EA's Peter Moore admits "We can do better"

[Comocat]

I enjoyed this quote "These include server shut downs too early, games that didn't meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this."

It just seemed kind of long list as in "sure we may have screwed up W... and X... and Y... and Z... and but we're going to do better because its obvious we learn from these mistakes."

I don't think EA is worst company, but it would be nice if they would just come out and say they don't really care. People are upset on a forum wahh wahh I cant hear you over this mountain of cash from the broken games you keep buying.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

I enjoyed this quote "These include server shut downs too early, games that didn't meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this."

It just seemed kind of long list as in "sure we may have screwed up W... and X... and Y... and Z... and but we're going to do better because its obvious we learn from these mistakes."

I don't think EA is worst company, but it would be nice if they would just come out and say they don't really care. People are upset on a forum wahh wahh I cant hear you over this mountain of cash from the broken games you keep buying.

They are part of the internet chain, they cannot outright snub people unless you want a huge example of a CD burning campaign.

And sadly, they dismiss our priorities are in the wrong place.

 

[JomBob]

I got as far as 'its not DRM' and just had to stop.

 

[Snotnarok]

Aurgh...Just saying the Always Online is not a scheme 'period' doesn't hold any water when all evidence points to it not making sense and your entire consumer base hating it.

Customers took their 'free game apology' that cost EA nothing because it's digital, big deal, then they also removed the support number for refunds, and then removed the modding section of their forums so focusing on the people accepting free crap model doesn't make what happened good.

And saying that Origin has many registered customers doesn't mean shit either, I got origin, because Mass Effect 3 required origin for me to play it.

Just more lies, more bullshit and expect to see lots more DLC twists with Sim City, like not being able to share DLC resources with neighbors so they better pony up the cash to do that, expansion to let your SIM 3 characters in your city, more DLC from 'sponsors' and probably billboards you can't stop your city's companies from building advertizing shows on real TV.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Snip

Games? Choose another company. I hear there's plenty. What, is Medal of Honor: Warfighter the only modern military shooter in existence? Is SimCity the only city building game in existence? Is ME3 the only RPG in existence?

And when it does they can just point to Wal-Mart and BP and then just completely destroy the reputation of the voters who did it. Do you seriously think people are going to take the poo seriously when people can legitimately point out the reasons that EA is getting votes is because of angry retarded neckbeards with entitlement complexes literally going "fuck the poor, fuck the environment, fuck the oppressed, not getting exactly the games I want is more serious than actual real social issues"? Because you guys voting for EA are saying.

That the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion is a lesser crime than EA's botched SimCity launch. This is literally what you're saying. Think about this long and hard. How many people did SimCity kill? If you can't point to at least a dozen you are an entitled fuckwit.

You guys are voting for a company as being the worst despite there being other companies which have actually, intentionally, enacted policies that kill people. On the scale of evil companies EA doesn't even fucking rate.

Companies can't buy out companies which refuse to sell and have plenty of resources news at 11.

How will you explain this then Dexter?

 

[Mad World]

Now what I will say is that I admire (yes you can use that word in relation to EA! *shock*) Peter Moore owning up and saying basically "We fucked up". I also admire the bit when he says EA won't cave to homophobes. While it doesn't affect me, I'm sure a lot of LGBT gamers will appreciate that stance.

Being against the permitting of LGBT characters in video games does not automatically make someone homophobic.

Anyway, while I can definitely see why people would consider EA to be the worst gaming company, I do not think that they should be considered to be the worst company in America.

Forcing players to always be connected to the internet in a game like SimCity does seem like DRM, so I think that it is odd for him to so easily dismiss it as not.

EA should stop their bad business practices (always-online DRM, FIFA clones, etc.), and just focus on making quality games (like Battlefield). Like someone mentioned before, Valve is a very successful company; yet, they're not despised in the same way that EA is. So, success doesn't always mean disdain.

 

[dyre]

As always, it's a false statement, full of claims of doing well despite people being unhappy. They do it all the time. Like when they responded to the Mass Effect 3 ending by saying "But we got lot's of perfect scores" in the same paragraph as claiming they understood some people weren't happy.

They basically do the opposite of a backhanded compliment. They pretend to criticise themselves while using it as a platform to say how good they really are.

They are incapable of talking like real people. They are politicians at heart.

The only part I agree with is that it is ridiculous for people to vote them the worst company in America. Worst gaming company? Sure, but there are much worse companies overall.

Yeah, they're just doing fairly standard PR stuff, which is perhaps an improvement for them, which is why it apparently is catching a lot of Escapists off guard and making them mistake this for an honest apology or something.

