Anthem isn't charging for story DLC in an effort to keep its audience undivided

BioWare’s upcoming multiplayer game Anthem won’t be locking post-release story content behind a paywall. 

According to comments captured by VG247 at PAX West this past weekend, BioWare sees the decision as something that will keep it from splitting its audience, and limiting a player’s cooperative opportunities, by the DLC they’ve purchased. 

The decision follows in the footsteps of other games produced by BioWare parent company Electronic Arts like Battlefield V, which also won’t lock content behind a paid season pass or paid DLC following its release next month. 

“For storytelling, we don’t want to divide the audience, we want people to be able to experience the same stories so none of that is going to be locked,” said Anthem executive producer Mark Darrah during West shortly after mentioning that, as previously announced, Anthem would also not feature loot boxes.

Opting to skip paid story DLC also contrasts the approach taken by fellow multiplayer online cooperative shooter Destiny 2, a game that moves its story forward through a paid-DLC and is reminiscent of the expansion approach favored by MMO games for some time.