EA Plans To Support Anthem For The Long Term

While Mass Effect: Andromeda may not have lived up to the lofty expectations of Electronic Arts, that isn't stopping the mega-publisher from working with BioWare on its new project, Anthem.

In fact, EA has just revealed that it has a long-term plan to support the forthcoming sci-fi game – a ten-year plan, to be exact. If that sounds like something you've heard before, that's because it's the same plan that Activision set up with Bungie when it came to all things Destiny.

"Anthem is a social game where you and your friends go on quests and journeys," said EA's executive vice president Patrick Soderlund, speaking with Game Rant. "It's a game that we've been working on for almost four years now, and once we launch it next year, I think it'll be the start of a ten-year journey for us."

The game got some major exposure last weekend, when it was initially revealed during EA's PLAY presentation, before going on to get more extended gameplay footage shown off during Microsoft's E3 press conference.

Anthem certainly has some similar traits to the Mass Effect series, but BioWare is putting a lot on the line wth this one, offering more mobility as you move around in an exosuit, along with different personalities that add a refreshing change of pace from the usual adventure games.

In Anthem, you portray a Freelancer, who's sent on a series of missions across the universe, taking on enemies as you explore new areas in the name of galactic peace – a job that's easier said than done, based on what we've seen thus far. The game looks to have a lot of gameplay elements that will take advantage of BioWare's development prowess, though we still haven't gone hands-on with it just yet.

It sounds like EA has a lot of confidence in the title, despite, again, Andromeda not quite performing up to standard. But with a fresh new franchise, the publisher and BioWare have a good chance of starting over again, winning back the trust of players with something new and innovative.

We'll see how Anthem shapes up when it arrives early next year for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.