Dragon Age: The Veilguard FLOPS Before Launch – Can’t Even Crack Steam's Top 50!

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is shaping up to be one of BioWare’s biggest flops in recent memory, and the game hasn't even launched yet. With just over two weeks until its release, the game is struggling to gain any meaningful traction, remaining outside Steam’s top 50 best sellers. It currently sits in a dismal 57th place on Steam's Top Sellers list and ranks 28th on the Most Wishlisted Upcoming Steam Games. For a Dragon Age title, this is nothing short of catastrophic.

Many fans and analysts alike are beginning to speculate that Dragon Age: The Veilguard's failure to capture interest may be tied to its controversial "woke" agenda. One of the most glaring examples is the top surgery scars controversy, which exploded online when fans noticed that characters in the game could feature scars from gender-affirming surgery. For a franchise that built its reputation on dark, gritty, and immersive fantasy storytelling, many long-time Dragon Age fans are feeling alienated by this blatant injection of modern politics into their favorite medieval world.

YouTuber Doctor Disaster recently reported that pre-order sales for The Veilguard are alarmingly low, calling them “piss poor” after speaking with a retail insider. According to him, the ratio of negative reactions to promotional videos correlates with the lack of pre-order interest. Fans are not connecting with The Veilguard, with many complaining that the game feels too "soft" and "sanitized" compared to previous Dragon Age titles. What was once a franchise known for its dark, morally complex narratives is now seen as pushing a woke agenda, which has undoubtedly tainted its appeal to core fans.

Even Craig Skistimas of the Side Scrollers Podcast dropped a bombshell when he revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has only amassed 1,069 pre-orders across 900 stores. To put that into perspective, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom racked up over 4,400 pre-orders in just the last two weeks. Skistimas' insider claims that Zelda has sold nearly 20 times more than The Veilguard. This staggering discrepancy between the two games underscores just how much trouble BioWare’s latest installment is in.

It’s no secret that BioWare has faced criticism for the increasingly “woke” direction it’s taken in recent years, and The Veilguard seems to be the latest casualty of this shift. The introduction of top surgery scars may have been intended to promote inclusivity, but it’s been interpreted by many fans as a forced and unnecessary political statement that has no place in a Dragon Age game. Combine this with lackluster pre-release hype, poor sales predictions, and a general sense of disconnection between the game and its fanbase, and it’s easy to see why Dragon Age: The Veilguard is in serious trouble.

While BioWare tries to push forward with a progressive agenda, the numbers don’t lie. The player base isn’t responding, and the pre-orders are nowhere near what a franchise of this caliber should expect. With heavy-hitters like Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO and Metaphor: ReFantazio blowing up on Steam and pulling players away, it looks like The Veilguard could be heading toward disaster upon launch.

At this point, Dragon Age: The Veilguard may be BioWare’s wake-up call. The intersection of wokeness and fantasy RPGs seems to be pushing away the very fanbase that once championed their games. Unless they manage to salvage their reputation before launch, this could be yet another example of how politics can poison a beloved franchise right before it even gets out the gate.