Give me your opinions about EA (Leave out ME3)

[Per Kaas]

Well, other than their horrible marketing department, facist,horrible and bugged, Online Distribution Platform, and DLC policy that makes Activision look like saints, they seem okay. Though the fact that they bought up several of my favorite game developers and milk their franchises to their last drop, while they demand more games with more DLC and less and sloppier content, makes me want to go Dr. Freeman on their ass! I have boycotted Origin since it started, and will keep this up as long as they have such a horrible EULA.

 

[Bertylicious]

They are not out to be our best friend, they are out to make money. It doesn't make them "evil" but it certainly doesn't put them on a lot of peoples Christmas lists.

There are such things as ethics and integrity even within business. Like for example, lets say I was a business man and I chose to make my business from frequenting schools and befriending lonely, vulnerable, teenagers in order to pimp them out.

It'd be an effective money making business with low overheads and unique challenges but it would be exploitative and leave people damaged.

So I'm afraid I have to deny your position.

 

[ecoho]

i actually like EA, i know im weird, they havent done anything that really pissed me off. That said im not a PC gamer and they are really the ones whove gotten the short stick from EA recently and they should be mad, but dont say a studeos going down the tubes because you didnt like the last two games from them(im refering to DA2 and ME3) thats just being pessimistic.

 

[King of Asgaard]

EA is a bunch of money-grubbing bastards, who are never happy with the amount of money they get through regular sales, so they cut out content from their releases and sell it for $10 or equivalent, just for the cash.
The last EA game I bought was Dead Space 2, and their asinine online pass, which didn't work due to the country I live in, effectively locked a big chunk of content from me and many others.
EA can go rot in hell for all I care.

 

[Rawne1980]

They are not out to be our best friend, they are out to make money. It doesn't make them "evil" but it certainly doesn't put them on a lot of peoples Christmas lists.

There are such things as ethics and integrity even within business. Like for example, lets say I was a business man and I chose to make my business from frequenting schools and befriending lonely, vulnerable, teenagers in order to pimp them out.

It'd be an effective money making business with low overheads and unique challenges but it would be exploitative and leave people damaged.

So I'm afraid I have to deny your position.

Except EA aren't pimping off small children, they are doing what the gaming community has allowed them to do.

People have pissed and moaned for years about large publishers "taking advantage" and still throw their money at them.

What do you expect EA to do?

The only thing they listen to is the jingle and rustle of cash. There are, literally, millions of people around the world that gladly throw their money at EA no matter what they do. Some people on this very site defend the things EA do.

They have pushed and pushed for years to rake it that little bit of extra cash only it made them billions.

If people had stopped and thought about it a few years back then it would have been different.

As it is they are only doing what we opened the door to let them do.

I can't defend them but I am one of the people that buy games with the EA logo so I can't hail them as "the devil" either.

Ranting, raving, pissing and moaning won't change a damn thing. In order to stop some of the "questionable" things EA get up to then people need to stop buying their products.

That will never happen so things will only get worse.

Disagree all you want. Hurl as much abuse in EA's direction as you feel like. The truth is, as long as you and people you know are buying games with the EA logo you are part of the problem.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

E.A. seems to be a company that puts the profits before the customer and the quality of their product.

If they were a restaurant they would have gone out of business by now.

 

[Bvenged]

I'm not sure who's more greedy, EA or Activision... But that's exactly how I would describe them both:
Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy.
Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy.
Greedy Greedy.
Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy Greedy.

Spoiler: I am pretty sure this is what their execs look like, but don't hold me to it.

At £40 a bloody game, with them getting spat out at exponential rates yet rammed down our throat as "the best one yet'; not to mention all that DLC, disc-locked content and predetermined sequels; I'm not surprised I've been buying less and less games the past year or so. I haven't bought an Activision game in at least 2 years. There's nothing inherently wrong with those things, but only when used in moderation. nowadays basically ANY new game will have those announced/uncovered before the product has even left the development studio's doors, and it's not expanding its lifespan, no fucking way. the sequel usually come out not long after regardless, those packs are just an instant way to make money between products, at least that's the impression I get when 2-3hours of entertainment costs 1/4 price of a new game.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I don't care much for EA and I haven't cared for them for awhile. I know lots of people have jumped on the "Lets hate EA bandwagon" since Mass Effect 3 but they've been fucking things up for years.
They want to extort money from players more so than I see most other companies(Or at least they are way less subtle about it). They gobble up developers, bleed them dry, and move on. They also treat all their employees like shit from what I've heard and are responsible for all sorts of OSHA violations.
They also release all sorts of retarded marketing that just makes gaming look bad all across the board. I don't know, just everything about EA makes me feel sick. I would be totally fine with them going away tomorrow, even if it meant all the developers they own went with it.
Of course, that'd leave Activision as the king of gaming, which makes me even MORE depressed.

 

[Bertylicious]

They are not out to be our best friend, they are out to make money. It doesn't make them "evil" but it certainly doesn't put them on a lot of peoples Christmas lists.

There are such things as ethics and integrity even within business. Like for example, lets say I was a business man and I chose to make my business from frequenting schools and befriending lonely, vulnerable, teenagers in order to pimp them out.

Except EA aren't pimping off small children, they are doing what the gaming community has allowed them to do.

People have pissed and moaned for years about large publishers "taking advantage" and still throw their money at them.

What do you expect EA to do?

The only thing they listen to is the jingle and rustle of cash. There are, literally, millions of people around the world that gladly throw their money at EA no matter what they do. Some people on this very site defend the things EA do.

