Anthemwill shut down in January 2026. The game’s had a good long run, despite, well… everything. Even when it launched, people seemed to have more funoffering hot takesabout Anthem than actually playing it.
“After careful consideration,” EA’sofficial update postreads, “we will be sunsetting Anthem on August 24, 2025. As of today, you’re able to no longer purchase in-game premium currency, but you can still use your remaining balance until the servers go offline.”
So, between now and January 12th, the game will be stuck in one final round of limbo. Not making money, not asking anything of players beyond their time. EA clarifies that the game will no longer be playable in any capacity following the shutdown date.
We deeply appreciate your dedication, passion and support over the years and we’d like to thank you for that.
Anthem is, at this point, a fairly old game - having been released in 2019. After the first couple years of its life, development of new content was halted. For the majority of Anthem’s time in this world, it has always lingered near the edge of finality. Now, that edge is in sight.
The timing of this announcement has not gone unnoticed by players at large.The Stop Killing Games petitionjust reached its goal of 1 million signatures - an initiative that may make it impossible for EA to do what it’s attempting now.
Stop Killing Games Petition Scores Stoppage Time Winner, But Audit Threatens Success
Stop Killing Games has nearly secured the signatures it needs to compel the EU to hold companies accountable for games, but it needs more.
Stop Killing Games still faces some challenges before it can become legislated, butsome players speculatethat EA is trying to get ahead of the curve.
Considering that Stop Killing Games' success is fairly recent news to everyone involved, and that EA’s calculus is likely not a spur-of-the-moment thing, this could very well be a coincidence. It’s a funny one, at least.
Though many players are requesting a way to play Anthem offline, EA seems unlikely to heed that call.
Industry Layoffs And Anthem
Another interesting bit of timing is the game industry’s latest wave of mass layoffs at Xbox. If that topic has created a bit of a sore spot for you, EA does end their post with something a bit less grim. Apparently, no layoffs atBioWarehave occurred as a result of Anthem’s shutdown.
It’s not especially surprising - after all, the game had long since ceased active development - but it did at least need people to keep the lights on for all those years. Moving a crew that small to another studio wouldn’t be that hard, even assuming they had Anthem-specific devs working on the game at all.
Anthem Reminded Me Why I Loved Destiny, But Also Why I Quit
From Guardians to Javelins, EA and BioWare have a lot of work to do to make Anthem stand apart.
