BioWare and EA had high hopes for the MMO shooter Anthem. The trailers and the divine soundtrack by Sarah Schachner were impressive. The studio had been working on the game for 7 years, but instead of Destiny alternative from Bungie, it turned into a looter-shooter, where only flights worked well.

By the middle of 2022, it got to the point where stores were willing to give the game away for a token ¢1 to get rid of the discs that were taking up space. That’s what GameStop did this week.

The Kotaku journalists received no comment from the GameStop representatives, but they noted that the term pennying out should be familiar to the store employees. It’s what they call the final sale of merchandise, which then finally disappears from the shelves.

It paid 37 cents for this

Anthem sold for $60 at release, and some bought the game. The game is a major creative failure for BioWare. EA had planned to support Anthem for 10 years but, out of desperation, closed the game two years after release.

Anthem was announced at E3 2017, and the developers showed a beautiful demo with flights through a large-scale world and firefights. It soon turned out that Anthem’s plot was being written by Drew Karpishin, the screenwriter of KOTOR, Mass Effect, and a series of great books.

Anthem gameplay trailer from E3 2017

It is to be hoped that EA and BioWare have concluded the situation with the shooter and at least changed the approach to development. The studio has released two failed games in a row, and the subsequent release may be decisive.

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