EA CEO: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Lacks Broad Appeal, Gamers Crave Shared-World Features

EA CEO Andrew Wilson has addressed the financial underperformance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, noting that the game did not "resonate with a broad enough audience." This comment comes after EA restructured BioWare, the game's developer, to solely focus on Mass Effect 5. As part of this restructuring, some staff members who worked on The Veilguard have been reassigned to other projects within EA studios.

The decision to refocus BioWare's efforts was prompted by Dragon Age: The Veilguard's failure to meet EA's financial expectations. According to EA, the game only managed to engage 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter, a figure that fell nearly 50% short of the company's projections.

IGN has documented several development challenges faced by Dragon Age: The Veilguard, including layoffs and the departure of several key project leads at various stages. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has reported that BioWare staff considered it a "miracle" that the game was released at all, given EA's fluctuating demands to integrate and then abandon live-service elements.

During an investor-focused financial call, Wilson emphasized that to appeal to a wider audience, EA's role-playing games need to incorporate "shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives." He noted that while Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a high-quality launch and was well-received by critics and players, it failed to capture a broad enough market segment.

Wilson's remarks suggest that Dragon Age: The Veilguard might have achieved better sales with the inclusion of shared-world features and deeper engagement. However, this perspective seems at odds with EA's earlier decision to pivot Dragon Age from a multiplayer-focused game to a single-player RPG, as reported by IGN.

Fans have expressed concern that EA may be drawing the wrong conclusions from Dragon Age: The Veilguard's performance, especially given the recent success of other single-player RPGs like Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3. With Dragon Age seemingly put on hold indefinitely, attention now shifts to Mass Effect 5.

EA CFO Stuart Canfield discussed the company's decision to streamline BioWare to concentrate on Mass Effect 5, which reportedly involved reducing the studio's workforce from 200 to less than 100 employees. Canfield highlighted that the evolving industry landscape necessitates reallocating resources to maximize potential opportunities.

It's important to note that single-player games constitute a small fraction of EA's total revenue, with the majority (74% over the last 12 months) coming from live service games. EA's lucrative Ultimate Team mode, along with contributions from Apex Legends and The Sims, drive this revenue stream. Upcoming titles like Skate and the next Battlefield are also expected to follow the live service model.