Just wondering, which are the "evil" gaming companies?

[orangeapples]

You know, companies that do a number of things wrong and they are the most evil company ever. Stuff like:

Activision - franchise milking
EA - Origin Spyware
Ubisoft - broken and insulting DRM
Capcom - Megaman Trolling

You know, companies that are not really evil, but do some dumb things that are kinda serious, but kinda trivial at the same time. Are there others? are all companies guilty of something?

 

[Lilani]

The four you listed are pretty universally disliked for the reasons you cited, but once you get beyond those it gets pretty subjective. Some people think Nintendo is the antichrist these days for their franchise milking and the Wii (or specifically how it's geared toward "casual" games). Other people are pretty cool about it. And I think RockStar is also a pretty hot or cold developer, though the reasons for that are not quite as clear to me.

 

[Aidinthel]

Zynga, for blatantly stealing other people's ideas.

 

[xDarc]

Don't forget that EA has basically turned call of duty in to Madden, another pile of shit that's squeezed out every year where your hard pressed to find new content amongst bits of corn.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

Nintendo for basically re-releasing the same games over and over and barely even attempting to cover it up because they know they'll always get away with it. Nintendo for bricking my Wii even though I never modded it and trying to charge me 75 dollars for them to repair it.

Capcom for Megaman trolling. Capcom for pulling support for phoenix wright in the west.

Bethesda for always releasing unplayable games and patching afterward.

 

[jpoon]

Don't forget Squeenix, such a pathetic and greedy excuse for a game development company. They are almost as bad as EA in my book.

 

[deadish]

They are all evil.

Companies who do it solely because they love game are few and far between these days. Even the old guard like id Software has to "change course" when market reality knocks on their door. A minimum of $10 million to create a game is a heck a lot of money, money that they have to recoup.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Don't forget that EA has basically turned call of duty in to Madden, another pile of shit that's squeezed out every year where your hard pressed to find new content amongst bits of corn.

That one is Activision, actually.


OP: All the ones you listed have definitely done villainous things recently, but a company that can really piss me off, even though it gets off scot-free, is Rockstar, and their treatment of PC gamers. Rockstar Social Club is annoying as hell, GTA IV is a total mess, and come on guys, we all know we wanted Red Dead Redemption, and not L.A. Noire!
Okay, okay, they're probably not doing this on purpose, they aren't trying to enrage PC gamers, but ever since they released that piece of shit lots of people couldn't even get running they call GTA IV on the PC, their treatment of the market has been downright terrible. Maybe they just don't care anymore, but then why did they have to create that goddamn Social Club? And Why doesn't Rockstar get more flak for this?
I know, they aren't really an evil corporation like the others that have been mentioned here, but they still REALLY piss me off sometimes.

 

[BiscuitWheels]

None of them are evil. It's just the silly hyperbolic horesehit that gamers like to toss around at the drop of a hat. You'd think EA kicked their dog or something the way they complain.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

Zynga are a pretty nasty company, I wouldn't want anything to do with them.

The others? Eh, milking games is their right and if people are dumb enough to support it then it sucks, but so be it.
Generally though they're not that bad, just companies doing their best to make money and that means being as bastardly as they can get away with, without pissing too many people off. Capitalism is fun.

 

[tippy2k2]

None of them are evil. It's just the silly hyperbolic horesehit that gamers like to toss around at the drop of a hat. You'd think EA kicked their dog or something the way they complain.

A-fucking-men and this thread is only going to divulge into a flame war. There is no such thing as an evil company (well...Genocide'R'Us might be a little evil). There are companies who think about the bottom dollar and do whatever they can to make that number the highest number possible. Some might be stupidly ignorant in how to do that (Ubisoft DRM is a great example) but it's not because they are cackling with madness watching their customers squirm; they think they can get the most money that way.

The only company even close to "evil" could be Zynga and that's shoddy business practices, not evil.

