BioWare‘s Anthem was developed and forcefully released within a span of 15 months, contributing to the game becoming a high-profile flop. That’s according to former developer Ian Saterdalen, who revealed that Anthem’s development team was made to work 90 hours a week for 15 months to launch the title.
How EA and BioWare’s management made Anthem flop
In a series of tweets, Saterdalen revealed that Anthem’s developers knew that the game wasn’t ready for release. However, decisions were made above their pay grades, eventually throwing them under the bus.
Saterdalen says that despite the short development time for Anthem, management expectations were high and developers felt the unreasonable pressure. The persistent 90-hour work weeks took its toll on them, with Saterdalen revealing that it personally cost him his marriage and left him requiring therapy.
Saterdalen believes that had BioWare’s management and EA kept Anthem’s scope in check, the game would have turned out to be great. He thinks that Anthem 2.0/Next was on the right track before it was shelved.
There is a lot of nuance and its hard to convey everything in tweets. Reddit thread: https://t.co/lpdgLZ1Yzo…Please be nice to each other and bring positivity. Life is too short. I will not be able to reply after today as I need to get back to reality. All the best, Ian2/2— Ian Saterdalen (@Vekyo) May 30, 2023
Saterdalen added that despite its shortcomings, Anthem 2.0 had potential and developers were “gutted” when it was canceled. He also floated the idea of Titanfall and Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment handling the IP.