Anthem officially shuts down for good today, but it will forever be ‘the one that got away’ for those who loved its premise and promise alike

Goodbye, Anthem. We had the highest of hopes for you, and yet we hardly knew ye.

Today, Jan. 12, 2026, marks the official end of the doomed BioWare looter shooter as its servers shut down nearly seven years after its original launch, meaning the game is no longer accessible at all since it’s not playable offline. And I can’t help but feel somewhat melancholy about it, because it could have been tremendous.

Image via EA

Anthem was incredibly hyped up leading to its release in 2019. It was a new spin on the genre popularized by games like Destiny and Warframe, with a fun twist: Iron Man-like flight suits and aerial combat. It looked incredible.

But for a number of reasons, it did not work out. The story was lackluster, the progression wasn’t great, there were numerous bugs and optimization issues, and there was not a lot of good or interesting loot. Once you wrapped up the storyline, there was just not much left to do.

But I and many others stand by the fact that its base flying and shooting gameplay was its greatest strength. The flying mech suit fantasy was great fun, and flying from place to place and fighting enemies along the way was a joy. The map was pretty, too, and the game is still graphically really solid even in 2026.

I also really enjoyed the combat system, which used designated abilities like Primers (which applied a status effect) and Detonators (which triggered the primed status effect) to create a Combo for big damage on chunky enemies.

There were also four distinct models of the mech suits, called Javelins, each with its own fun play style. I was partial to the elemental-powered Storm Javelin, but the tank-like Colossus, the melee-based Interceptor, and the generalist Ranger were all fun to mess around with.

Image via EA

The game was just a massive missed opportunity, mismanaged from the beginning in many ways, and under-cooked in several areas. I really miss that Iron Man fantasy of flying around in co-op with friends. It had such good potential if the rest of the game was as fun or fleshed out.

BioWare and EA also clearly saw this potential, too, as it started development of “Anthem Next” in 2020. Announced a year after the game’s initial launch, the studio had plans to introduce a major overhaul to the base game with new challenges, progression, and rewards while keeping the solid foundational gameplay intact.

Unfortunately, in February 2021, it was announced that Anthem Next development was put on hold, and its developers spread out to other projects. Less than five years on, the game is now dead for good, and honestly, I will miss you, Anthem. Well, I will miss what you could have been. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the time I did have with it.

Apparently I got about 80 hours of play time out of Anthem, judging by what’s listed in the EA App. That’s definitely not too shabby. But I also can only imagine what those hours could have looked like if the game got the proper treatment and time it deserved.

I just wish there was more to what we got from Anthem, or at the very least, that EA will eventually re-use that sweet, satisfying aerial combat in its upcoming Iron Man game from Motive (still in the works, as of now).

Screenshot by Destructoid

What do you think, dear reader? Did you play Anthem, and if so, what did you think? Let us know in the comments about any memories you have with the game.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy