The Veilguard’s Failure Because Players “seek shared world features and deeper engagement”

Electronic Arts has been in rocky waters recently, following the disastrous revenue report (and reception) of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the general slump that has followed in its live service titles (such as EA FC).

Veilguard in particular, was a sore disappointment to fans and critics alike, with many lambasting the developer for a subpar campaign that hinged on the ‘woke’ territory. A recent financial report from EA seems to put the blame on something else entirely, highlighting the company’s misdirection.

As detailed within the ‘Electronic Arts Inc. Earnings Call’ for Q3 2025, EA’s performance for this particular financial year has been nothing short of underwhelming, with EA Sports FC and BioWare’s newest Dragon Age entry being blamed for these mishaps.

However, it was not the financial performance we wanted or expected

BioWare’s flagship title in particular has come across some heavy criticism on its overall execution and handling of things, with even die-hard fans of the series calling out the game.

While Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t inherently a bad game by any means, it is just forgettable, and has nothing to hook the player on to. This, coupled with allegations of a ‘woke agenda’ most certainly did not help sort things out either.

It should be noted here that the disappointing sales of Anthem might have forced EA to cancel live service elements in Dragon Age, which it regrets.

Sales figures reflected the same, and despite an initial strong start, Veilguard barely managed to scrape by. 

All of this culminated in mass layoffs from BioWare, and the studio remains a former shell of what it used to be – which is quite the unfortunate situation. We could very likely never see a new Dragon Age game come to fruition, which is apparently to be blamed for the lack of live-service elements in the same.

Games need to directly connect to the evolving demand of players who increasingly seek shared world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category.

It should be noted here that Dragon Age has traditionally been a single-player, narrative-driven RPG – and a push towards live-service-esque modes would only further alienate its playerbase.

However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.

This is despite initial, very positive reviews from both players and critics alike. EA does mention the market as being highly competitive, and admits that perhaps Veilguard perhaps lacked the charm to capture its audience.

Electronic Arts’ denial is quite frankly, baffling – and not a good outlook. The last thing Veilguard needed was monetization and live-service elements. Dragon Age has always been a single-player game, and shoving live service elements into every franchise rarely works out.

This wouldn’t be EA’s first fumble though – they have been known to notoriously cull beloved IPs when they fail to draw in profit. A particular glaring example would be Dead Space, which was canned after the mediocre and quite disappointing third entry.

While they did redeem themselves with the 2023 remake, the future of the series still remains unclear, and there is no guarantee that a Dragon Age remake will not face the same problems that Veilguard did – or even succeed, for that matter.

EA is out of touch with its core audience here, and this could prove to be very fatal for the company. Without a playerbase to hold on to, it would likely die a slow, painful death. While things do look grim, it is hoped that EA manages to bounce back and restore itself back to its glory days – given that the other alternative is quite grim.