If we look back last year, Electronic Arts, the main publisher and owner of studios such as BioWare and Respawn Entertainment, took a hell of a beating after the Star Wars: Battlefront II microtransactions and loot boxes issues. It seems that BioWare’s upcoming online-focused RG Anthem is highly affected by the backlash that the other EA titles have been getting – especially Star Wars: Battlefront II and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
In an insider report published by Jason Schreier of Kotaku, the studio behind the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises is considered to be a “single-game studio”. Most notable developers of the studio left especially after the closure of BioWare Montreal. According to a BioWare employee, the “stakes are higher than they ever have.” If the studio fails to meet EA’s expectations after Anthem launches, the fate of the studio will not end very well – which was also the primary reason that led BioWare Montreal’s closure and some of its employees absorbed to EA Motive.
While both the Austin and Edmonton studios of BioWare are fully focused on the development of Anthem, some of its employees are still affected by what happened to EA’s bigger franchises especially after Aaryn Flynn, BioWare’s studio head, left the company.
Anthem looks interesting and the kind that makes people excited, but that’s before the microtransaction debacle. We hope that Anthem will take its place, meet expectations, and hopefully won’t have any inclusion of “predatory” business practices.
Source: Kotaku