- A company milking their franchise? They want to make money
- A company making "spyware"? They want to make money (and it's not spyware if for any other reason, Spyware is something you don't voluntarily put on your computer)
- A company putting draconian DRM on their games? They want to make money
- A company making a shit-ton of Mega-man games? I don't know why this was a specific example since that sounds like milking their franchise, but they want to make money.

 

[Axolotl]

EA - Origin Killer, Destroyer of Worlds.

NEVER FORGET. NEVER FORGET!!!

Don't forget Westwood and Bullfrog as well.

Also the things listed in the OP aren't "evil" their cheap and lazy but not evil. You wantexamples of evil, Activision hiring thugs to intimidate Infinity Ward when they fired them to avoid having to pay them, that's evil. That EA spouse thing from a few years back, that's evil.

There's a really interesting article I remember reading by the developer of Galactic Civilisations who explained that forn his first game he was literally no money despite it making a few million and that it was standard practise for publishers to somply not pay developers since they wouldn't be in a position to try and force them to pay developers generally just had to suck it up, to any Troika fans reading, this is why we never got Arcanum 2.

 

[Something Amyss]

THQ deserves more hate. Online passes, chopped up DLC, Volition dev is vehemently against used games and thinks online passes aren't going far enough.

 

[grimgor42]

Sometimes I hate Valve for not being able to count to three. But I know they aren't evil, and I like Steam, and their other games, so I guess it's cool. It's just frustrating sometimes. Watch: 1,2,3, there I just did it right now, does that look so hard????

 

[NortherWolf]

None of them are evil. It's just the silly hyperbolic horesehit that gamers like to toss around at the drop of a hat. You'd think EA kicked their dog or something the way they complain.

Since evil is relative and all that...What should a company do, in your mind, to allow one to label them as evil?
Rape your little sister while burning down an orphanage? Or would that just by hyperbolic horse dung?
Would EA's insane abuse of it's employees as depicted by the EA Spouse do?
Would Nintendo's illegal monopoly-tendencies on the European market work? Please, enlighten me!

 

[The]

Don't forget that EA has basically turned call of duty in to Madden, another pile of shit that's squeezed out every year where your hard pressed to find new content amongst bits of corn.

That one is Activision, actually.


OP: All the ones you listed have definitely done villainous things recently, but a company that can really piss me off, even though it gets off scot-free, is Rockstar, and their treatment of PC gamers. Rockstar Social Club is annoying as hell, GTA IV is a total mess, and come on guys, we all know we wanted Red Dead Redemption, and not L.A. Noire!
Okay, okay, they're probably not doing this on purpose, they aren't trying to enrage PC gamers, but ever since they released that piece of shit lots of people couldn't even get running they call GTA IV on the PC, their treatment of the market has been downright terrible. Maybe they just don't care anymore, but then why did they have to create that goddamn Social Club? And Why doesn't Rockstar get more flak for this?
I know, they aren't really an evil corporation like the others that have been mentioned here, but they still REALLY piss me off sometimes.

Actually before GTAIV, the PC versions of their games were actually pretty good.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Sometimes I hate Valve for not being able to count to three. But I know they aren't evil, and I like Steam, and their other games, so I guess it's cool. It's just frustrating sometimes. Watch: 1,2,3, there I just did it right now, does that look so hard????

I see what you did there. (Profile picture)

In all reality, I'd say most publishers. They are corrupt, only in it for the money.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Origin is nothing compared to EA Sports' release schedule, SecuROM, screwing over good developers, and insulting advertisements. It's just the latest in a long line of grievances against EA.

EA went from one of the most hated companies in the industry in the 90's and early 00's to being one of the most beloved simple because of Bioware and DICE and not being Activision, then back to one of the most hated. God help the gaming community if they ever become top dog.

 

[Dave In A Cape]

EA have churned out half finished games year after year with no replay value.

Don't even get me started on the who online pass system...