Anthem Shutting Down Forever on January 12
It’s the end of the road for BioWare’s ill-fated online co-op action title, Anthem, as the game’s servers are set to be unplugged on Janaury 12, 2026. Leaning into EA’s online push, Anthem was a mixture of third person action with an online-only open world that was shared with other players. While it was propped up to be the next big BioWare game for EA, Anthem unfortunately was not able to live up to its lofty goals and now is set to be shut down for good.
Game preservation continues to be a hot topic within the community, with more and more online titles like Anthem at risk of being lost forever once the servers are shut down. In 2024, a movement known as Stop Killing Games took off, being established after UBisoft’s decision to delist its online racing title The Crew. The movement was able to generate a ton of awareness through a petition and even gained support from politicians like European Parliament Vice President Nicolae Stefanuta. Even with fans attempting to save Anthem in 2025 with a petition, the end has finally arrived for the online game.
Somehow, Concord Returned
A group of modders has brought Concord back online through custom servers more than a year after its shutdown, giving it an unexpected second life.
Anthem Shutdown Date
The end is near for Anthem as EA plans to officially shut down the servers in just a few days on January 12, 2026. Sadly, at this point, the game will be unplayable, even to those that were hoping to explore “offline” as Anthem is an online game, so pulling the plug will officially shut it down forever. For those who are invested in game preservation, even for a title as divisive as Anthem, January 12 will be a prime example of what they’re fighting for.
The shutdown for a major AAA game like Anthem is ultimately an unglorious end to its lifecycle. While BioWare established itself through huge franchises like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, the studio, under the leadership of Casey Hudson, attempted to take a big swing with an all-new IP known as Anthem. The live service, online-only, title combined flight suits known as Javelins that players could equip and build out with abilities while exploring an open world and taking on missions.
Unfortunately, Anthem didn’t have the impact that EA and BioWare were hoping for. Anthem largely launched to mixed reviews and while most people praised the flight and combat, the flawed title suffered from technical issues, repetitive missions, and shallow endgame activities which made the experience feel largely unfinished. Attempts were made to improve the game post-launch along with the addition of seasonal content, though plans were abandoned only a few months later.
However, that wasn’t the end of the story as EA sought to reboot Anthem, placing BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey in charge of a small team. Progress, while seemingly slow with minimal updates to the public, ultimately lasted less than a year, as EA announced that all future work would be discontinued, though the servers would be supported for the “foreseeable future” until it was confirmed on July 3, 2025 that the servers would be shut down officially on January 12, 2026.
For now, fans only have a handful of days left to experience the game, as a heavily requested offline mode for Anthem isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, if at all. It’s unknown if EA will ever take another swing at this IP in a brand-new game, though many fans are hoping the company finds a way to utilize the flight mechanics of the Javelins, which has consistently been one of the big highlights of Anthem since it launched.
- Released
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February 22, 2019
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Language, Mild Blood, Use of Tobacco, Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Electronic Arts