# Anthem 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. ## Overview Anthem is an online co-op action RPG from BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts that launched on February 22nd, 2019[1]. The game pairs an open sci-fi world with squad-based online play, and drew immediate comparisons to Bungie's Destiny[2]. It shipped with a Metacritic score of 55[6], BioWare's lowest-rated release since the studio was founded in 1995[1]. 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 wrong[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 3rd[3]. 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 reveal[4]. 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 intended[2]. Players loved it, since the entire point of the endgame is grinding for those tiers, but BioWare rolled the change back within hours[2]. 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 upvotes[4]. 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 hours[1]. 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 crunch[5]. ## How to Use "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 studio[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Anthem? 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]. ## References 1. [https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964]() 2. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2019/03/12/anthem-players-are-staging-a-boycott-to-send-a-redundant-message-to-bioware/]() 3. [https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/08/anthem-open-demo-february-1st/]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anthem]() 5. [https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/04/02/bioware-respond-to-reports-of-anthem-development-hell/]() 6. [https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/anthem]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/anthem Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library