs an open sci-fi world with squad-based online play, and drew immediate comparisons to Bungie's Destiny2. It shipped with a Metacritic score of 556, BioWare's lowest-rated release since the studio was founded in 19951.

Its online reputation is less about the game itself and more about what happened around it. Within a few weeks of launch, a viral loot bug, a player-led boycott, and a Kotaku exposé of the game's chaotic development turned Anthem into a common gaming-forum reference point for a live-service launch gone wrong1.

Origin & Background

Platform

PC / PS4 / Xbox One (game release), Reddit and gaming press (viral spread)

Creator

BioWare / Electronic Arts

Date

2019

Development on Anthem started around 2012, right after BioWare wrapped up Mass Effect 3, though the project sat in loose pre-production for years without a clear direction1. EA teased the game briefly at E3 2014 and formally showed it off with a gameplay demo at E3 2017, where EA vice president Patrick Söderlund pitched the release as the start of "a ten year journey" for BioWare and its live-service ambitions4.

According to former developers who spoke to Kotaku's Jason Schreier, many of Anthem's core systems weren't finalized until the final months of development, and even inside the studio the team wasn't always sure what kind of game they were making until that 2017 E3 demo1. The name itself was a scramble too. Days before the press conference the working title had been "Beyond" and BioWare had already printed staff T-shirts, but trademark concerns forced a last-minute switch to "Anthem"1.

How It Spread

Pre-launch demos gave Anthem its first big wave of attention. A VIP demo ran January 25th through 27th, 2019 for pre-order customers and Origin Access subscribers, followed by an open demo across PC, PS4, and Xbox One from February 1st through February 3rd3. By release day the game had built a large online presence, with over 260,000 Twitter followers and a subreddit that had grown past 149,000 subscribers since the 2017 E3 reveal4.

The turning point came a couple weeks after launch. On the weekend of March 9th, 2019, a server-side bug caused legendary and masterwork loot to drop far more often than intended2. Players loved it, since the entire point of the endgame is grinding for those tiers, but BioWare rolled the change back within hours2. On March 10th, a Redditor going by Afinda posted a call for players to boycott the game from March 11th through 15th, arguing that a visible drop in player counts would send a louder message than more Reddit threads, and the post pulled in over 12,000 upvotes4.

Forbes covered the boycott on March 12th, calling it "not really necessary given that the game itself in its current state will drive players away naturally"2. In early April, Kotaku's Jason Schreier published a lengthy report from former BioWare staff describing years of pre-production drift, mismanagement, and long crunch hours1. BioWare posted an official response the same day, dismissing much of the reporting but conceding "there is always room to improve" when it came to crunch5.

How to Use This Meme

"Anthem" gets used online less as a template and more as a shorthand. Gaming forums and journalists often invoke it as a comparison point when a big-budget live-service game launches in a messy state, pointing at Anthem's loot bug boycott and the Schreier exposé as the reference case for how quickly community sentiment can turn on a studio1.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (6)