Poll: Should we boycot EA? (and AAA publishers in general).

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Dragonbums

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May 9, 2013
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Every other month somoene advocates to boycott EA and time and time again all they have to do is release the next Battlefield and everything is okay.

The only thing we are good at boycotting are people with little power in the industry with colliding opinions. Anything more than that and we wuss the fuck out.
 

Dragonbums

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Adeptus Aspartem said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
Voting with your wallet is dumb and pointless because there is no particular way for a company to count a negative vote. See also: they must have pirated it. It's not purchasing something, but with a name that tries to give it a false sense of impact.
What the heck are you talking about? Nothing in that statement even makes sense.
If people dont buy your shit, you'll notice. And it has impact.

Also what's the other option? Buying everything EA puts out because it makes no diffrence? What's your point?

Buy good stuff, ignore shit and people will make more good stuff because shit doesn't sell. It's not rocket surgery.
You missed the point. "Vote with your wallet" is often used in two ways in the gaming community. You see, if we "vote with our wallets" and not buy the next Asscreed games because of it's lack of female representatives, than EA can take that as either non existent demographic or "people want female characters as mains in games more." They often go with the with the first one because someone who doesn't spend their money on their game might as well be non existent to them in terms of market share. Now, however if they see that as a trend than maybe they will consider the former. But that rarely if ever happens.

People who don't buy things in an industry that's built on money might as well not exist to them. Otherwise you wouldn't have bullshit arguments like "Well lgbt/minorities/women etc. don't 'contribute' enough to the game's industry so why should companies care about their complaints on X". Contributing in the sense that you don't open your wallet. So in this case "vote with your wallet" is used against minority consumers.
 

cleric of the order

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The Jovian said:
>C&C4?
>implying any C&C games after generals were not horrible.
I'll agree, I've never been big on the AAA bloom, total lack of game feel and over-costed bullshit.
just buy what I want most of the time you don't have to boycott them, just be an consumer, you don't need to make a show about it.
As long as EA mas a market it will exist but i suspect it's market isn't going to be much more then madden with the quality of it's games.
 

cikame

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I really dislike the methods of the big publishers, they've grown so large that the only thing they can do now is release gigantic but safe games, where 50% of the budget is spent on marketing. The scale of the games are certainly impressive i just wish more of the budget went towards employee job security or new ip's.

A huge part of these modern huge games is to do with this popular social media trend which is occuring, i found the trend disgusting before it really took off. Just looking back at the events of 2014 so far it's proven to be damaging to certain peoples lives, and has really damaged the playability of modern AAA games with forced social media hooks and oppressive online systems.

Between developers Valve and CD Projekt, it has been proven that online digital services can be a useful, unobtrusive thing, but the services run by publisher businessmen are meant only to exclude people in a brutal grab at your wallet.

EDIT: Got carried away, my answer is i still like AAA games so i can't boycott them, but so far i haven't picked up Unity, Far Cry 4 and don't intend to get the new Battlefield until they are cheap, all the technical flaws they have is making not getting them very easy.
 

wooty

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Aug 1, 2009
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I'd rather abandon a series, rather than a publisher.

EA publish some series that I like, and some that I don't. Boycotting the whole company would make me miss out on some titles that I do enjoy.
 

The Jovian

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cleric of the order said:
The Jovian said:
>C&C4?
>implying any C&C games after generals were not horrible.
Why what exactly is wrong with C&C3, I like it. Now granted I do get some criticisms of it like lacking Tiberian Sun's unit diversity and... actually I can't think of anything else the game is lacking. And I do agree that Red Alert 3 stupidly (and hammily) jumped the shark around the time casted JK Simmons, Tim Curry and George Takei as its villains, with the latter riding around in an Anime-style warmech but I think it's stupid in the same vein as Army of Darkness and Saints Row 4, it's stupid but enjoyably so. My point is that no matter how much you don't like these two games (and to each his own if you hated them you hated them, I'm not here to change your mind), you can't deny that C&C4 made both of them look like masterpieces by comparison, I have never felt this completely betrayed by a publisher before or since because it really is all EA's fault by A) Rushing 4 out the door, and B) forcing the franchise to end with this game even though EA Los Angeles wasn't even remotely ready to do so. It basically set most of EA's trends for years to come, dumbing down of gameplay, rushing titles out the door, ignoring genres it deems unpopular or unprofitable, increased focus on multiplayer at the expense of a good story just so it could squeeze in more money with online passes (and thank Jim Sterling they stopped doing that), you know all the good stuff. It was a microcosm of everything wrong with EA up until that point and the reason I decided to boycott them.
 

