EA says EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard “underperformed” as it lowers financial forecast
EA has lowered its financial forecast for its current fiscal year, pointing to the ‘underperformance’ of EA Sports FC 2025 – which it says accounts for the “majority” of the shortfall – alongside lower-than-expected interest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
As noted in EA’s revised outlook for the year ending 31st March 2025, the company was previously forecasting a “mid-single-digit growth in live services net bookings”. However, it now expects a “mid-single-digit decline”, blaming the “majority of the change” on EA Sports 2025 – which saw a “slowdown in momentum” following its release in September.
Additionally, EA has reported lower-than-expected interest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, saying BioWare’s fantasy RPG “engaged” approximately 1.5m players during the quarter – a number it describes as being “down nearly 50 percent from the company’s expectations.”
All this means the publisher now anticipates net bookings of approximately $2.21 billion for its third fiscal quarter and an updated range of $7-7.15 billion for fiscal year 2025.
“During Q3, we continued to deliver high-quality games and experiences across our portfolio, EA CEO Andrew Wilson wrote in a statement accompanying today’s revised guidance. “However, Dragon Age and EA Sports FC 25 underperformed our net bookings expectations.” Even so, Wilson says, “We remain confident in our long-term strategy and expect a return to growth in FY26, as we execute against our pipeline.”
Despite Dragon Age: The Veilguard failing to meet EA’s business expectations, BioWare’s latest was well-received by critics when it launched in October 2024. “It’s warm and welcoming, funny and hopeful, gentle when it needs to be, and of course it’s epic,” Eurogamer’s Robert Purchese wrote in his five star review. “The Veilguard is spectacular. BioWare is back.”
Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell was less enthused by EA Sports FC 2025, however. “Another year where the annual tweaks settle in such a way as to recreate, or reposition, the same old problems that have been here since the beginning,” he wrote in his three star review. “This is EA Sports FC 25. I love it. I hate it. It’ll probably be like this forever.”