Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a highly anticipated entry in the franchise, was released on 31 October. While the anticipation was pretty high, concerns were emerging as the release was getting closer.

Much footage appeared online that showcased ‘the game’s work part.’ Those particular scenes received a lot of hate, which hurt The Veilguard’s sales. The pre-orders weren’t reportedly that strong, but despite that, its launch was pretty solid.

The concurrent players were less than what you would expect for such a highly anticipated game in a popular franchise. However, less than 10 days after release, the game’s player base is cut by almost half.

Why it matters: RPG games with solid foundations are often played for years. Skyrim, Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Black Myth: Wukong are the best examples of such games.
Dragon Age The Veilguard PlayersThe Highly Anticipated Dragon Age Title Has Already Lost A Lot of Players
As you can see in the image above, Dragon Age: The Veilguard reached its all-time peak 5 days ago. So, it is surprising to see it losing almost 50% of the player base so quickly despite being an RPG.

One might argue that the main story is around 50 hours long, and doing 100% would take around a hundred hours, so those players might have already been done with it. However, it is not common for an RPG game to lose an enormous amount of player base in less than 10 days after launch.

For reference, Skyrim, a 13-year-old game, still has a 24-hour peak of over 22k players. Similarly, Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth: Wukong, and The Witcher 3 have 37k, 71k, 40k, 104k, and 19k 24-hour players peak, respectively.

Some reports also revealed that many players refunded the game and that the sales aren’t that strong. This could also be the reason why BioWare has no plans to work on an expansion for the game.