Mark Darrah Reflects on Anthem’s Legacy Amid Shutdown
Mark Darrah, who spent over two decades as BioWare’s executive producer, recently took a moment to defend the studio’s ambitious yet ultimately unsuccessful venture into the looter-shooter genre via Anthem. During an interview with Destin Legarie, Darrah shared insights on the game’s shutdown and the mixed reactions that followed its launch.
When prompted to clarify any misconceptions, he recalled how many would come “out of the woodwork” post-launch, saying things like, “‘See, I told you so'” or insisting that “‘BioWare should have never made Anthem because they are a single-player RPG maker.'” Darrah countered this narrative, pointing out that BioWare has a history of evolution. He remarked, “My feeling is that BioWare’s always been changing. I mean, by that argument, we should have never made Neverwinter Nights because we were a 2D RPG maker. We should never have made Mass Effect because we were a tactical RPG maker, not an action RPG maker. So, I don’t know that that argument holds a lot of weight for me. Studios evolve and they try new things. Was Anthem too big of a reach? Yeah, for sure. But could you tell at the time? I don’t know. I don’t know that you could.”
Darrah also acknowledged that while “it’s easy to blame EA,” the issues with Anthem weren’t solely the publisher’s doing. “Certainly they deserve a bunch of blame for Anthem, but it’s not all their fault,” he stated. The game met its unfortunate end this week as the servers were shut down, leading to further conversations from initiatives like Stop Killing Games. They emphasized, “You as the customer should have the final say as to when you’re done with a game, not the company.”
With this closure, it’s clear that the Anthem experience will be reflected on for years to come, sparking discussions about the nature of risk in game development and the evolving expectations of players.