Electronic Arts has officially shut down the servers for Anthem, bringing the troubled BioWare title to a permanent end. As of today, January 12, 2026, the game is no longer playable in any form.
Originally released on February 22, 2019, Anthem was designed as an always-online live-service game, meaning all gameplay systems, missions, and progression were hosted on EA’s servers. With those servers now offline, the game has effectively ceased to exist.
Unlike traditional single-player games, Anthem never offered an offline mode. Even solo missions required a constant internet connection and server authentication. As a result, once EA pulled the plug, players lost access to all content, including the main story, co-op missions, and endgame activities.
EA had already removed Anthem from digital storefronts and EA Play months before the shutdown, while in-game purchases were disabled well in advance.
Developed by BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, Anthem launched with high expectations. Its iron-man-style flight mechanics, cooperative gameplay, and shared open world were praised early on.
In 2021, EA officially cancelled Anthem NEXT, a planned overhaul that was meant to revive the game. From that point on, Anthem was kept online in a maintenance-only state until today’s shutdown.
The closure has once again sparked discussions around digital ownership and live-service games, where access to a purchased title depends entirely on publisher-controlled servers.
Seven years after its release, Anthem exits quietly not with a final update or farewell event, but with servers simply going dark.
