BioWare is known for its various intellectual properties such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age, so starting from scratch on a new IP would understandably be quite the undertaking. BioWare's latest IP, Anthem, is unique when compared to past properties so BioWare's returning General Manager Casey Hudson recently participated in an interview discussing its origin.

According to Hudson, the inspiration for the Anthem project was a result of the shared experiences of fans of its two franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. While story-wise each of those games are single-player, each game provided a way for communities and friendships to form over the moments that occurred in each game. BioWare wanted to bring these moments together into a game that can actually be played with friends, thus Anthem was born.

However, filling the first blank page of a new IP isn't a simple process, so several pitches were received via a specific format, with a focus on the premise of the IP and a few other key points. Specific aspects of certain pitches were melded with others, so the creation of the game was highly collaborative.

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Once a specific premise was decided upon, the studio was able to fill in certain points, as it was no longer working with a "blank page." The studio decided upon the premise of survival in a chaotic and ever-changing world, which also led to the creation of the exo-suit Javelins that "basically turn [players] into an archetype of a superhero."

This gameplay hook - the shared experience of players in these heroic suits - is the essence of Bioware's new IP, Anthem. Upon Hudson's return to BioWare, he was impressed by the way the team managed to turn the many floating threads at its origin into something specific, and since his return to Anthem, Hudson and the team have been focused on meeting a certain tone and experience in the game. We here at Game Rant consider it to be one of the best games of E3 2018, and with the care the team took in the origins of Anthem, it will hopefully live up to the hype.

Anthem is scheduled to release on February 22, 2019, for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Game Informer