EA’s
stock
prices
take
a
fairly
hefty
18%
drop
today,
erasing
about
$6
billion
of
the
company’s
$30
billion
evaluation.
That’s
four
times
the
total
market
cap
of
Ubisoft.
The
reason
for
this
sharp
decline
is
that
EA
had
to
change
its
financial
forecast,
revising
its
expected
bookings
for
this
quarter
from
$2.4
billion
–
$2.55
billion
down
to
a
paltry
$2.215
billion.
And
yes,
I
was
being
sarcastic
about
the
amount.
For
the
coming
year,
it’s
now
expecting
about
$0.5
billion
less.
There
were
quite
a
few
reasons
for
this,
the
biggest
being
that
the
company’s
microtransactions,
which
usually
see
a
double-digit
growth,
are
actually
expected
to
shrink
by
single
digits.
Advertisements
“EA’s
initial
guidance
for
fiscal
year
2025
anticipated
mid-single-digit
growth
in
live
services
net
bookings .
However,
the
company
now
projects
a
mid-single-digit
decline,
with
Global
Football
accounting
for
the
majority
of
the
change.”
reads
the
official
press
release.
Leading
the
charge
for
the
declining
microtransactions
is
FC
25
which
the
company
noted
lost
its
momentum
quite
quickly,
and
“As
a
result,
EA
revises
its
outlook
for
Global
Football
to
end
the
fiscal
year
down
mid-single-digit
at
the
midpoint
of
the
new
outlook.”
EA
also
specifically
pointed
at
Dragon
Age:
The
Veilguard
as
underperforming,
stating
that
it
“engaged
approximately
1.5
million
players”
thus
far.
The
wording
was
very
specific
since
the
game
is
also
available
on
EA’s
subscription
service.
According
to
EA,
this
is
roughly
50%
less
than
they
were
expecting.
“ During
Q3,
we
continued
to
deliver
high-quality
games
and
experiences
across
our
portfolio;
however,
Dragon
Age
and
EA
SPORTS
FC
25
underperformed
our
net
bookings
expectations,”
said
Andrew
Wilson,
CEO
of
EA.
“This
month,
our
teams
delivered
a
comprehensive
gameplay
refresh
in
addition
to
our
annual
Team
of
the
Year
update
in
FC
25;
positive
player
feedback
and
early
results
are
encouraging.
We
remain
confident
in
our
long-term
strategy
and
expect
a
return
to
growth
in
FY26,
as
we
execute
against
our
pipeline.”
While
1.5
million
people
is
a
lot
of
humans,
for
a
game
with
such
a
lengthy,
troubled
development
that
undoubtedly
cost
a
small
fortune
it’s
obviously
not
good
enough.
As
a
result,
it
looks
like
Dragon
Age’s
support
has
been
wrapped
up
as
well.
The
latest
patch
notes
conclude
with
“Dareth
shiral!”
which
means
‘farewell‘,
or
‘safe
journey‘ in
the
game’s
Elvish
language.
While
it
could
just
be
a
fun
little
detail,
it
does
sound
more
like
the
Dragon
Age
team
is
signing
off
and
moving
on,
although
some
people
have
feared
that
it’s
a
goodbye
from
BioWare
as
a
whole.
While
that
seems
unlikely
at
the
moment,
it’s
also
a
very
understandable
fear
–
BioWare
hasn’t
exactly
been
doing
well
lately.
I
did
actually
play
around
20
hours
of
The
Veilguard,
and
honestly
it
was
decent.
It
suffers
from
some
seriously
mixed
writing
quality
–
the
character
writing
is
especially
problematic
in
places
–
but
the
game
os
overall
quite
fun.
That
said,
it
really
wasn’t
anything
exceptional
and
certainly
not
good
enough
to
warrant
the
long
development
time.
