Is EA no longer the worst company in America?

[TomWiley]

Much of the hatred against EA was founded on their acquisition and subsequent treatment of various smaller game studios, but much of that criticism was unfounded and EA's part in the studios demise was overplayed.

EA's effort to improve their reputation is equally shallow. They give out a few free games and make their EULA policy more attractive than that of Steam (which really isn't that difficult).

Are we gamers really ready to go from collectively hating EA to suddenly just liking them just because they had a humble bundle of their own and it's more hip to hate Microsoft these days anyway? Is the entire gaming community suffering from borderline disorder?

 

[Charli]

People are aware of my anti EA stance, but I don't think they were ever 'worst company in america'.

They're just an easy target since internet voters and gamers will overlap considerably.

 

[Something Amyss]

First of all they should never have gotten that "award", because they are nowhere near the worst company in the entire country. Worst games publisher could be argued, but not company overall.

This was a superlative award much like those in high school yearbooks. It's justified because it's the most EA deserves: some bad hype. Most of the worse companies deserve things like jail time, or possibly one of those angry mobs from old black and white films. They don't need negative publicity, except maybe Monsanto. But again, what Monstanto really needs is jail time. Even they already have some pretty serious negative publicity going on.

EA got the boot in the ass it needed to actually make itself better. That's what we're seeing, if you ask me. The result of a nice boot and a golden poo. Giving it to the US government or any of the banks that nearly tanked the world economy won't do any good, because what we need there are heads on pikes (figuratively, before anyone thinks I'm threatening revolt).

And honestly, that's what I want. I want Peter Moore to keep his vow to do better, and the people who ran Bank of America and Citybank in jail. Preferably for a long time and in the kind of jail the average person gets sent to, since they helped put people in those jails for doing things like trying to live in their homes.

To the topic question, I think EA will be out of the running this year unless they do something really stupid.

They're EA, so it's still possible.

Exactly. The whole voting procedure is a joke. Calling EA the "worst company" would mean that Americans, as a whole, care more about some consumer-unfriendly business practices of an entertainment company than about, say, oil companies spilling their gulfs or financial firms crashing their economy.

Dude, Americans as a whole DO care more about some consumer unfriendly business practices than oul companies spilling our gulfs or financial firms crashing our economy.

It's not about not being able to do fucked up shit, it's about the impact the company as on life. No matter how bad EA gets, it's never going to impact life significantly. All people have to do is not buy their games if they get too bad.

You say that now, but when you find out Origin has become self-aware and renamed itself Skynet....

There are games that glorify racism and teach people how to be racists,there are games that glorify rape and anytime a rape victim sees that they relive their own assault.These games are out there and incite or encourage people to commit these acts.

Are we talking those shitty freeware games neo-nazis put up? Otherwise, I'd like some names. If so, however, you have to try really hard to find games that glorify hate and rape and if you do, you only have yourself to blame if it "triggers" you.

Let's be honest though, do you think Walmart or bank of American or any of those other companies would give a single fuck that they won that award? People know they're shitty, but nothing less of Government intervention is going to do shit for them. They don't care about what their customers think about them, they do that shit regardless? But EA? If you hadn't noticed, winning that award HAS affected them. They certainly weren't happy that they won it, and now it seems they're actually making an ATTEMPT to change. They NEED customer approval, else the customers will start not buying their games if EA does too much shit. So yeah, of course they're not the WORST company out there, but at least winning that award can do something for them.

Hey, a like-minded individual on the topic. Howabout that.

Also, more specifically, Wal-Mart and Bank of America can afford to care less about this because the gamers/nerds in question are not as directly tied to their business. EA needs those butthurt nerds and gamers. Wal-Mart? Not so much.

I think this improves the argument that it's more appropriate to name companies like EA the WORST...COMPANY...IN THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD!

 

[vIRL Nightmare]

I think EA is trying to do a turn around on this reputation. I seem to remember them saying, paraphrasing mind you, "Yeah, we're kind of changing how we do shit". Also reviving Star wars battlefront is a good way for them to win peoples hearts.

As a side note I think they're called the "worst" company for a few poor decisions, which a few isn't a big tragic thing it just made them easy targets. Since I don't have to deal with origin and find the Sims a sad excuse for a game that I'd never play, EA has never really done wrong by me.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

It's not about not being able to do fucked up shit, it's about the impact the company as on life. No matter how bad EA gets, it's never going to impact life significantly. All people have to do is not buy their games if they get too bad.

You say that now, but when you find out Origin has become self-aware and renamed itself Skynet....

I'll most likely be dead when it happens, so I'm not too worried. Worst case scenario, I need to learn to live underground.

 

[Legion]

First of all they should never have gotten that "award", because they are nowhere near the worst company in the entire country. Worst games publisher could be argued, but not company overall.

This was a superlative award much like those in high school yearbooks. It's justified because it's the most EA deserves: some bad hype. Most of the worse companies deserve things like jail time, or possibly one of those angry mobs from old black and white films. They don't need negative publicity, except maybe Monsanto. But again, what Monstanto really needs is jail time. Even they already have some pretty serious negative publicity going on.

EA got the boot in the ass it needed to actually make itself better. That's what we're seeing, if you ask me. The result of a nice boot and a golden poo. Giving it to the US government or any of the banks that nearly tanked the world economy won't do any good, because what we need there are heads on pikes (figuratively, before anyone thinks I'm threatening revolt).

And honestly, that's what I want. I want Peter Moore to keep his vow to do better, and the people who ran Bank of America and Citybank in jail. Preferably for a long time and in the kind of jail the average person gets sent to, since they helped put people in those jails for doing things like trying to live in their homes.

