EA has teased more high level details on BioWare’s new IP, Anthem, which was announced last year and is in the works for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In the prepared remarks of EA’s latest earnings report today, CEO Andrew Wilson said Anthem is “stunning and ambitious,” adding that the game will offer “something entirely new” for games. He added that Anthem may have some kind of Early Access-style release, where BioWare launches an unfinished version of the game and makes changes over time based on fan feedback.
“Every dimension of this game will offer something entirely new for a wide audience of players–from a new universe with unique stories that BioWare is creating, to the cooperative gameplay, to the epic and beautiful environment that constantly evolves around players,” Wilson said.
A scene from BioWare’s E3 2017 reveal trailer
“Anthem is a fundamentally social experience, and we will open new ways for fans to join the community and play early, enabling us to shape and refine the game with their input and feedback. We’re deeply excited to launch this brand-new franchise, and equally excited to work with our players to make Anthem a game they can’t wait to play and share with their friends for years to come.”
Anthem is due out in early 2019, though it is not completely clear if this pertains to full release or when EA plans to put it out for the early play period that Wilson mentioned. It’s worth noting that the wording on Anthem’s early play period sounds like a step beyond the kind of early play that EA/Origin Access members get. Subscribers get to play most EA-published games around five days before their public release. If EA wants to have enough time to factor in fan feedback and make meaningful changes for Anthem, the early access period would theoretically have to be much longer than five days.
During a Q&A with analysts today, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said Anthem will launch during the last month of EA’s fiscal year, which means March 2019. Previously, all we knew was that the game was due out in early 2019.
In other news, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah recently confirmed he had joined the Anthem project, also in the role of executive producer. We’re expecting to learn more about Anthem during E3 2018 next month, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.