Anthem: 9 MAJOR Revelations From Kotaku's Exposé

1. Everything Came Together In The Last 12-16 Months Of Development

“They talk a lot about the six-year development time, but really the core gameplay loop, the story, and all the missions in the game were made in the last 12 to 16 months because of that lack of vision and total lack of leadership across the board”.

Yes, really.

After Dragon Age's Mark Darrah was brought across in Fall 2017 to help focus the project - following Casey Hudson and another "creative team" essentially only producing spun wheels - the only thing that HAD to happen, was shipping the game.

EA wouldn't grant any more release date delays, and it resulted in an incredibly stressful, focused period of crunch where a herculean effort was undertaken to ostensibly make the whole game in around a year and a half.

In that regard Anthem can be held up as an achievement in pure willpower, but the reality of various staff members leaving and/or suffering mental breakdowns sounds genuinely atrocious, and simply needs to change.