To the topic question, I think EA will be out of the running this year unless they do something really stupid.

They're EA, so it's still possible.

A very good point. Especially considering the kind of company willing to do things that are bad enough that they should have the law involved are not the kind who are going to care if they get some childish award.

EA on the other hand seem to care about their negative publicity enough to do something about it, which is hopeful at least.

 

[Doom972]

It was intended as a wake up call for them. They weren't really that bad. I think Activision-Blizzard is much worse.

Looks like they are making steps in the right direction and I like that. I hope to see more of these steps in the near future.

Right now, my biggest problem with them is the prices on the Euro zone. Their recent "sale" brings the game prices down to what I can already get in stores, and isn't useful at all. Hopefully this will soon be remedied.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It's not about not being able to do fucked up shit, it's about the impact the company as on life. No matter how bad EA gets, it's never going to impact life significantly. All people have to do is not buy their games if they get too bad.

Tell that to the people who film people getting tortured or raped as entertainment,tell that to the child pornographers who ruin thousands of children's lives with their videos.Just because you think entertainment isn't capable of ruining lives does'nt mean it's true.

Also most of the things I've mentioned are commited by companies that are underground and in other countries.

And all this is related to what EA does... how?


If you genuinely believe that EA has "some of the worst [imaginable] consumer practices", you have no idea of the business world. So they're forcing you to use Origin and want to milk their customers a bit more by implementing micro transactions in all their games. But, yea, that's totally on the same level as insurance companies not wanting to pay you damages after life-changing accidents or banks granting you loans you won't be able to repay... to name just two examples.

If you truly think what they're doing isn't some of the most anti-consumer bull in modern history, you have no idea of the consumer end of the bargain. They're waging war on the used market and the very concept of ownership. There isn't another industry on the face of the planet where a company could get away with that, because most industries don't have consumers as pathetic as the games industry. There would be rioting in the streets if an industry other than software or videogames (which are doing this really as a branch of the software industry) tried it.

As far as the debate goes, though: while it's nice to see that EA is trying to clean up its reputation, I've been around long enough to remember that they brought Riccitiello in in the first place to do exactly what they're doing now, and at first it looked like he really was fulfilling his promise to make the company more consumer friendly. Fast forward a few years and he's been replaced because of just how bad things got under him. Call me back in five years and ask me what I think about the company, because right now they're really doing nothing new.

 

[Orks da best]

EA was never the worst company to begin with, because they aren't. It just the vocal gamers being...whatever the hell they feel like really.

One reason why gaming is still not fully accepted by all of society...

 

[Something Amyss]

I'll most likely be dead when it happens, so I'm not too worried. Worst case scenario, I need to learn to live underground.

Oh, I think you'll survive until next Tuesday.

SKYNET IS COMING, PEOPLE!

(I am taking the piss, of course. But it's so fun, sometimes)

A very good point. Especially considering the kind of company willing to do things that are bad enough that they should have the law involved are not the kind who are going to care if they get some childish award.

EA on the other hand seem to care about their negative publicity enough to do something about it, which is hopeful at least.

I suppose that's one plus...EA isn't evil enough to go all the way.

...Yet.

...I'm scared.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

First of all, this isn't the first time EA have supposedly 'turned a new leaf.' Remember waaaay back in 2008?

I do.

http://www.destructoid.com/ea-admits-it-blew-it-with-bullfrog-origin-and-westwood-69491.phtml

This was back when the CoD train was gaining steam and Bobby Kotick was inserting his foot into his mouth regularly. Good quality titles like Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Mirrors Edge, and Dead Space all had EA logos on them.

Fast forward to the present and:

DA2 was at very least a massive rush job.
The less said about ME3 the better.
And Dead Space 3 included micotransactions in single player.

EA may be trying to improve but the last time they did this, it didn't stick.

 

[Saidan]

Electronic Arts will always be evil at its core, this is probably just a phase. Besides, it will take more than a few humble bundles to make me forget what EA's corruption did to Bioware (see Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3), just to name one of too many things

 

[Windcaler]

Well first off I dont think EA deserved either title when they were up against companies like Bank of America and ticketmaster. Worst company in gaming, yeah I would say they deserved that the last 2 years but not worst in america by a long shot.

That said, they do seem to be getting their heads out of their butts, which Im pleased to see. EA has the potential to great things in gaming with their main three in house developers (Bioware, DICE, and Visceral). With the star wars lisence they could do a lot more too (although Im still against them having exclusive access to it). I think the trophy poo awards (and the Simcity debacle) were just the kick in the pants they needed, bad press (deserved or not) can go a long way toward pushing a company in the right direction.

Only time will tell if this is a legitimate change in the way they do things or just for show to foster some consumer goodwill but I believe people and companies can redeem themselves so Im willing to give them that opportunity.

 

[Shuu]

They have been behaving lately. Letting Microsoft become the new bad guys. Very wise.
When Ricittielo (god damn his soul) left the company, I honestly though EA could turn their situations around. I think they were really onto something with their first party digital distribution platform, and they royaly screwed up its laungh (first impressions count for a lot) and i still think it's the key to fixing themselves and potentially the industry. They seem to be learning how to run Origin better, and I hope they keep improving. Because EA wasn't always this way, and I know they can be a great company again.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

I can't tell if you're just all too young or if you have really short term memories.

EA has been doing this same exact thing for decades now. Raise good will, act like things are changing, swing back to aggressively anti-consumerist policy bungles and terrible PR. Back and forth like a pinball machine. This isn't new and it's barely news. EA isn't the super evil corporation most of you think it is and it isn't a super nice corporation either; they just really suck at maintaining any forward momentum in either direction so they switch like a bipolar person every few years.