BioWare is working with 30 people to overhaul Anthem and that is ‘long process’

Redesigning Anthem is going to take a long time. So says Christian Daley, the director of BioWare Austin. According to the CEO, a team of thirty people is working on renewing the game and it is still in an experimental phase.

It’s BioWare’s first update on Anthem’s upcoming major overhaul since the studio announced plans for it in February this year. The developer then promised to ‘redesign the game experience’ and it was also indicated that the team would be given time to test new gameplay.

Christian Dailey, who is in charge of the project, writes in a blog that an incubation team is overhauling the game. That team is experimenting and making prototypes, to try out how the game can be improved.

According to Daley, 30 developers are now working on the overhaul, calling it a small team and saying it will be a lengthy process. “The point is we take our time and go back to the drawing board. A small team gives us more agility than a large team can afford,” writes the studio director. Daley also says he wants to involve players more in the process and communicate clearly about the upcoming changes. The studio wants to do this, for example, with live streams or sharing concept art via social media.

Anthem came out in early 2019 and was largely negatively received due to technical issues and content shortcomings. BioWare made the game and EA released it. The development took almost seven years, but the production phase only started in the last eighteen months. According to employees, before that time major changes were made that made development more difficult and caused stress. Developers spoke of indecision and mismanagement.