They have pushed and pushed for years to rake it that little bit of extra cash only it made them billions.

If people had stopped and thought about it a few years back then it would have been different.

As it is they are only doing what we opened the door to let them do.

I can't defend them but I am one of the people that buy games with the EA logo so I can't hail them as "the devil" either.

Ranting, raving, pissing and moaning won't change a damn thing. In order to stop some of the "questionable" things EA get up to then people need to stop buying their products.

That will never happen so things will only get worse.

Disagree all you want. Hurl as much abuse in EA's direction as you feel like. The truth is, as long as you and people you know are buying games with the EA logo you are part of the problem.

Maybe some of the teenagers EA is pimping are really hot and... ok so yeah I concede that there is no defence for buying a product from a company who is basically the devil.

I would say that just because I'm pumping away at Bioware because I have a fetish for crying game developers doesn't excuse EA any better by me being an awful, awful, person.

 

[Rawne1980]

Maybe some of the teenagers EA is pimping are really hot and... ok so yeah I concede that there is no defence for buying a product from a company who is basically the devil.

I would say that just because I'm pumping away at Bioware because I have a fetish for crying game developers doesn't excuse EA any better by me being an awful, awful, person.

Oh no I agree completely.

Some of the things EA get up to (bot filled survey's especially) are the kind of thing you would see from a, well, *evil* corporation is the closest way to describe them.

The problem is, some of the games that come out under their logo are games that we want so boycotting them only hurts us.

But you are right, it doesn't excuse some of the things they do.

It's a sad thing that it has come down to the money and they feel that have to squeeze that little bit more out whenever they can. The only reason i'm not going to hurl abuse at them is because i'm guilty of being one of those giving them my money and it would seem a tad hypocritical of me.

Like you say though, me being part of that problem doesn't give them any excuses and I can't defend any of their choices. I can't even defend my lack of willpower to stop throwing my money at them.

I tried with Ubisoft. I ranted and raved over shitty DRM and being told that, because i'm a PC gamer, i'm a pirate and vowed never to buy one of their games again.....

Then I saw Assassins Creed Revelations Collectors Edition in GAME during their sale for £25 and couldn't resist. Then I saw Assassins Creed 3 being talked about.

The biggest problem is your average gamer is weak. We want it all to change and we dislike the big companies for ripping us off but we can't stop ourselves buying from them.

It is out fault as much as EA's and I accept partial responsibility.

We are Dr Frankenstein and Publishers are our monsters.

 

[Palademon]

They are the darkside of the industry.

Sure, they've published good games, but why would they not try to?
They're trying to make money and they often feel like screwing people over and feel like the best course of action for making more money is to buy and destroy companies that have shown consistent quality.

 

[Elate]

I liked them back when they published the likes of Future Cop, and they still occasionally publish good games (See ME series) but I dislike their business practices (The whole banning for modding SP Origin games) and doubt I will be buying anymore than my (3) games on Origin.

So, I used to like them, and while I still like a few games they produce they've have done the opposite of what their job is, they've made me not want to play their games no matter how good.

And now they're suffering because of it, stock be getting low.

 

[Bertylicious]

It's just... they destroy developers and ideas! Where is Dungeon Keeper 3 EA? WHERE?

I've heard that the preasures from corporates like EA mean the average length of time a person spends in the video game industry is 5 years. If true, that's a pretty sad indictment. The growth of the indie game market is encouraging though and there have been some great games to come from that sector, games like Space Pirates and Zombies, but also some of the venerable groups who're really passionate about the games they make. Egosoft and their fanatical devotion to the X series springs to mind.

Maybe EA get thought of as the generic fat-cat buisness baddy because they've been around so long when there are plenty of other groups like Activision who're equally monstrous. These corporates represent the inevitable consequence of the industry maturing into a proper business sector.

I dunno. Maybe the industry will move in cycles with creative developers springing up in Indie organisations then getting swallowed up by one another untill there is a massive backlash and all the creators rush to re-found new companies.

 

[Antari]

i actually like EA, i know im weird, they havent done anything that really pissed me off. That said im not a PC gamer and they are really the ones whove gotten the short stick from EA recently and they should be mad, but dont say a studeos going down the tubes because you didnt like the last two games from them(im refering to DA2 and ME3) thats just being pessimistic.

Actually it isn't. Most companies that are bought by EA have about 5 games left in them before the teams that made them what they are get spread into the latest victim of hostile take over. You haven't had a bad experience with them? Give it time, you will.

 

[Atmos Duality]

They're a sloppy, exploitative, ruthless Publisher who have been in business for far too long.
Their business practices only approach "ethical" or "legal" when enforced via court order, they buy out and ruin talented developers for quick cash, and they have commissioned or produced precious little original content on their own as they churned out derivative after derivative and clone after clone.

Every decision of theirs that I can recall in the last 10 years has either been laughably incompetent, insulting, or dangerous to business at large.

As far as businesses go, yes, they're successful, but it's success that comes at a terrible price for everyone else, (including their own employees, who sued EA for labor law violations.)

I don't buy their products, and I'd discourage anyone from doing business with them if they don't like the direction they are taking gaming. But sadly, most gamers lack the spine to actually follow through with this, and instead turn to making demands directly of a company who otherwise doesn't give a fuck about them.

For the sake of Video Gaming at large, they're a gangrenous limb that needs to be hacked off.

 

[Verzin]

They've bought and gutted many of my favorite game studios. I'm not fond of them.