Varric in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, one of the two games (alongside EA Sports FC 25) that EA says underperformed

Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 25 "Underperformed", EA Says

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Published: January 23, 2025 8:36 AM

EA has released its preliminary financial report for the third quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year, and the company says that two of its biggest releases for the period underperformed.

Per a press release, both Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 25 were financial disappointments for EA, with CEO Andrew Wilson confirming that both games "underperformed our net bookings expectations", which is essentially a fancy way of saying they undersold.

As a result of both games' failures, EA says it's revising its outlook for the year, predicting a "mid-single-digit decline" and pinning most of the blame for that decline on EA Sports FC 25's underperformance.

Players playing in the 5v5 Rush mode in EA Sports FC 25, which, along with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, apparently underperformed according to EA
EA says two of its flagship games underperformed in the last quarter.

EA doesn't specify how far EA Sports FC 25 fell below its expectations, but the company does say that the game put an end to "two consecutive fiscal years of double-digit net bookings growth" for football (sorry, Americans) games.

Apparently, the EA Sports FC franchise "experienced a slowdown" as early momentum gathered at the start of the quarter "did not sustain through to the end". As a reminder, the quarter runs from September through December, and EA Sports FC 25 launched on September 27th.

Separately, EA says that Dragon Age: The Veilguard "engaged approximately 1.5 million players" during the period, which presumably means that's how many copies it sold. EA was expecting the game to sell somewhere in the region of three million copies in the same time period.

Wilson says he and his company "remain confident in our long-term strategy" and that EA expects to return to growth in the next financial year. CFO Stuart Canfield agrees, pointing to EA launching "more of [its] iconic franchises" next year.

Rook engaging in combat with Venatori soldiers in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which underperformed according to EA
Dragon Age: The Veilguard didn't do the kind of numbers EA was hoping for.

Of course, it's unlikely that the underperformance of these games will reflect poorly on what will inevitably be another massive bonus for Wilson this year.

Instead, I wouldn't be surprised if devs across BioWare and EA's Sports FC teams were laid off in the coming months. Veilguard director Corinne Busche left BioWare last week, although it's unclear whether or not that decision was related to the game's disappointing sales.

As for the reasons both games underperformed, it's hard to say. Wilson and EA don't speculate, but EA Sports FC 25 has attracted its fair share of player vitriol in user reviews online (although very few EA Sports FC and FIFA games in the last few years haven't).

As for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, criticism has been aimed at the game's writing and storytelling, as well as other elements, although for what it's worth, our own reviewer Erren looked more kindly on the game than some did.

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More Info About This Game
Learn More About Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Developer
Bioware
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Release Date
October 31, 2024 (Calendar)
Genre
Action RPG