BioWare said a few months ago that Anthem will be going through a major overhaul, and it appears that developers are hard at work on that project as they have not found time to remove the Christmas decorations in the game’s main hub.
The Christmas decorations in Anthem‘s Fort Tarsis were added as part of the Icetide event, which launched in December. However, two months later in February, the decor remains, just like a neighbor who refuses to end the holiday season.
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A tweet by GamesRadar Editor-in-Chief Sam Loveridge went viral after he pointed out that the Christmas decorations were still up at Fort Tarsis, which some players took as a sign that BioWare has abandoned Anthem. If the developers could not make the removal of the decorations happen after weeks since the end of the holidays, how could they deliver updates, both big and small, for Anthem?
Fortunately for the remaining Anthem players, there is an acceptable explanation of why Fort Tarsis is stuck with the Christmas decorations. BioWare said January 22 in the game’s 1.6.2 update notes that Icetide has been extended to run through February, possibly to give players the chance to experience the event minus glitches that were patched up. With the decor connected to Icetide, that explains why the twinkling lights are still up.
While Christmas decorations in February are strange, at the very least, it should not be considered as a sign that BioWare has given up on Anthem. The planned changes for the game have not yet been specified though, with speculation ranging from a massive patch, a complete overhaul of the game, and a re-launch similar to what happened with Final Fantasy XIV.
The changes that BioWare is working on for Anthem reportedly include new mission structures, a revamped loot system, breaking the map into smaller ones, and no longer requiring players to return to Fort Tarsis between missions.
In the most recent earnings call of publisher Electronic Arts, the current status and future of Anthem were not mentioned. BioWare has gone silent, but the players rooting for the game to recover from its disastrous launch should remain faithful that there are better days ahead for the futuristic looter shooter.
