Electronic Arts says 'Dragon Age and EA Sports FC 25 underperformed' as it revises its financial outlook downward

Electronic Arts has revised its projected revenues for the 2025 fiscal year sharply downward in a preliminary financial results release, from $7.4–7.7 billion to $7–7.15 billion, as both EA Sports FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet expectations.

We don't cover a lot of business-focused news at PC Gamer, but this is interesting for two reasons: The sudden sharpness of the decline in expected revenues—potentially more than half a billion dollars, and I'm not an industry analyst but that sure seems like a big change over a single financial quarter—and also the reasons for it. EA said that after two years of double-digit net bookings growth, its Global Football franchise "experienced a slowdown" in the current fiscal year, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard "engaged approximately 1.5 million players during the quarter, down nearly 50% from the company’s expectations."

The underperformance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is more disappointing for me personally, but the decline in EA Sports FC is the bigger surprise. EAs's FIFA series has been a bedrock moneymaker for years, and the transition to EA Sports FC following the loss of the FIFA license seemed to be going relatively smoothly, although some fans haven't been entirely happy with it. But the company now expects its live service net bookings—basically the money it makes on DLC sales and microtransactions, which have historically been driven in large part by the Ultimate Team mode—to see a "mid-single-digit decline."

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.