During the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 a few months ago BioWare and Electronic Arts (EA) revealed their latest project, an action role-playing game (RPG) called Anthem. This weekend a photo has emerged on Twitter indicating the developer is experimenting with a possible virtual reality (VR) version.
More party! pic.twitter.com/MJgNBAsbun
— Jay Watamaniuk (@JayWatamaniuk) December 16, 2017
BioWare writer Jay Watamaniuk (Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect: Andromeda) tweeted a photo inside a party BioWare was having – presumably for Christmas. Now if you look closely on the far left-hand side you might be able to make out a stand with Anthem VR emblazoned across the top.
Now just because an internal party has an Anthem VR booth doesn’t mean to say the studio’s working on an actual consumer VR experience. This could have very well been made for the party, allowing staff to immerse themselves in some of the environments.
The closest indication that this is just BioWare having some fun came from Reddit, with a Redditor saying on a post: “Got a chance to try it. It was a cool experience but no, it was internal staff only and not something meant to be shipped. But who knows, maybe if it gets enough demand they’ll make a promotional experience or something.”
Anthem is being poised as BioWare’s next big, long running RPG, similar to Activision and Bungie shooter Destiny. During E3 2017 Gamerant reported that EA’s executive VP Patrick Soderlund said: “Anthem is a social game where you and your friends go on quests and journeys. 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.”
With plans stretching that far ahead the idea of VR experiments to see how the IP could use immersive tech isn’t that far fetched. When you consider industry giants like Bethesda Game Studios have already brought big IP’s like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR to headsets this year and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) claiming 2 million PlayStation VR’s have been sold, the industry is certainly growing and making more people take notice.
Should anything come of Anthem VR VRFocus will let you know.