A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Sources close to BioWare and EA have reported that refunds for Dragon Age: The Veilguard have reached unprecedented numbers since the game launched on October 31.

If one were to keep their media consumption to outlets like IGN or Kotaku, they might be led to believe that EA and BioWare’s latest action adventure RPG is an unmitigated success. The game received rave reviews and many touted the incoming title’s peak concurrent player count on Steam of 89,418 as a triumph, despite never breaching 100,000.

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

However, sources close to the game’s development have been coming out of the woodwork to spill the story of what’s reportedly going on to prominent independent YouTube personalities. Simply put, it’s not looking good for the once-popular studio.

YouTuber Endymion has been covering the game’s release extensively. His source claimed that not only are fans demanding their money back after an unsatisfactory experience, they’re demanding their money back in huge numbers.

“I’m also told in terms of refunds that currently the game has had at least 30,000 refunds in the past few days,” Endymion said in his video, linked above. “Which is not good for your game that has barely sold half a million copies to be hemorrhaging players like this. So, generally speaking, Veilguard is not a commercial success.”

The Steam platform allows players to return games within 14 days of purchase for a full refund as long as the player has logged less than two hours of play time. This provides buyers the opportunity to try new games in a no-risk scenario. Refunds are also issued through PlayStation and Xbox’s digital stores within 14 days of purchase. Brick and mortar stores like GameStop, Walmart, and Best Buy typically only accept unopened games for returns.

If the refunds on Veilguard are as hefty as reported here, it would appear that Bioware’s new approach to the storied Dragon Age RPG franchise is not resonating with longtime fans. This would also point to a massive divide between media outlet reviewers and the average gamer. Most large outlets gave the game highly favorable ratings, referring to it as a “return to form,” for the series (almost in unison, word for word…).

IGN rated it 9/10 while Eurogamer gave it a 5/5. However, the audience review scores on Google tell a far different tale.
Dragon Age One Star Review from Google

A 1-Star Review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Google

As of this writing, Google lists the game at a 2.3/5 with more than 4,500 reviews.

“Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an insult to longtime fans,” Google user Marcus Watters said in his Google review of the game. “It feels like a Fortnite season with its light tone and forced humor, a far cry from the dark, gritty atmosphere of Dragon Age: Origins (an 8/10 for how intense and immersive fantasy can be). Veilguard barely reaches a 2/10 by comparison. The game goes out of its way to be inoffensive—there’s no real conflict, no tension, nothing compelling. The villains are generic, with no complexity or purpose beyond being ‘evil.’ Solas shows up, but only briefly, leaving the rest of the cast to carry a flat, uninspired plot.”
Google Reviews on Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Reviews on Google for Dragon Age: The Veilguard from Game Journalists and Players, Google

Watters isn’t alone in this opinion. The vast majority of Google’s reviews are a 1/5. This shows a massive divide between the public perception and the narrative coming from the gaming media.

Endymion also recently reported that sales for Dragon Age: The Veilguard were abysmal, falling short of even Ubisot’s Star Wars: Outlaws, a game which Ubisoft has admitted underperformed.

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

“This is from my same source that I shared previous Dragon Age pre-order numbers with, which was in my video a few days back,” Endymion said. “Apparently, according to them, pre-orders for Veilguard were even less than initially thought. I told you in the last video they were roughly 115,000 total pre-orders across all platforms, that’s digital and physical by the way. And new info that my source has now told me that the numbers actually may have been too high. The number that they are hearing from people at EA now is that it was actually between 70 to 75,000 pre-orders in total before release, which is, yeah, not good at all.”

“In total, what I’m told is that Veilguard may have sold overall so far anyway in the 500,000 range,” he said. “Which may sound good to some, but this is completely abysmal for a game of this level.”

What do you make of the reported sales and refund numbers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Have you purchased the game? If so, are you enjoying it? Did you request a refund? Sound off and let us know!