Dragon Age: The Veilguard Had Far Fewer Players Than EA Expected

EA has announced that Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 25 underperformed its expectations.

EA confirmed the underperformance of the RPG and sports game while sharing preliminary results for the third quarter of its 2025 fiscal year (which covers October through December of 2024). As a result, EA now expects a mid-single-digit decline in its net bookings for the fiscal year. On the Dragon Age: The Veilguard front, EA explained that the RPG "engaged approximately 1.5 million players during the quarter, down nearly 50% from the company’s expectations."

That means EA expected around 3 million people to engage with Dragon Age: The Veilguard by the end of 2024, though it's unclear what exactly it counts in this engagement metric. While Dragon Age: The Veilguard's underperformance disappointed the company, EA claims that a "majority of the change" in net bookings comes from Global Football--and more specifically, the release of EA Sports FC 25--not meeting expectations during Q3.

EA did not share specific player engagement numbers for EA Sports FC 25, simply explaining that it underperformed following two years of growth for the franchise. EA appears to have faith in the recovery of its Global Football efforts, with Andrew Wilson praising EA Sports FC 25's recent Team of the Year update.

Both Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 25 received generally favorable reviews from critics, sitting at aggregated scores of 82 and 76 on Metacritic, respectively.

We'll learn more about the implications of each game's underperformance when EA holds a conference call about its Q3 financial results on February 4. If you want to play the games in question for yourself, EA Sports FC 25 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard is on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.