Electronic Arts has made plenty of successful games, but also many that missed the mark with fans. Some failed so spectacularly that they became the source of ire for even those outside their audience, developing a negative reputation that stained them forever. However, even these kind of games can gain some loyal followers, prompting far more support than many would agree is necessary.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“Flops” for game launches can be due to a variety of factors, ranging from drastic performance issues on release to lackluster features that fail to live up to initial promises. Over-indulgence on microtransactions have also led to bad word of mouth regarding certain games, something that EA has experienced multiple times. Normally, these type of situations lead to games being shut down prematurely, but a select few stay active for improvements, updates, or simply retain small communities that defy their many criticisms.
EA’s Anthem Has Been The Subject Of A Recent Fan Revival Project
2019 saw perhaps the biggest failed EA launch ever with Anthem, an online multiplayer action RPG that had far too many problems to succeed. For starters, horrible technical bugs caused frequent crashes, while the gameplay wasn’t something that captured player interest. Repetitive mission design, overly complicated menus, performance obstacles, and an unrewarding loop to rewards and endgame all caused Anthem to flop harder than nearly every other EA game.
The sheer magnitude of poor fan reception to Anthem cancelled any fixes, with a rumored 2.0 version of the game scrapped in 2021. Yet, despite the many negatives of Anthem, some fans are still trying to keep it alive. According to an article by PC Gamer, members of the subreddit for Anthem has been working on attempts to keep Anthem‘s servers alive. Since EA shut down the servers recently on January 12, 2026, some dedicated fans are trying to obtain the right code to preserve Anthem outside of EA support.
Highlighted by YouTuber And799, efforts have shown Anthem being back online with multiple players logged in, but for now, steps are preliminary at best as the EA servers went down little over a week ago. In theory, the server code for Anthem was still “there to be salvaged and recovered” based on statements made by former executive producer Mark Darrah. Server testing shown in the YouTube video are promising, but only the first steps of what is sure to be a lengthy project.
Only the most dedicated loyalists to EA’s disastrous title seem to be involved with this effort, using minute hacking methods to get anything up and running at all. Most of what is being done seems to be with an optimism that EA will eventually restore Anthem‘s servers, but to many, they were kept on long enough already in the first place.
Extreme Player Efforts For A Private Server May Be Better Served Elsewhere
Getting Anthem to work after the server shutdown is no easy feat, and could easily be derailed by EA with a quick cease and desist. The fact remains that even if any revival server does get made, it is unlikely to attract a great number of players to a game that already struggled to get any sort of dedicated audience upon its release. Anthem is not like other EA flops like Star Wars Battlefront 2, which got much better over time with updates and fresh content.
The multitude of problems present in Anthem makes it worth wondering if the game deserves so many fans attempting to revive it. There aren’t many features in a live service title that you can access with only a handful of active players, even if it is an impressive feat to get past EA’s servers closing. With so much technical knowledge pouring into the preservation of Anthem, other titles with larger fan bases may benefit more from their servers being reactivated instead.
At the very least, Anthem‘s surprisingly dedicated fans has kept the lights on for now in its community. Moderators for the game’s subreddit have experienced push back against archiving the channel, mainly due to the revival project. Like it or not, Anthem is a piece of gaming history at this point, representing a pile of mistakes that developers can use as a warning to prevent their games from going down the same path. If the servers are still accessible, so too is the information within Anthem to showcase its many faults.
Regardless of any benefit as an example, letting Anthem die feels more natural to the game’s story than anything else. Failed projects often don’t get second chances, but it can always be surprising what fans will cling onto, whether it makes sense or not.
What game do you think should have its servers revived instead of Anthem? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Valve -
Image Courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Courtesy of Shueisha
