EA Admits Dragon Age: The Veilguard ‘Failed,’ Sales Fall 50% Short
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- Dragon Age: The Veilguard sold around 50% less than EA’s projected sales.
- EA originally planned Dragon Age: The Veilguard to be a live-service game, only to reverse the plan during development.
- BioWare staff was slashed by EA as part of their restructuring.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson seems to believe the issue with Dragon Age: The Veilguard was that they did not commit to a live-service model.
During a quarterly financial call, he stated, “games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category.”
“We know as a leader in global entertainment, great titles—even when built and delivered with polished execution—can sometimes miss our financial expectations.” EA CEO said.
For context, EA anticipated Dragon Age: The Veilguard would attract 3 million players, but the single-player RPG only reached 1.5 million, falling short of expectations by half.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was originally developed to be a live-service game – a decision EA forced onto BioWare’s developers. But after some time, EA decided to reverse their decision, opting for the traditional single player RPG format.
Making a decision to completely change the way a game is updated and developed while it is already undergoing production will inevitably cause issues with the game’s overall direction – likely accentuating the root issues many hard-core fans have with Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
The Dragon Age franchise is best known for its deep single player narrative and engagement, yet EA’s CEO claims the game “failed” due to lack of shared-world features, a contradictory claim to the series’ appeal as a single player RPG game.
Many fans claim the game feels more like a generic fantasy RPG rather than a unique Dragon Age entry, a series renowned for its moral complexities with impactful in-game choices. It is the narrative and immersive single player experience that brings the majority of its players back for each new entry.
According to IGN, many product leads for The Veilguard departed while the game was still in development – indicating a bigger management issue which seems ever so prevalent at EA.
The Dragon Age series appears to be at a halt for now, with the remaining BioWare staff focusing their efforts on the next Mass Effect entry.
