BioWare veteran Mark Darrah defends Anthem’s development

Mark Darrah, a BioWare veteran who worked at the studio for 24 years, has defended the developer’s decision to move into multiplayer games with Anthem.

Speaking to Destin Legarie, the game’s executive producer responded to commentary regarding Anthem’s recent shutdown, which said that the studio should have stuck to the single-player RPGs that it has been known for in recent years rather than trying something different with Anthem. Darrah argued that BioWare has also always been changing as a developer.

Darrah departed BioWare in 2021 alongside general manager, Casey Hudson.

“I mean, by that argument, we should have never made Neverwinter Nights because we were a 2D RPG maker,” Darrah said.

“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 addressed some of the criticisms that publisher and BioWare parent company Electronic Arts has received regarding Anthem, adding: “It’s easy to blame EA and certainly they deserve a bunch of blame for Anthem, but it’s not all their fault.”

Darrah’s remarks echo those made by the game’s director John Warner, who told GamesIndustry.biz in 2018 – ahead of Anthem’s launch in 2019 – saying that this wasn’t necessarily a huge departure from BioWare’s previous games.

“If you look at BioWare games on a spectrum, from Baldur’s Gate to Neverwinter, and Jade Empire to Knights of the Old Republic, to Mass Effect and Dragon Age, you’ll see that the games have always been about evolving our technique and storytelling… so the way that we look at it, Anthem is not a departure, it’s the continued evolution of our craft and our technique,” he said.

“I think once players get their hands on it and dive in they are going to find a world that is well realised and full of rich characters that you’re going to want to get to know, and you’ll be the hero of your own story, and honestly that is the heart and soul of a BioWare experience.”

Anthem launched in February 2019 to mixed reviews and missed its sales targets. BioWare said it was going to revise the game’s core loop a year after its release, before putting together an “incubation team” to work on a new version of the RPG. BioWare stopped working on Anthem in February 2021.

EA announced in July 2025 that it would be taking Anthem offline in January 2026.