Dragon Age: The Veilguard Sales Numbers Leak

Overview

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Sales Numbers Leak refers to a rumored data leak at video game developer Bioware regarding the sales of its 2024 RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard (DATV), which claims the game has only sold roughly 1 million copies globally and failed to recover its costs. The leak sparked significant discourse online in mid-November 2024, as the game was already being heavily criticized for its alleged restrictions on review codes and access for gaming journalists who didn't like the hands-on gameplay preview of DATV. Internal sources allegedly claimed that Bioware launched an internal investigation to find the leakers of the sales data, as the content is believed to have been sent by an Electronic Arts (EA) employee to YouTuber @SmashJT, who released the info.

Background

On November 13th, 2024, YouTuber^[1] @SmashJT uploaded an exclusive article alleging that he received data from a source from within Electronic Arts, which owns Bioware, revealing that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has surpassed 1 million in sales, which he describes as a failure, as "many estimates are pinning the break-even for sales numbers somewhere in the 5 million copies sold range."

SmashJT also posted a video^[2] (seen below) on November 14th, 2024, explaining with additional details the sales data leaked to him, which amassed more than 77,000 views and 5,100 likes in a few hours.

Developments

Bioware Internal Investigation

On November 14th, 2024, rumors started to appear online that Bioware launched an internal investigation to find the leakers of the DATV sales data. Fandom Pulse^[3] was one of the first websites to mention the alleged investigation, writing that Smash JT was told by the anonymous source the gaming company is trying "to find who these people [leakers] are that are trying to call it out elsewhere because they’re afraid for their job if its gets called out internally. Because you’re not allowed to be critical of any of the decisions at this company if you work there.”

Smash JT's^[4] video about the ongoing Bioware investigation (seen below) received roughly 152,000 views and 10,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

The DATV leaked sales data sparked various comments and discussions on social media, getting comparisons and essay videos shortly after it emerged in mid-November 2024, as well as memes on X / Twitter and Reddit.

For example, on November 14th, 2024, YouTuber^[5] Vara Dark – Dark Titan Media used the debate about the game's sales adding that Dragon Age: The Veilguard players' number was also outperformed by the video game Farming Simulator 25 on Steam. The video (seen below) received more than 20,000 views and 2,000 likes in a day.

On November 15th, 2024, TikTok^[6] user @generalfrigus posted a SpongeBob SquarePants meme about the DATV leaked data, amassing roughly 1,000 plays and 40 likes in a 13 hours.

Search Interest

External References