The highly anticipated multiplayer shooter, Anthem, has been delayed into 2019. The game was originally slated to release towards the end of 2018 although EA has today confirmed that the new release date will be in early 2019.
— Sarah E. Needleman (@saraheneedleman) January 30, 2018
What is particularly interesting about this delay is the rumours surrounding the cause of delay and the weird and almost defensive way EA is handling things. Naturally many people are speculating that the push back is because the game is running into problems within its development, that EA and Bioware don’t want to rush the release after Mass Effect: Andromeda’s less than stellar debut, or because EA are looking to change up their microtransaction model after the backlash against Star Wars: Battlefront II. Jumping head first into the firing line, EA have already responded denying these rumours and claiming it is a mere matter of timing. Releasing Anthem at the end of the year alongside their other huge game, Battlefield, isn’t as smart as releasing it at a less busy time. Obviously the extra development time will help too.
The funniest part of the official statement is the wording “it’s not a delay” by EA’s Finance Chief, Blake Jorgensen. If changing a product’s release date from Q4 2018 to Q1 2019 isn’t a delay, then I don’t know what is. Nor do I really understand why it’s a problem to push a game’s release date back in the first place? We are gamers, surely we are used to this by now.
Anthem is now expected early 2019. What do you make of all of this delay hullabaloo?
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Elliot Attard
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Beer aficionado, PC gamer, TV show binge-watcher, music lover, and elite member of high society - Elliot possesses all of the qualities needed to project his word thoughts straight into your eye holes.
