Last month, shortly after we had selected the game among our most anticipated multiplayer titles due in 2018, Electronic Arts announced a delay for Bioware's Anthem. Previously scheduled to launch in Fall 2018, it's now targeting an early 2019 release date, presumably with the goal to release by March 2019 which is when Electronic Arts will close its fiscal year. The official word from the publisher is that this way Anthem will avoid conflicting with other major releases in the Fall including EA's own Battlefield game, though according to a report from Kotaku, anonymous sources inside the studio mentioned that the Fall 2018 release window was never realistic to begin with.

　　Aside from this news, we haven't really heard anything about Anthem since its reveal at E3 2017. In fact, the team has been very silent for a long time. Lately, though, individual Bioware employees have begun interacting directly with the community on Reddit.

　　Technical Design Director Brenon Holmes in particular posts on a regular basis, chiming in on the feasibility of certain features.

　　This week, he first responded to a user suggesting a Titles system that would reward players after completing certain feats or challenges, much like in Blizzard's World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs. Holmes seemed positive that it would be included in some way.

　　Cool idea, I'll kick it over to the systems team - I think there's a way of integrating this into something else we're already doing ?.

　　The following day, he replied to another thread where a user considered the feasibility of visual feedback for damage suffered by Javelins (the game's exosuits) during combat. Apparently, the folks at Bioware have been talking about this internally and while it's not confirmed yet it will be in the final game, Holmes was confident enough to share the strong interest for such a feature.

　　This is something we've been talking about - it's a little unclear on whether or not we can incorporate it into the final shader solution... but I think we're definitely interested in something like this! ?

　　It's likely we'll have to wait for E3 2018 or close to that date anyway to get another major info drop for Anthem. However, fans of the game should at least relish in the knowledge that while the full game's release window has been pushed a few months into 2019, chances are that Bioware will still kick off a Closed Beta in Fall 2018, giving thousands of players the opportunity to play the game while all the others will be looking out for leaks.