Anthem’s ignominious fall from “BioWare’s next big thing” to “oh dear” hasn’t hit rock bottom just yet, as today it was announced that the game is being added to EA’s subscription catalogues.
Both EA Access and Origin Access subscribers will be able to download and play the base game for free as of today across PS4, Xbox One and PC, with Origin Premier customers (who already had access to the base game) getting upgraded to the fancier Legion of Dawn edition instead.
Anthem, a new IP from Mass Effect and Dragon Age creators BioWare, was only released in February of this year. Its development was a nightmare, its review scores were middling, and after delays its major updates haven’t been worth the wait.
Still, to see it hit EA Access today alongside other games like Yooka-Laylee and *checks notes* Ultimate Chicken Horse is wild.
It’d be easy to write this off as just another rung the game is hitting on its way down the ladder to oblivion, but who knows, in this day and age there’s no telling what can happen to a game after launch. Fortnite, Warframe and Rainbow Six: Siege all survived so-so releases to end up thriving, and by landing on EA and Origin Access and getting access to a playerbase that didn’t have to pay full retail price to get their hands on it, Anthem might get the boost it needs to turn things around.
Or...it might not.