Give me your opinions about EA (Leave out ME3)

[idarkphoenixi]

Ah, thank you, someone else who gets it.

On a side note, that worst company award doesn't mean much because it was voted on in a niche magazine, not by actual industry analysts or entrepreneurs or economists. And I have a hard time believing they're worse than Bank of America who crashed the US economy by selling toxic mortgages and then betting on them to fail. And since that is objectively criminal, they paid off politicians and an armada of lawyers to keep them out of prison. That's just sick.

It may not be an 'official' award but it will still damage their reputation even further than it currently is. Shareholders see the title "EA worst company in America" on several blogs and that might be enough to convince them to sell, sell, sell!
EA did deserve winning that award but not because it's a more destructive company than say: a national bank. But let's face it, if Bank of America won that award who would even be talking about it? Maybe one or two people, but it wouldn't exactly do anything.

EA doesn't have the backing of the American government and almost every millionaire/billionaire/politian in the country, unlike the banks. It won't ruin the company by getting a golden poo, not by a long shot. But I'm certain it will do more damage than some of those more deserving trophy winners.

 

[Kahunaburger]

If I owned stock in them, I'd sell it.

 

[Eddie the head]

Ah, thank you, someone else who gets it.

On a side note, that worst company award doesn't mean much because it was voted on in a niche magazine, not by actual industry analysts or entrepreneurs or economists. And I have a hard time believing they're worse than Bank of America who crashed the US economy by selling toxic mortgages and then betting on them to fail. And since that is objectively criminal, they paid off politicians and an armada of lawyers to keep them out of prison. That's just sick.

Comparing EA to San-Ida, a small small company in my home town, EA are practically saints. In no way are they the worst company in america I would say they get the most hate but they are not the worst.

 

[Dularn]

EA is completely money orientated and stifling studios.

They try and price gouge certain regions massively. For example, The Old Republic was priced at $90 AUD here (Australia) despite it being launched 3 months after the US/Europe.

Dead Space 2 is still $70 AUD on steam. Witcher 2, BF3, Sims 3 and ME3 are all $80 on Origin. The N7 edition is $100. Thats $80 for ME3 BEFORE you factor in the $10 day 1 dlc.

For reference the Australian dollar is worth more than the USD and has been for some time.

They have also compromised quality for studios such as Bioware by cutting dev time, forcing early DLC and even demanding multiplayer in games like ME3 (which itself was monetised - all packs can be purchased with bioware points).

Also, they are even trying to cash in on the Bioware name now. 'Command & Conquer: Generals 2' coming soon from Bioware eh? Oh wait, the team has nothing to do with Bioware.

 

[SoranMBane]

On one hand, for such a huge publisher, they do seem unusually more likely to give new IPs or experimental concepts a chance, and their Origin service, while less than stellar in itself, is at least an attempt to give Steam some competition, which can only be good for consumers overall. On the other hand, there's their godawful, embarrassing marketing campaigns, their mistreatment of their developers, online passes, and a slew of other terrible practices. So I don't like them, and if I was a game developer I'd rather just not make games at all than work for them (although I'd say the same for pretty much every major publisher), but I don't hate them enough to not buy their products on the off chance that they turn out something good or interesting.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Outside of The Sims and Mass Effect series I haven't really had much exposure to EA games.

That being said the ones I have played have usually ranged from mediocre (Dragon Age and Dead Space) to terrible (American McGee's Alice and The Urbz) which makes it difficult to really get behind them as a publisher.

Also Origin just seems like a disaster of a DDL service, I'm all for a little competition for Steam but they have to make it worth my while to have to download another DDL client and deal with all the various headaches that the convenience of such a service provides.

 

[getoffmycloud]

I don't hate EA I will admit some of there business practises are a bit wrong but that is life find me a business that isn't like that. As far as their games go the majority of them are of good quality even if they are not the most innovative out there but I let them off that because there are lots of jobs relying on EA making money and as for this thing about them just rehashing games I don't really see that outside the sports games which I should point out they more than likely have to release a full game every year as a part of the license agreement with the sports organisers and if I want to play a sport I will go outside and play it not play it on a game.

 

[Aeonknight]

Let's see, I've enjoyed the battlefield series since it started. Dead Space 1 and 2 was enjoyable. Even the Medal of Honor series.

While EA itself may not have made those games, they do get credit for being partially responsible for their existance. Kind of the point of publishers really...

As far as common criticism for them goes, let's take a look:

Bad publicity campaigns? It's a commercial... are people really that petty that they'll let a bad publicity stunt or 2 doom the company? "Your mom is gonna hate Dead Space 2"... I actually found that commercial somewhat humorous. What I didn't find humorous was that god awful Pro + Noob MW3 commercial. Overused 80's music combined with something that makes the game look completely overexaggerated (imagine my dismay to find the airplane slow mo bit was actually in the game....)

DRM? What DRM? Oh yea, that whole PC thing. Consoles don't have that problem. But even after getting BF3 for PC and having to go through the "atrocity" that is Origin, I'm finding my computer hasn't blown up, and BF3 hasn't crashed on me once yet. Can't say the same about the Half Life series and it's glitches, but hey.

