You Can Now Play Anthem For Just $4.99/Month -- Is Full Free-to-Play Far Behind?

We only do predictions around the start of the year, both for general F2P news and for what we think might go F2P next. That second list was produced a month before Anthem launched, but you'd better believe BioWare's rather disappointing mega-game will be making the list next year -- and it might have just taken the first step toward going free-to-play.

Less than seven months after launch, Anthem is now available to EA Access and Origin Access subscribers on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. So it's "free" if you subscribe to one of those services, after being part of the 10-hour "Play First" free trial offered to subscribers. Now that it's part of each Access service's "Vault," that likely means it's a permanent feature of the services, which cost $4.99/month.

Anthem had a pair of big updates recently, one in August and one just last week, so maybe this is EA and BioWare's way of trying to get people into the newer version of the game, to try and counter all the negative criticism that's been levied at the game. Or maybe, by making the game pseudo-free, EA is testing the waters of what could be a full free-to-play release. It makes you wonder, if EA Access had existed in 2012, would Star Wars: The Old Republic have gone to that service instead of going free-to-play?

Still, it's not too early to ponder Anthem's prospects, which pretty much haven't looked good since launch. Do you think the game will go free-to-play anytime soon?