BioWare Reportedly Planning Total Redesign of Anthem

According to sources close to the project, BioWare is planning a complete overhaul of online shooter Anthem.

A new report from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier says the company is planning a tip-to-toe redesign of the game. The changes are supposedly so vast in scope that the project is being referred to internally as “Anthem 2.0” or “Anthem Next,” and BioWare is even considering releasing the revised game as a new title altogether. The team is apparently redesigning “the loot, the quests, the social aspects of the game, the difficulty, the progression system, and the world map.” Some rumored plans include breaking up the game’s single large map into numerous smaller areas and overhauling the mission structure so that players don’t have to return to their home base after every single run.

Anthem was first released in February, after a prolonged and difficult production. When it finally did come out, critics and audiences were unimpressed, describing the game as buggy, lacking in content, and heavy on tedious grind. Over the next few months the game’s player base dwindled, and key staff members, including lead producer Ben Irving, started leaving the company. Some had believed till now that BioWare and publisher EA were going to let the game die on the vine.

The redesign is reportedly at an early stage, with no concrete plans yet laid down. It’s also unclear whether the redesign will take the form of one large update, the way Square Enix fixed the disappointing-at-launch Final Fantasy XIV all at once, or whether the changes will be rolled out slowly, like how No Man’s Sky has slowly built itself up one expansion at a time in the years since its original launch.

BioWare is currently developing the fourth Dragon Age game, which isn’t expected until at least 2022.