10$ campaign? Meh I generally buy new anyway. The only multiplayer game I bought from them used was Bad Company 2. And between the Used price and the 10$ for multiplayer, I still came out ahead. Only some of that money went to the people who made it instead of all going into Gamestop's pocket.

Day one DLC? It's DLC, optional. Don't want it, don't buy it. Although the last DLC I got was that map pack for BF3 for free. Yup, I been scammed all right. Free maps, the horror! /sarcasm.


I'm sure there's other reasons that the myriad of haters will throw out, but I would hope said haters aren't so disillusioned to think that EA is the only publisher with skeletons in their closet. Every company is shit if you only look for at what they've done poorly.

 

[4ged]

just going to point out that if they subscribed to all the bad for business practices then why is EA still a gaming juggernaut,

It's not a sustainable model. EA's decisions will come back to bite them in the ass as the negativity builds up and they find themselves unable to adapt when a competitor comes along that can offer consumers a friendlier alternative.

The question is not, "Are they making money?" It's, "Could they be making more money and gaining long-term stability?" The fact that I have to explain this shows just how deeply ingrained these bad ideas are.

Not sure why everyone seems to think they're doing a good job, just with shitty p.r. They are one of the most incompetant companies I've ever seen, the fact that they have made any kind of sucess is little more than blind luck. However, they are at the point now where they are "too big to fail" so even a moron could run EA now.

EA is in deperate trouble financially. Yes, they make a lot of money but that's only because of the sheer size of their company. They should be making much more than they are with a business as big as EA is.

Share prices have plummeted around 50% after the release of Dragon Age II and with all of this hubbub over Mass Effect 3 it's not likely to rise again any time soon. Especially when you consider the fact that EA won the "worst company in America" award. Which was quite fittingly a golden turd trophy.

Ah, thank you, someone else who gets it.

On a side note, that worst company award doesn't mean much because it was voted on in a niche magazine, not by actual industry analysts or entrepreneurs or economists. And I have a hard time believing they're worse than Bank of America who crashed the US economy by selling toxic mortgages and then betting on them to fail. And since that is objectively criminal, they paid off politicians and an armada of lawyers to keep them out of prison. That's just sick.

i realy want to know where you got your expertise on what qualifys you on any of EAs policy's last time i checked EA still makes money and your some dude on the interwebs, point goes to EA on this, how bout you drop the armchair entrepreneur act and enjoy some games, and personally i think EA is a very money grubbing opportunist when it comes to how they do what they do, but money is money and this is America so that is all that talks with them. Oh and the worst company's in the us are the ones that don't exist anymore like Enron so this trophy is just last place is all, still better then bankruptcy.

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

WELL IN ME3...oh sorry.
I guess they're pretty important being one of the biggest (if not the biggest) publishers out there.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Second most profitable games developer in the world, and EA will dissolve it?

Not fucking likely. In fact, EA has been merging almost every company they acquire into BioWare. BioWare now consists of around eight developers.

You really think none of those other companies weren't worth anything? Those were some of the biggest names in the business and EA did the exact same thing they are doing to Bioware now. Rushing them as much as they can, forcing games to be released way before they should leaving them in horrible quality and once people's faith dries up they kill them off. Go read dexter's other post too since that says way more than I could have.

 

[JediMB]

Mixed feelings.

On the one hand, big publishers like EA are needed to fund gigantic projects like Star Wars: The Old Republic, but on the other hand I despise publisher meddling and its many consequences (Day 1 DLC, rushed releases, attempts to cater to a different audience than what a game is really made for, etc.).

 

[Dragonmaster3]

Well unless you pirate them but that's not really an option for console gamers.

What in the world?...I'm not trying to start an argument here, but uninformed stuff like this always rubs me the wrong way. Of course console games can be pirated, and while not easier than an PC, it's still easy to do.

 

[Dragonmaster3]

Uh, how about their horrible, HORRIBLE marketing? Remember the shit they pulled for Dante's Inferno? "This is a game your mom doesn't want you to play", basically marketing an R-rated game directly to kids?
And let's not get into the whole "touch a booth-babe" thing, because that's just..So..Fucking..Gah, words fail me.

By the way that was for Dead Space 2 if I'm not mistaken. And EA really needs to hire a new marketing department.

 

[Vrex360]

... I'm a fan of the Dead Space series.
For whatever that's worth.

That said I do think they are exploitative to the companies they buy out and I am not a fan of their martketting. All the same I'm not quite as out for their blood as others are.

 

[Mikeyfell]

My opinion of EA with out mentioning Mass Effect 3?
Can I express my disgust for Dragon Age 2 as an example of how they preform creative genocide on the culture of gaming?

Here's a thing I came up with

Activision beats dead horses, EA beats horses to death.


So I looked at DICE, (One of EA's developers) They made 20 Battlefield games. 20!
Where the fuck is Mirror's Edge 2?


And their shady micro-transaction business practices. It makes me sick.

 

[Waaghpowa]

*Points at Dexter111's post*

That. I'm at the point where I just wont buy an EA game because of all their bullshit over the years. And yes, I mean it, I wont buy an EA game just like how I haven't bought a Ubisoft and Activision game in almost a decade.