The long story of BioWare’s ambitious yet troubled looter-shooter is finally near its conclusion. Electronic Arts has confirmed that the servers for Anthem will go offline on January 12, 2026. This marks the complete closure of the online-only game. Once viewed as the future of the studio, this final shutdown serves as a sad ending to a decade of development, high hopes, and, ultimately, missed opportunities.
Launched in 2019, Anthem represented a significant change for a developer known mostly for single-player RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. While the game initially impressed fans with its flight mechanics and vibrant environments, it soon suffered from a lack of endgame content and technical issues. Despite BioWare’s early promises to improve the game—an effort known internally as Anthem NEXT—EA decided to cancel this redevelopment in 2021. The game has since been in maintenance mode and is now nearing its end.
The upcoming shutdown has reignited discussions about game preservation and the risks of “live service” models. Anthem requires a constant connection to EA’s servers to run. Because of this deadline, the game will become completely unplayable. Unlike traditional games that can be enjoyed offline for years, Anthem’s digital world will effectively disappear, leaving players who spent hundreds of hours in their Javelin suits with no way to access the game they bought.
As BioWare focuses entirely on the next entries in Dragon Age and Mass Effect, the end of Anthem serves as a warning about the industry’s move toward online-only games. For the small but dedicated community still exploring the jungles of Bastion, the next few days offer a final chance to fly. Once the clock strikes midnight on the 12th, one of the most costly and talked-about projects in modern gaming history will officially be part of the past.
