Anthem delayed to 2019 - Report

BioWare's Anthem was announced at last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo with a fall 2018 release window, but studio owner Electronic Arts has pushed it back to early 2019, according to a Kotaku report.

Kotaku attributed news of the delay to three people close to the development of Anthem, with one of them saying the original release window was "never realistic."

Beyond time constraints, BioWare developers said they were under greater pressure to deliver with Anthem thanks to a number of other recent events throughout the games industry. For example, the disappointing sales of last year's Mass Effect Andromeda and the subsequent folding of BioWare Montreal into EA Motive had at least one source worried that if Anthem doesn't fulfill EA's expectations that the remaining BioWare studios in Edmonton and Austin, both of which are now focused on Anthem, could be in line for a significant overhaul.

The developers were also mindful about perceptions surrounding EA after last holiday season's launch of Star Wars: Battlefront II and the accompanying controversy over loot boxes. In particular, a pair of Anthem developers were concerned about the way some prominent YouTube personalities have jumped on the game and cast EA as a villain, saying it demoralizes the team.

While BioWare is focused on Anthem at the moment, it has not stopped work on other projects entirely. It still supports the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, although the Kotaku report notes there have been discussions about possibly pulling the plug on that. Additionally, BioWare has another Dragon Age in the works (reportedly with "more 'live' elements"), but that project was rebooted recently.

An EA representative declined to comment on the report.