By now, we’re all well aware thatAnthem will be taken offline on July 19, 2025. As frustrating as this is for the community that stuck with it, this is hardly surprising, as the live service proved to bea huge miss for BioWare. However, what you may not have realised is that it’s already been pulled from stores, making it impossible to buy, and making EA Play the only legitimate way to pick it up.
Now, even that is going to be taken away from us. Anthem is leaving EA Play on August 15, something EA had already admitted to when it revealed that Anthem was shutting down. Reading between the lines, this means that anyone who hadn’t already purchased Anthem will be completely out of luck from August 15, and the game will only be playable for those who already bought it before it was removed from storefronts.
You’ve Only Got Two Weeks To Play Anthem If You Haven’t Already
If you were planning to check Anthem out before the shutdown date, you only have two weeks to have your fun. After it’s removed from EA Play, you won’t be able to play it anymore, even as those who own the game are able to play until next January.
Well, it feels inaccurate to say that those who purchased Anthem outright actually own the game, either. Even though they get more time, the game will be rendered completely unplayable from January, as EA has no plans to roll out any kind of offline mode before it shuts down the servers. Fans have beenpetitioning for EA to leave Anthem in a somewhat accessible state, but this seemsincredibly unlikely at this stage. Furthermore, there will be no refunds for the game or any microtransactions purchased while playing.
This has only served to emboldenthe Stop Killing Games movement, as we see yet another major publisher make a game inaccessible. This not only raises questions about game ownership, but also rids us of work created by game devs over the course of several years. If Stop Killing Games is successful, then future live services may be compelled to launch with an exit strategy in mind for when the servers are shut down, letting us still play the game without official support.