Battenberg

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Aug 16, 2012
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If you have to do a poll to decide whether or not to Boycott something the answer is almost definitely no.

That aside if I were to boycott anyone right now I'd say Ubi has done more to deserve it this year than EA.
 

Gailim

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Oct 13, 2009
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Rozalia1 said:
Gailim said:
If you buy EA games then you are part of the problem

There are hundreds of studios putting out great games these days. so why would you buy from the one that constantly screws its consumers

avoiding EA is an easy decision
Part of the "Problem"? How far can you push that angle I wonder.

Except EA is a publisher and many devs independent of EA would thus be affected if the people who are "part" of the problem stopped buying their games. Than there is devs who have different publishers for different regions, so should people boycott even if EA isn't publishing their regions version? Answers to questions I'm sure you've not asked yourself.

Yes it is easy but something tells me you don't yourself. Those that are the loudest in their threats are the weakest in their actions and all that.
Your right, I should have said "publisher" instead of "studio". But the point is the same. If a studio sells out to EA they deserve what happens to them. I used to love Popcap, I will never buy one of their games again. same goes for Bioware etc..

The last EA game I bought was in 2010.

We are in an era where GREAT games are coming from all over. there is no need to buy a game from a company like EA. as long as people do the BS will continue.
 

cleric of the order

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The Jovian said:
Why what exactly is wrong with C&C3, I like it. Now granted I do get some criticisms of it like lacking Tiberian Sun's unit diversity and... actually I can't think of anything else the game is lacking.
it's game feel was always off for me, never had the impact of the Tiberian series by which I mena the game feel, not bad but there was a direct drop in quality from firestorm, which in all fairness wasn't sterling but had excellent game feel.
The lack of full base building, with the removal of walls, along with the dune like cement that graced the second game (kinda dumb but hey it did vary the game, and added meaningful choice).
It's not bad by any stretch of the word but around it and generals was the time my rat like senses told me the ship was sinking. (generals i never really liked, it was fun but I got the same sense from it but in it's case i chalked it up to innovation).
It never gave me what I wanted, it was real just a mordern child in every form, a creation of a corporate world. It was a modest game, and lived a modest life, made modest money and was modest in bed. It had nothing to say or do, no wow factor or anything of real note besides it's modesty. It died, alone and forgotten out-shined by RA2 in all respects, It was Kater Murr to the grave.
(and to each his own if you hated them you hated them, I'm not here to change your mind),
I don't hate it, I'm just sad that the series that brought me into gaming died. I was engrossed by Dawn way back when and used to watch my uncle play it quite a lot when i was a youth, he gave me his copy, I still have it too.
It was a grave (or i should say a modest) disappointment, nothing more.

you can't deny that C&C4 made both of them look like masterpieces by comparison,
Oh yes, command and starcraft, great entry into the series, always on DRM, download only, utter crap. Ea might well have pissed on west woods corpse
I have never felt this completely betrayed by a publisher before or since because it really is all EA's fault by A) Rushing 4 out the door, and B) forcing the franchise to end with this game even though EA Los Angeles wasn't even remotely ready to do so.
Westwood is dead jim, we need to let go, it was gutted and rung dry for it's IP, nothings left.
It basically set most of EA's trends for years to come, dumbing down of gameplay, rushing titles out the door, ignoring genres it deems unpopular or unprofitable, increased focus on multiplayer at the expense of a good story just so it could squeeze in more money with online passes
Ahem to that.
They also dropped game feel and aesthetics for mordern bloom and doom. No atmospherics, no unit weight or punch, horrible VAs in some cases and a complete lack of innovation.
Also they killed the mystery behind KANE in one of the dumbest way possible, I always wondered why the original actor left around this time, seems pretty obvious in retrospect.
It was a microcosm of everything wrong with EA up until that point and the reason I decided to boycott them.
But that's my point, I don't buy EA's games because I hate EA, I don't do it because the games hey release have stopped being interesting to me. They have a habit of grabbing games and companies that are good and wringing the crap out of them, they are a corporate Nosferatu.
This sort of beast you kill through apathy, it doesn't have anything of worth and it will keep trying to buy more and more better companies until it runs itself into the group.
I hate the company, it is actually evil.
No seriously the company itself is an evil one, the way it's managed all it's done, is evil.
But the call to boycott give it press, gives it identity, makes people wonder.
In the long run I have to wonder if it is better to simply as a person buy the games you choose without principle because in all fairness EA's games rarely excite.
 

