When is Anthem shutting down?

Anthem, the multiplayer sci-fi shooter from BioWare, is officially shutting down after over five years. This news was announced via an official blog on EA's website. Anthem is scheduled to shut down on January 12, 2026, which surprised many in the community. While the game never really hit its stride, it still has a small and dedicated fan base that enjoyed it.

On that note, here’s everything you need to know about why the game is possibly shutting down.

Why is Anthem shutting down? Possibilities explored

Anthem was developed by BioWare, the studio behind classics such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and published by EA. For those who don't know, we play as Freelancers in the world of Coda, where we fight against threats that put humanity in danger.

Looking for Crossword hints & solutions? Check out latest NYT Mini Crossword Answers, LA Times Crossword Answers, and Atlantic Crossword Answers

During the launch, in February 2019, Anthem was full of bugs, incomplete features, and various other issues. Due to this, the game received mixed reviews and many fans labeled it as unfinished. In June 2019, Andrew Wilson, the CEO of EA, acknowledged that the game failed to keep players engaged, but stated they would still keep it running for a while.

BioWare tried to improve the game since then, but the damage was done, and it never fully recovered. The game's condition worsened when its biggest overhaul update, Anthem Next, was cancelled in 2021 due to numerous reasons. And now, the final decision has been made by BioWare and Electronic Arts. While there's no official reason given, it looks like the game is shutting down due to maintenance costs and low player count. In the official blog, EA confirmed that nobody from BioWare is being laid off.

For those wondering, the game can't be played offline, even if you bought it. Once the servers are gone, the access to the game will be completely gone. Additionally, it will be removed from the EA Play playlist on August 15, 2025.

Read more articles here:

About the author

Harshit Singh is a gaming journalist at Sportskeeda, with Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, and Marvel Rivals being his areas of specialization. A final-year B.Des (Visual Communication) student at Delhi Technological University, he is always eager to pursue creative endeavors. Harshit aims to deliver news and up-to-date content promptly to players around the globe. To that end, he acquires information from reliable forums and social media pages and religiously tracks the latest coverage of Fortnite — a game he has been playing since 2018. He is often found testing the new meta in-game or spectating competitive tournaments.

Harshit holds a deep love for video games, which stemmed from the hours he spent playing GTA Vice City, NFS Most Wanted 2005, FlatOut 2, and Total Overdose in his school days. Currently, he is veering towards story-driven, single-player games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of his favorites.

Harshit is an ardent fan of esports titles like CS, Rocket League, and Valorant, with Fnatic, EDG, G2, and Astralis being a few of his favorite orgs. Counter-Strike pro Xantares and Benjifishy, an esports athlete who has mastered both Fortnite and Valorant, are inspirational figures for him.

Harshit works as a music producer under the alias Hysaze. He is extremely passionate about EDM and has garnered over 40 million streams across all platforms. He is also a regular contributor to Fandom’s EDM Wiki.

Know More

Are you stuck on today's Wordle? Our Wordle Solver will help you find the answer.

Edited by Adarsh J Kumar