After pinning short-term updates and expansions to focus on a “long-term redesign” of the game, EA announced today that it will cancel its planned game overhaul Hymn, called Anthem Next. But the company plans to keep Hymnlive service running “as it exists today”.
“In the spirit of transparency and closure, we would like to share that we have made the difficult decision to stop our new development work in Hymn (also known as Hymn NEXT), ”Said BioWare executive producer Christian Dailey in a recent blog post. “We will, however, continue to keep Anthem’s active service functioning as it exists today.”
BioWare has other projects in progress, including Dragon Age 4. According BloombergJason Schreier, the small team that was working HymnThe redesign of now will be working following Dragon Age.
Hymn launched almost two years ago and received bad reviews, with the main criticisms coming from the lack of content, below average story and repetitive gameplay. A year after its launch, BioWare said it invested in improving the game with seasonal updates. But last year, then general manager Casey Hudson said he would pause short-term updates to reinvent the entire game. It was reported last May that an incubation team of around 30 people was tasked with reworking Hymn.
With support for Hymn in conclusion, BioWare’s open world shooting game will not receive a second chance. It is quite common for games to have difficulty launching, but several have changed things thanks to frequent updates, which was the case with Final Fantasy XIV and Nobody’s heaven.