Bioware’s general manager Casey Hudson took to the company blog to publish studio update, promising an “exciting year” ahead for the studio. According to Hudson, this update is going to be the first in a series, for the purposes of discussing progress on upcoming games (which at this time is Anthem), and Hudson’s “vision for Bioware.” If you’ve been following recent changes at the studio, you might know that Hudson returned to the studio last July following his first departure a few years ago. “The idea of leading the company that I was part of building for so long, and returning to work on the game worlds that I love, was one I couldn’t pass up,” Hudson wrote of his recent return to Bioware.
According to the studio update, Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s shaky reception has been a main impetus in “refocusing Bioware’s vision,” as one of the studio’s frustrations with continuing work on the game ending as it did was Bioware’s inability to provide additional story DLC for players. “There was a significant movement among players asking for a story DLC that would answer questions surrounding the fate of the quarians. As you know, we were not able to deliver story DLC for Andromeda—this was as frustrating for us as it was for players, and it was something we knew we had to solve in future games,” wrote Hudson. “We need to delight players with new experiences and innovation, but we must stay focused on the importance of the world, character, and storytelling elements that players expect from our games. And our games must be designed to continue delivering new stories and experiences, in an ongoing relationship with players in the worlds we’re evolving together.”
This idea, a major emphasis on the story and character elements that Bioware is known for, is at the forefront of Bioware’s mission moving forward in the development of Anthem. Hudson promised that Anthem will be “unlike anything you’ve played, but if we do it right, it will feel very distinctly BioWare.”
It seems more is coming down the line from Bioware, as Hudson concluded this first update by writing that the next would concern the studio’s updated mission, and how it affects both Anthem and the games that will follow. Anthem is currently expected to release in 2019, so we’ve got some time to see how this refocusing effort unfolds.