Dragon Age veteran Mark Darrah explains how BioWare became a "single project studio", after previously working on multiple games at once.

A new game, particularly one ten years in the making after a GOTY-winning sequel, underperforming by a full 50% is dire. You’ll also notice from the wording there that it says “engaged” not “sold,” as this number includes those who might have played via EA Play. So sales are likely not much above a million.

"Mass Effect isn't ready to suddenly have a team of 250, 300 people working on it," says Darrah (as transcribed by GamesRadar ). His reasoning is that the new Mass Effect wasn't "up and running" in parallel to The Veilguard, and so unlike past BioWare projects, it's not a case of simply having everyone jump from one game to another.