Did Dragon Age: The Veilguard Undersell or met with unrealistic expectations?

This is not the first time I wrote about a video game that seems to be sent to death, and I anticipate that it will not be the last. The latest victim of the company is Dragon Age: The Veilguardwhich of course was one of the items A combination of earnings in the third quarter of Electronic Arts on Tuesday with Andrew Wilson CEO.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Gathered 1.5 million players According to EA-I EA-POLOWA, what was expected in this window (or maybe a better word requiredbased on the game budget). In addition to being available for purchase, Veilguard It was also available via the EA Play Pro subscription in the amount of USD 16.99/month, and 1.5 million includes these players, so the exact number of units sold is unknown.

“To go outside the basic audience, games must directly connect with the developing requirements of players who are increasingly looking for the functions of the common world and deeper commitment along with high quality narrative in this beloved category,” said Wilson about the call. “Dragon Age had a high -quality premiere and was well reviewed by critics and those who played. However, he did not resonate with a sufficiently wide audience on this highly competitive market. “

Many have broken parts of the “function of the common world” of this quote, and some suggest that Wilson blames VeilguardNon -compliance with sales goals regarding the lack of live services. “Elements of the common world” would be out of place VeilguardDefinitely. But the part I focus on is the last part when Wilson said that Veilguard “He did not resonate with a sufficiently wide audience on this highly competitive market.”

It’s no secret that 2024 was a huge year for RPG. And all these RPGs had an argued misfortune for following in the footsteps of an unexpected juggernaut Baldur gate 3which he sold 2.5 million copies After introducing early access in 2020; From the moment he was fully launched in 2023, he sold 15 million copies and is still in 20 best steam games. Andrew Wilson will not hear any argument about the “highly competitive market” for RPG. It would be a steep climbing uphill for developers Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

We do not know the exact salaries for all employees who arrived and left during VeilguardDevelopment, but it seems honestly that his budget probably balloned during a long, turbulent production.

To further comparison: Metaphor: Refrant He had a similarly long development cycle, it was first announced in October. In October last year, the publisher SEGA announced that he had sold 1 million copies of the game. Do not differ from VeilguardThe numbers except that it was not considered a failure!

Let’s get to another example: Sale Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthabout which the higher ENIX were tight. It was a continuation, so the comparison may not seem completely fair, but Is From 2024, players have definitely competed with other RPGs. Revival He had a four -year development cycle and was widely described as worse after the result Early estimates placed it on 2 million copies sold. (FF7 Rebirth He recently arrived in Windows PC with Steam and It looks like you are doing quite well thereBut we are talking here only about early sales numbers.)

Another 2024 RPG, Dragon’s Dogma 2he took five years develop. This game was considered a huge success of Capcom, selling 2.5 million copies in the first 11 days after release. The game finally reached a milestone 3.3 million In October 2024, but based on EA indicators and expectations, as made available in conjunction with earnings, these early numbers are key.

One more thing! Like a dragon: Infinite wealth It took three years to develop and it sold 1 million units In the first week, according to a proud message, describing him as “the fastest selling title in the series”.

So why Veilguard be considered a failure in comparison? As for the numbers of players, because our closest approximation of sold units is on the pitch of what can be expected from other RPGs issued at the same period at the price of USD 69.99. . Metaphor: Refrant The comparison seems particularly meaningful to me, especially considering the eight -year development schedule. Again, we do not see under the hood in terms of the costs of remuneration of these programmers. But we know about it Metaphor So many players couldn’t even be won Veilguard Until this point, and when Googleam the words “ATlus dismissals”, everything I can find is this article from 2024 about how about it studio raised salaries of his employees.

The Dragon Age series was historically, it was effective enough to determine high expectations Veilguard – So let’s consider these numbers. Dragon Age: Inquisition In 2014 he came to a completely different landscape of video games with different costs. It was also The best -selling bioWare game of all timeUltimately, hitting 12 million blockbuster units. EA never issued early game sales data, describing only its premiere as “successful. “If we go back further, Dragon Age 2 sold 2 million units In the first two months after the release.

All this say that the general director of EA, Andrew Wilson and the rest of the EA leadership, did not expect only Dragon Age: The Veilguard Sell ​​on an equal footing with inevitable competition, and even slightly above the average. They expected it to be a huge, immediate hit – and they did not expect that budgetary For that. Although all year of other comparable RPGs leading to Veilguard It has been proven that unlikely this expectation did not change. And then, which is not surprising, Veilguard They could not be found.

And so, although the game worked just as well, as usual, it would have a kind of game as well as the period in which it was released, BioWare was still hit in restructuring and release after release (the size of the team is just estimated at 100 people now) because Veilguard I had to be not only a success, but a huge success. And it had to be successful during the year, which also had many other amazing RPG publications preceding him. And he had to do it after one of the most infamous development cycles that I heard about in my entire journalistic career.

Perhaps the game did not resonate with a sufficiently wide audience on this “highly competitive market”. But highly competitive expectations also seem an undeniable factor.

Adjustment: EA press release about Q3 FY25 results that Dragon Age: The Veilguard “About 1.5 million players got involved during the quarter,” but he did not find how many units were sold. This article has been improved to take into account this distinction between the units sold and the numbers of players.