Former BioWare exec says BioWare is now a “one-project studio” as Anthem servers shut down

Former BioWare executive Mark Darrah has defended the studio’s decision to make Anthem after servers for the online multiplayer action RPG closed on January 12, 2026.

Following the server closure, Darrah was featured in a 40-minute interview with YouTuber Destin Legarie. During the interview, he discusses the game’s development and the challenges faced due to the game being underresourced.

He stated how “BioWare has effectively become a one-project studio, which has its own problems. But it’s a different set of problems than what BioWare has been up until arguably 2022, which is several projects fighting for attention and resources.”

“As far as I can tell, 100% of what they’re working on is Mass Effect. That’s probably for the best.”

You can watch the full interview below:

Towards the end of the interview, Darrah defended the studio’s choice to branch out from their tactical RPG comfort zone.

“But my feeling is that BioWare has always been changing. I mean, by that argument, we should never have made Neverwinter Knights 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.”

Darrah continued: “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.”

Following Anthem’s release on February 19, 2022, the game received mixed reviews from both critics and fans for technical issues and a lack of content at launch. 

Although a plan to reboot the gameplay was announced in 2020, these plans were canceled in 2021 when decision-makers opted to focus on future Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles. 

Despite the hard choice to make the developers’ work inaccessible, their choice to shelve Anthem may be a promising sign to the many who have been anticipating the long-awaited continuation of the Mass Effect series.