CEO of EA gave reason for Dragon Age: The Veilguard failure. In his opinion, RPG didn't offer players features they desire
The CEO of Electronic Arts believes that the failure of The Veilguard is due to a failure to adapt to „evolving player demands.” In his view, they expect game-service elements.
We already know that Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet the publisher's expectations. The question, however, is: why did this happen? I suspect that players could point out quite a few reasons, but Electronic Arts also has its own explanation. It turns out that the blame was placed on the absence of live-service components.
The reason for The Veilguard's failure
The company's CEO, Andrew Wilson, spoke on this topic during the last quarterly financial call. He reported that the third quarter brought in less revenue than expected, and stated that even great and polished titles sometimes cannot meet the expectations placed on them.
In order to break beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category. Dragon Age had a high quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market.
The fourth Dragon Age was originally intended to feature game-service elements, which, as we know, were later dropped in favor of a purely single-player experience. Wilson's comment about the lack of a "shared world and deeper engagement" strongly suggests that he ultimately regrets their removal.
EA has long been known to generate significant revenue from game-services, so it's unsurprising that the company views them as the most profitable avenue. During the conversation, Wilson conveyed that "live services and others" constitute as much as 74% of EA's operations. Of the 7.347 trillion dollars earned in 2024, 5.449 trillion came from them.
The question now remains: what impact will this have on the upcoming Mass Effect 5? The game is currently in the pre-production phase, and it's possible that similar to The Veilguard, a decision was made to develop a single-player mode, but someone might decide differently and order the development of a game-as-a-service. However, we will only find out if this will really be the case over time.
