Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a strong launch and solid reviews, but it ultimately fell significantly short of EA's sales expectations, leading to a dramatic downsizing of BioWare. As expected, the company addressed the question of what went wrong during today's quarterly financial call, and it sounds like CEO Andrew Wilson thinks the decision to ditch the live service elements of Veilguard was a mistake.
"Q3 was not the financial performance we wanted or expected," Wilson said during today's financial call. "We know as a leader in global entertainment, great titles—even when built and delivered with polished execution—can sometimes miss our financial expectations.
"In order to break beyond the core audience, 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. Dragon Age had a high quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market."
It's a lot of words to not say much, but I find that last bit interesting. It's well known that Dragon Age: The Veilguard was initially intended to have a substantial live service component, reflecting EA's commitment to live service games, but after Anthem tanked development was shifted back to a purely singleplayer experience. Wilson's comment about players wanting more "shared-world features and deeper engagement" pretty strongly suggests to me that EA views the absence of live service features, rather than any particular failing of the Veilguard itself, as the real problem.
EA chief financial officer Stuart Canfield echoed Wilson's statement in his own comments on Veilguard: "Historically, blockbuster storytelling has been the primary way our industry has brought beloved IP to players. The game's financial performance highlights the evolving industry landscape and reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate toward our most significant and highest potential opportunities."
Lest there be any doubt, Wilson also noted during today's call that live services represent 74% of EA's business. Specifically, as reported in EA's form 8-K filing, EA earned $7.347 billion in calendar year 2024; of that, $5.449 billion came from "live services and other." That's a big chunk of change that you're not going to get from one-and-done videogame sales, and it feels it's what Canfield is referring to when he says "most significant and highest potential opportunities," especially since he refers to "blockbuster storytelling" in the past tense.
Dragon Age appears to be done and over, at least for now, but this possible reassessment of the value of singleplayer games could potentially have an impact on the next Mass Effect. Despite being officially confirmed in 2020, there's still only a "core team" at what remains of BioWare working on it, and earlier today Mass Effect chief Michael Gamble said on X that development is "still in pre-production." Dragon Age: The Veilguard was reportedly in early production when the decision was made to strip its live service components; given how that worked out, perhaps we'll see the reverse on the next Mass Effect.
