EA has released a new financial earnings call for the third quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year, and in the call, CEO Andrew Wilson expresses what appears to be a theory as to why Dragon Age: The Veilguard flopped.
Recently, EA admitted that Veilguard and flagship sports game EA Sports FC 25 had both "underperformed", and in the new call, Wilson seems to draw a link between Veilguard's failure and its lack of "shared world elements".
He says EA's games need to "directly connect" to players, who he says "increasingly seek shared world features and deeper engagement". That's likely a reference to Veilguard's nature as a single-player-only title, rather than a game with multiplayer elements.

At one stage, it was reported that a version of Dragon Age: The Veilguard (which didn't have its name yet at this point) which would incorporate live service elements was in development.
However, this version was subsequently scrapped (assuming the reports of its existence are correct), leading to The Veilguard's single-player focus. It seems that EA's management now regrets getting rid of those live service elements.
There is, of course, no guarantee that Veilguard would have performed any better if it did have the "shared world" elements EA seems so wistful about. After all, EA Sports FC 25 is undeniably a live service title, and it, too, underperformed.
Wilson, however, puts this down to people sticking with previous EA Sports FC titles and not buying the new one, as well as "lower-than-expected engagement" due to "specific issues with balance".

I can't imagine that many of the people who felt dissatisfied with Dragon Age: The Veilguard would have been happier if the game had featured the "shared world elements" EA regrets not putting in, honestly.
It's hard to imagine that direction would have prevented the BioWare layoffs that followed, nor the departure of Veilguard director Corinne Busche from the studio.
In any case, EA is probably looking very carefully at the next Mass Effect game now. I'd be very surprised indeed if the publisher didn't try to ensure that some sort of "shared world elements" are present in that game, so we'll have to see how Mass Effect 4 (name obviously not final) performs.
Elsewhere in the call, EA confirms that the next Battlefield game will be launching in 2026 and reaffirms that you can sign up to get a chance to test it right now via the new Battlefield Labs initiative.
The company also commits to a new $1 billion share buyback scheme, which feels like exactly the kind of thing you'd expect from a studio that paid its CEO $25 million in 2023 despite hundreds of layoffs. Stay tuned for more.