Anthem’s Launch Was “Tough”, Says Former Developer

Anthem’s launch has been turbulent. Though the game managed to sell reasonably well, it was plagued with overwhelmingly negative reviews and broken mechanics; adding insult to injury was a report last week that came out and shed light on just how troubled and rudderless its development had been.

Watching all of this has been rather troubling on the outside. And if it’s that difficult for us, it’s probably been worse for people who were actually involved with the game. These include former BioWare General Manager, Aaryn Flynn, who worked on Anthem until 2017. Speaking to Game Informer, Flynn said that watching the troubled launch had been “tough”, also suggesting that the game had had to be rushed out to meet the fiscal year deadline.

“Surreal is a good word for it,” he said. “It’s tough but at the same time I know they’re working so hard on it. Mixed emotions, surreal – those are all good words [for what I’m feeling]. Fiscal years are fiscal years. You don’t have to squint too hard to know what’s going on.”

It does make sense—Flynn spent years of his life working on this game, and he knows just how hard everyone at BioWare worked too. Obviously no one set out to make a mediocre game—the game turned out mediocre in spite of their best efforts. To then see the fruit of their labors be mauled so relentlessly has to have been disheartening for everyone involved.

Anthem is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.