Electronic Arts just shared its lowered financial forecast, which the company attributed to the relative "underperformance" of "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" and "EA Sports FC 25."
The company said that the majority of the shortfall is because of "EA Sports FC 25" and noted that "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" performed weaker than expected. Electronic Arts is now forecasting a "mid-single-digit decline."
Electronic Arts' Financial Forecast
The studio noted that "EA Sports FC 25" saw a "slowdown in momentum" after it was launched in September 2024.
Furthermore, Electronic Arts noted that BioWare's latest fantasy RPG had roughly 1.5 million players during the quarter, which is only half of the expected 3 million.
All of these factors combine to force the publisher to now anticipate net bookings of approximately $2.21 billion for its third fiscal quarter. It also has an updated range of $7 billion to $7.15 billion for fiscal year 2025, according to Eurogamer.
CEO Andrew Wilson said that they continued to deliver high-quality games and experiences across the company's portfolio during the third quarter.
He added that they remain confident that Electronic Arts' long-term strategy is still effective, and they expect a return to growth in fiscal year 2026.
While "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" failed to meet the publisher's expectations in the video game industry, BioWare's latest entry in the franchise was well-received by critics. The game was originally launched in October 2024 and was described as warm and welcoming.
Failure To Meet Expectations
Following the release of the preliminary financial report, Electronic Arts' share price took a sharp dive. It is expected that more details about the matter will be revealed when the studio announces its full third-quarter financial results on Feb. 4, 2025, PCGamer said.
The latest development comes as disappointing news to "Dragon Age" fans, especially those who waited for the latest entry for a long time. It is worth noting that the fourth and latest entry in the franchise has been rebooted several times in the past few years.
It was even made into a live service at some point before it was once again rebooted into a single-player adventure. This comes as more and more players are being pulled in by different live service titles.
This makes it even harder for newer games to become massively successful from the get-go. There was only one single-player game in 2023 that made it on the list of top 10 most-played games, and that was "Starfield," according to Windows Central.
