The Veilguard's performance speak to a fundamental misunderstanding of not just what the franchise is about, but the studio that makes it.

This is not the first time I’ve written about a video game that appears to have been sent out to die, and I predict it will not be the last. The latest victim of the business is Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which, of course, was one of the subjects of Electronic Arts’ third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday with CEO Andrew Wilson.

In a lot of ways, The Veilguard feels like a soft reboot for the series: Fewer returning characters than in Dragon Age 2 or Inquisition, minimal choices carried over, and a fresh cast in a new corner of the world. This was a bet on attracting new players, with an assumption that series fans would still be along for the ride.