Anthem game director Jonathan Warner has left BioWare. The games maker was with the Canadian studio for almost ten years. His departure follows shortly after the complete shutdown of work on the Anthem revision.
In addition to Anthem, Warner also worked on Mass Effect, Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. He does not specifically state what he is going to do now; he sticks to ‘continuing to do new things’. Furthermore, he states in his goodbye on Twitter that “Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic are in good hands.”
Anthem, his latest game, was plagued with so many problems that publisher Electronic Arts promised to release a completely modified version of the game after its release in 2019. This one would be free of the bugs that the game has, but also reduce the grind and improve the feel of the weapons. However, work on ‘Anthem Next’ was finally halted last month; BioWare has to prioritize due to the corona virus and the many working from home and Anthem is drawing the short straw. The focus is on the upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect games.
The development of Anthem took almost seven years, according to developers, although the production phase only started in the last 18 months. Studio staff reported that the game’s development was characterized by indecision, mismanagement, and technical difficulties due to Frostbite engine’s shortcomings.
General manager Casey Hudson and Dragon Age producer Mark Darrah also left BioWare in December. Both of those two worked for the Canadian game maker for about twenty years.