BioWare's Anthem delayed to 2019, new Battlefield to launch this year instead

EA confirms the schedule change.

BioWare’s next big project, Anthem, was originally set to arrive in 2018, but Electronic Arts has confirmed that the release has been pushed back to 2019.

The confirmation comes following Kotaku’s report last week that inside sources had said the game would be delayed after falling behind schedule. EA has denied that this is the reason, but nonetheless the project has been delayed.

Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, EA’s finance chief Blake Jorgensen said that the move was “not a delay” but that the company wanted to release the title in a quieter quarter of the year to give it a better chance at success. The game is now scheduled for a Q4 release in the 2019 fiscal year.

To replace Anthem, EA will instead be launching a new Battlefield game in October this year, although beyond rumors of Bad Company 3, information on this year’s title is scarce.

© Battlefield 1/ Electronic Arts/ Fair Use
© Battlefield 1/ Electronic Arts/ Fair Use

Anthem’s delay was first revealed during a call to investors, which also put into question the future of the Battlefront series. So far, Battlefront and Battlefield had been working on an alternating yearly release cycle, which would set Star Wars Battlefront 3 for release in 2019. However, EA also acquired Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment for work on a secret Star Wars project.

“We have not, obviously, announced product for our fiscal 2020 yet but remember that we have a Star Wars action game that the Respawn team has been working on for the last couple of years,” Jorgensen said in the call. “And most likely that would drop in fiscal 2020 versus another Battlefront. We haven’t decided exactly timing for another Battlefront yet but clearly the next big Star Wars game would be the action game in fiscal 2020.”

From the sounds of it, Star Wars Battlefront 3 won’t be releasing in 2019, which might indicate some hesitancy following the backlash over loot boxes, microtransactions and the poor progression system, which led to the game selling worse than the original title.

The next year will prove interesting ground for EA (and BioWare), following the poor reception of Mass Effect Andromeda and Star Wars Battlefront 2. Without any information yet to go on, we’ll bring any news of the Battlefield title as soon as it arrives.

Associate Editor

Henry Stenhouse serves an eternal punishment as the Associate Editor of AllGamers. He spent his younger life studying the laws of physics, even going so far as to complete a PhD in the subject before video games stole his soul. Confess your love of Super Smash Bros. via email at henry@moonrock.biz, or catch him on Twitter.

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