Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson discussed the poor performance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which reached about 1.5 million players — 50% less than the company’s forecasts.
According to Wilson (via PC Gamer), this failure was due to the «lack of online features», which are «key in modern gaming trends»:
«To reach beyond the core audience, games must directly address the growing needs of players who are increasingly looking for shared-world and deeper engagement, as well as quality narrative in this favorite category. The game had a quality launch and was well received by critics and players alike. However, it did not resonate with the general audience».
It should be noted that in one of the cycles of the 10-year development of Dragon Age: Veilguard had elements of live service, but they were eventually abandoned.
Dragon Age: Veilguard — is a dark fantasy role-playing action game (the fourth title in the main series of the Dragon Age franchise and a direct sequel to Dragon Age: Inquisition). The game received quite high marks from critics: initially 84 points out of 100 on Metacritic and 83 out of 100 on OpenCritic, and in reviews, someone boldly called it «the best Bioware game» and even «game of the year». However players had somewhat conflicting opinions about RPGs.
As a reminder, after the release of Dragon Age: Veilguard by Electronic Arts restructured BioWare and laid off 100 employees (according to Bloomberg, the studio employed 200 people at the time of the active phase of the game’s development). The remaining specialists will focus exclusively on the development of Mass Effect 5.
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