EA-stories of how they screwed you over

[Marcus Kehoe]

Recently I got into the early access of SWTOR and have gotten relativity far, so to ensure my data inst lost once the game comes out I needed to merge my orgin account with my swtor account(which are different emails).I had a customer service person do it for me so nothing would go wrong, it took 20 minutes and there was no warnings.

the next day now I have 2 broken accounts and can't play battlefield 3 on pc. I contacted customer service and know it turns out that all of my since release online stats are forever gone, I have to re-install the game and they are sorry. How do they compensate me for my wated time and data, a bunch of crap coupons I refuse to use at their store, because their store is sad compared to steam.

If Bioware didn't have SWTOR coming out for pc and orgin required I would delete all my orgin account data get a damn refund for my BF3 and be done with ea for pc, but sadly I can't.

Lets hear your how Bioware screwed me stories.

 

[isometry]

It's your decision, but maybe this is a sign that dedicating lots of time to EA's MMO is not such a good idea? In a way, MMOs are like the ultimate DRM screw job. All the time you put into the game is at the mercy of the company that runs it.

The game will constantly change over time. Most of the updates will be good, but things you like will also change and disappear forever (forced updates, no mods), and over the course of years the game becomes almost unrecognizable. The general trend of the updates is to make more profit, which in the long run means selling out to attract more casual players and milking the current subscribers with extra things to pay for. I'm not talking about EA specifically, this happens in every single MMO, look at WoW or any other; it's just part of the territory.

Now, I agree that MMOs can be a ton of fun. Tons of content, great social aspect, etc, totally unmatched in non-MMOs. But this always has to be weighed against the DRM screw job part of it. So when EA are the ones handling the screw job, for me the downsides outweigh the benefits.

Sorry for painting a grim picture, especially when launch is the most fun time for a new MMO. My advice is to enjoy it for what it is right now, but keep in mind that EA will screw you in the long run, 99% guaranteed.

 

[Vault101]

they made me PAY for their game!! the fucking NERVE!

soryr I havnt had many problems with EA...I am wary of them but I dont hate them

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

I've never really had any stories. While I'm not EA's biggest fan, they haven't really wronged me in the past.

 

[Jamash]

I'm fortunate enough to have led a persecution free life, so I've never been screwed over by a game, console or game company.

However, there was this one time when I got a broken disc replaced via EA's disc replacement service. I sent off my broken disc and a cheque for the replacement and received an e-mail saying it would take up to 5 working days, but to my horror it wasn't until 6 working days later that I got my game back... still to say EA screwed me over would be a bit strong, even in this, most disappointing of situations.

Oh, I almost forgot, every year EA send my a 25% discount voucher for my birthday, yet every year there's never a EA game I want to use it on. The evil bastards, screwing me over year after year, on my birthday of all days!

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I don't hate EA, they just really fucked the pooch on this one.

 

[Realitycrash]

Geh, is SWTOR really Origin-required? Really-really? You can't just buy it, install it and not install Origin?

 

[generals3]

Well it's not really "screwed over". But i despise EA to this day for ruining the C&C franchise and having the balls to release something as bad and disgusting as C&C4.

 

[Aris Khandr]

EA is totally screwing my purse. They keep putting out all these games I want, and taking all of my money. TOR, FIFA, Mass Effect, Sims, Dragon Age, it seems like I was getting something from EA every other month.

 

[Jimmybobjr]

Me? I have never ever had a single problem with EA, or anything EA has done. Personally, i dont see why people hate EA.

 

[Bvenged]

I paid £30/40 towards Battlefield 3: LE (Xbox 360) and the other £10 was my younger brothers money.

[HEADING=3] Apparently game-sharing within the same household is a crime[/HEADING]

I return home, slap in the campaign disc and hit "my soldier" to be prompted to enter an access code printed on the back of the manual...
I've played enough games to see where this is going.
...and away I play. My brother returns home from school, so I hand him over the multiplayer disc as I was too busy blasting away on the singleplayer to bother with it; and he returns 5 minutes later exclaiming he can't play online. I had to fork out 1200msp (£9) for him to play a fucking game we both own. What a load of dog shit. Cheers, EA.

Ahh well, I prefer that by a long shot over Activision's business practice. It has been my only problem with them so far.

about 13 out of the 15 or so Fifa football titles were not worth the full price;
and about 5/6 out of the 8 or so Call of Duty & Guitar Hero titles were not worth the full price as well.

Fixed.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Oh my god. This is the third 'EA Screwed Me' Post I've seen this week. And it's really nothing more than, you didn't like the compensation you got because you hate Origin. A friend of mine got the game too and he's doing just fine. I may actually get it myself.

I admit, you got screwed but EA didn't have to give you those Origin coupons. What did you want, a whole bunch of free stuff for your character?

I honestly hope this sad little 'EA hate' spat going around doesn't infect the Escapist forums like ANYTHING SKYRIM did.

 

[Worgen]

I haven't really been personally wronged by them but I don't trust them at all, for the most part I avoid them especially if they do something I really don't like.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Me? I have never ever had a single problem with EA, or anything EA has done. Personally, i dont see why people hate EA.

They think it makes them look cool on the internet.

One of the main things that EA gets flak for is buying a company and then closing them when that company loses both profit and the ability to make games that aren't mediocre.

What makes me laugh is that THQ, Activision, Take-Two, and just about every other major publisher has done the same thing.

People just don't like seeing a business act like a business, and some people suffer from what I personally call 'Che Guevera syndrome'. If it's a corporation they express their disdain on the internet while they keep buying corporation product.

It's kind of like the guy wearing the Che Guevera shirt who talks about how great he was.

We all know one.

But we don't have the heart to tell him that when he bought the shirt, he spat on every idea that Che had.

 

[Zipa]

Geh, is SWTOR really Origin-required? Really-really? You can't just buy it, install it and not install Origin?

Only if you want the digital version, the boxed retail copy doesn't require it.

 

[Fappy]

They convinced me to play Dragon Age 2... DAMN THEM!

 

[brainslurper]

Bought mercenaries 2 a couple years after I first played it. I love that game. Well, turns out, the EA servers crash the game when you try to join on xbox. I spent a couple hours on support with them where they had me do things from changing my birthday to making a whole new live account. None of it worked, and eventually the borderline retarded customer service person said "there seems to be a bug going around" and left, even after I showed her posts on forums with the same problem back into 2009. I eventually solved it by getting an army of two demo, which correctly installed their pointless DRM, so mercenaries 2 wouldn't crash.

They essentially made it impossible for me to download any game with origin because I tried to play the battlefield 3 beta, and was under the age limit. I would have been fine with that, for legal purposes, but they didn't even take the time to explain it. It basically said "error, you can't play at this time" or something every time I tried to use origin.

EA killed pandemic after only two games were released under EA's ownership, both could have seriously benefitted from NOT being published by EA.

And worst of all, EA made origin.

I wouldn't hate them as much as I do if I didn't love the games they publish so much. It is definitely possible to be a large gaming company and not be so evil. Blizzard and valve do it, they develop and publish consistently good games, and sell them exclusively on their own online stores and nobody hates them. Because their stores aren't satan spawn, they don't screw over other studios for profit, and they don't drive franchises into the ground.