Electronic Arts lowers its financial forecast after EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard “underperform”

Electronic Arts announced that it will be lowering its 2025 financial forecast. The decision was made after EA Sports FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet the videogame company’s projections. EA added that it will incorporate user feedback to improve its future projects.

Electronic Arts released its preliminary Q3 FY25 results on January 22nd, 2025. The American video game company broke down the performance of its projects released in late 2024 as well as its revenue projections for the financial year 2025. 

Electronic Arts lowers its 2025 financial projections 

NEWS: EA announced that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has failed to meet expectations🚀

✅EA was forced to lower revenue forecast for both the quarter and fiscal year after this

✅Player count this quarter was 1.5m, which is ~%50 less than their expectation

Thoughts on the… pic.twitter.com/RUTtWokWvH

— Rino (@RinoTheBouncer) January 22, 2025

Electronic Arts announced that it had revised its 2025 fiscal outlook to match decreased revenue. The American video game company revealed that its two biggest releases in 2024 failed to meet its expectations. According to Andrew Wilson, EA CEO, EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed projections by a significant margin.

EA stated that it was now expecting a mid-single-digit decline in live services net bookings compared to its initial projections of a mid-single-digit growth. EA anticipates approximately $2.21 billion in net bookings for the third fiscal quarter and between $7 and 7.15 billion for fiscal year 2025.

The report highlighted EA Sports FC as being responsible for most of Electronic Arts underperformance. EA’s press release mentioned that Global Football experienced a decline after two consecutive years of double-digit net booking growth.

The decline faced by Global Football translated to EA FC 25’s momentum significantly slowing down after its release in September 2024. EA FC 25 also faced gamer criticism for lacking improvements in its gameplay and recycling features from previous editions of the football games. 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was similarly highlighted for being responsible for the revised fiscal projections. EA stated that the game had only engaged 1.5 million players during the quarter, 50% less than EA’s initial projections.

The role-player game also faced gamer criticism for lacking substantial depth in its narrative and its underwhelming pacing. The game had also been criticized for its underwhelming combat mechanics, which undermined its performance as a major release from EA. 

EA mentioned that it was working on addressing the criticism and incorporating feedback from gamers. Wilson stated that EA’s teams had delivered comprehensive updates to address some of the issues. Wilson also said that the feedback was positive, and Electronic Arts was confident in its long-term strategy that would end in a return to growth in FY26.

EA CFO Stuart Canfield added that the company was committed to its long-term financial framework and that it will balance operational discipline with investment for future growth. Canfield expected growth in FY26 as EA launches more of its iconic franchises.

Gamers debate Electronic Arts financial reports

Gamers online debated the financial results posted by the American video game company and its revised projections. Some gamers stated that the decline was to be expected after EA’s releases lost the plot and became “woke.”

Other gamers said that the financial results should have been worse and that EA expected too much from a financial perspective. They insisted that the companies must address and base their decisions on consumer needs. 

“Maybe they should 1. Get back to their roots in terms of tone and gameplay and 2. Don’t use games to teach ppl how to use “correct” pronouns and instead focus on a good fantasy story and well-written dialogues.”

– @DirkVanDagger (via X)

Certain sections of gamers said that while the writing was at times underwhelming, the games were good and would have warranted better ratings from critics. Others pointed out that 1.5 million players was not a small number, and it was sad that the studio considered the game a failure.

“EA should go back to the drawing board and work on developing better overall narratives for its major releases instead of rushing to meet deadlines and ending up with poor performers, as in the case of Dragon Age: The Veilguard,” according to some groups.

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