Obviously when you get voted the worst company in America, you don't release a statement saying "well fuck you consumers, we're actually the best company in America." You release a pseudo-apology and hedge it by adding a bunch of excuses and compliments between the lines. And then you set up a straw man to imply that most of the people who hate you just do it because they're homophobic.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

The site this Poll takes place on is called "The Consumerist", and the Poll is dedicated to companies that screw over consumers, not committing atrocities against mankind,

and the Bank of America is an American bank that did horrible things to the people indebted to them,

The people indebted to Bank of America are employing their services. They are essentially consumers.

Being against the permitting of LGBT characters in video games does not automatically make someone homophobic.

If you're against characters showing attraction to each other in general, sure.

If you're against LGBT characters because you're afraid they'll be stereotypical or will be defined too much by their orientation, the best way to stop that is to add more LGBT characters so that such behavior is no longer thought of as "deviant", just like how adding more black characters stops a black character from being labeled as "the black guy".

 

[wulf3n]

Games? Choose another company. I hear there's plenty. What, is Medal of Honor: Warfighter the only modern military shooter in existence? Is SimCity the only city building game in existence? Is ME3 the only RPG in existence?

And when it does they can just point to Wal-Mart and BP and then just completely destroy the reputation of the voters who did it. Do you seriously think people are going to take the poo seriously when people can legitimately point out the reasons that EA is getting votes is because of angry retarded neckbeards with entitlement complexes literally going "fuck the poor, fuck the environment, fuck the oppressed, not getting exactly the games I want is more serious than actual real social issues"? Because you guys voting for EA are saying.

That the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion is a lesser crime than EA's botched SimCity launch. This is literally what you're saying. Think about this long and hard. How many people did SimCity kill? If you can't point to at least a dozen you are an entitled fuckwit.

You guys are voting for a company as being the worst despite there being other companies which have actually, intentionally, enacted policies that kill people. On the scale of evil companies EA doesn't even fucking rate.

Companies can't buy out companies which refuse to sell and have plenty of resources news at 11.

What an entitled neckbeard. Bitching about the responses to a meaningless on-line poll, while atrocities are being committed all over the world

The delicious irony of calling out entitlement on the internet #firstworldproblems

 

[New World Fool]

Well, if EA could do better wouldn't they have done so by now? Instead we get the SimCity incident, all this Always Online malarkey... I don't think EA can do any better to be honest.

 

[Nazulu]

Hmmmm, this doesn't look like they're pulling their heads out of their ass.

 

[NightmareExpress]

This long winded "apology" is nothing more than PR babble that doesn't even accomplish what it sets out to do.
"We can do better, *list of what they've done wrong* and how we plan to rectify this" was all that was necessary.
But rather, it's like a modern warlord in some poor part of the world saying "at least I'm not Hitler".

The always online bit of SimCity would have to be DRM due to the product itself being a botched MMO of sorts. There is no option to play offline single player save for client modification (which is, in EA terms, "illegal and hacking"). Saying "end of story/period" without further elaboration does not help prove your case.

Have they've gotten unfair votes stacked upon them for petty reasons? Yes, they most certainly have. So have others.
Are there companies out there with worse atrocities committed? Why yes, the Banks make a living from ruining lives.
However, EA has proven time and time again that they, along with most other big companies, are not above exploiting both consumer and employee (the inhumane hours and fickle job security) in a desperate attempt to make or save some big bucks. Depending on your outlook of the world or your priorities, this could justify you voting for them given the parameters of the poll.

The reasons they have for not being "the worst" are rather insignificant. The amount of registered users and people who play largely stem from the fact that they've effectively monopolized sports games and have pulled future installments of franchises from Steam to be exclusively playable on Origin. I wouldn't be surprised if a nice amount of "registered users" are dummy accounts or used for the sole purpose of playing a game previously on Steam should they be a PC gamer. Origin's success hasn't been from good products or loyalty, it's been from removing consumer choice.

So while EA certainly isn't the worst, they are pretty damn bad and have not convinced me to shift my view of them with this response to the poll. In fact, I think it cements my negative view of them because I could not say that I was proud of my company (were I in that man's shoes) and what it's done without feeling disgusted of myself or having already sold my soul to the corporate devil.

I sincerely hope that they do better, but given their track record I find that highly unlikely.
It would require pulling a complete 180 and actually listening to their fans instead of finding new ways to screw them over and test the extents of their tolerance.

 

[Tien Shen]

The fact that he still claims that always-on functionality is NOT a DRM scheme blows it for me. They'll win it again this year and it's deservedly so.

 

[Atlas13]

I also admire the bit when he says EA won't cave to homophobes. While it doesn't affect me, I'm sure a lot of LGBT gamers will appreciate that stance.

Honestly, I find that rather insulting. All they're doing is using LGBT gamers as a shield to protect them from any and all criticisms. They did it last year when they lost, and they're doing it again this year. They don't actually care about LGBT gamers, they're just using them, and it's incredibly obvious that they are. I think that's pretty offensive.

 

[Erttheking]

Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to solving it, but until they actually go further, I'm holding my applause.