Anthem Transitions to Seasonal Updates as Future Looks Murky

The future of BioWare's mech suit looter shooter Anthem has seemed tenuous for a while, and an update today hasn't done much to establish the goalposts moving forward.

BioWare head of live service Chad Robertson wrote today in a blog post that Anthem is moving away from the "Acts" structure for its updates, instead aiming for a seasonal update structure that will deliver challenges and chases "similar to what you've seen." But more notably, Robertson doesn't give much indication of what's ahead in the long-term for Anthem.

Anthem is in a state of uncertainty at this point. The launch of its anticipated Cataclysm event didn't go quite as well as players hoped, though some fans seem to have enjoyed it over time as BioWare adjusted it. One of its leads recently departed the studio, and just last week, Anthem joined the lineup of games in the EA Access vault.

Without a clear direction ahead, the purported seven-to-ten-year cycle seems murky at best. If the scale is rolling back, I hope this means a Realm Reborn-style reboot of the game is in the cards. Whatever Anthem could be, it's now hopefully got the space it needs to define a way forward.