visiblenoise

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If EA really deserves it, they will lose business. There's no need for, or meaning in, organizing some kind of "boycott".
 

leberkaese

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I thought at one point 'yeah, I'm gonna boycott EA'. I think it was around the time of ME3's release.
Ever since then I didn't buy a game from them. But at no point this was because of my boycott. They simply don't make any good games I care about anymore.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Do your research and buy the games you like and ignore the rest. No one forces anyone to buy EA games.......just wait and if they are a buggy mess, then you know what to do. Boycotting is retarded thing to do, how will they learn if you dont even buy the games that are perfect on launch? Regardless, no one boycotts, remember how the internet moaned when they released L4D2 so soon after L4D? Remember the call for boycotts etc? Remember how L4D2 sold loads?
 

CaitSeith

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No, I prefer to use my time playing good games than sh*ting on a company for making bad games and despicable business practices.
 

Drathnoxis

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Rozalia1 said:
Don't like it than don't buy it, and don't worry about it.
This argument sucks and I really wish people would stop using it. It's basically a dismissal of any criticism someone has for a product/company. Of course if someone doesn't like something they probably won't buy it, they don't need anybody telling them that. It's not like someone will be like "Oh, wow! Finally it makes sense! If I don't like something I don't buy it. Man, I had that completely backwards."

The phrase "Don't like it, don't buy it" basically translates to "Don't like it, then shut up about it." It misses the point of criticism and boycotts completely, which is to inform other people about the problems with a product/company and to convince them not to give their support to said product/company. Also, the phrase doesn't take into account that the person may have bought the product and then found out that they didn't like it and now wants to inform others so that they don't make the same mistake.

The phrase is anti-criticism and is basically the antithesis of an open forum like The Escapist. Surely the point of the forum is so that anybody can have a platform to discuss their opinions of games and the surrounding industry. This should definitely not be restricted to only people who have positive things to say, but should allow all opinions.

As for your "question" hidden in all that text. Its quite simple there is no grand movement for you to be loyal to. Most of the people who talk of boycotts and the like do not have conviction anyway, and the small number who do are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. So don't not buy a game because you want to do your "part", just don't buy it if you don't want it...simple.
The rest of this reads like "Hardly anybody has any conviction so you should just give up on your principles and buy whatever you want." I simply don't agree, and I think that this kind of attitude is responsible for the erosion of consumer rights over the years. Companies are taking more and giving less in return because nobody will stick to their principles, so people should be told to harden their convictions and not just to give up.

OT: I don't purchase from companies that screw me over. EA lost my patronage when Dragon Age 2 was released as a slapped together mess of repeated dungeons and nonsense plots. Since then, I've seen how EA is a leader in employing anti-consumer practices like micro-transactions in full priced games, cutting up games to sell them as day one DLC, and generally providing sloppy products with ridiculous restrictions on consumers. If I were to buy a game from them, it would just feel slimy, because EA doesn't just sell games, they sell money milking 'services' packaged as games.
 

Augustine

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I would be amused to see one giant publisher be crushed by organized consumers as an example for the rest. I mean, at the minimum, it would be a fascinating case study of socioeconomics. And I would imagine it would send a clear message to the rest about what the expectations are. Probably a beneficial thing long-term.

But my interest in this would be mostly scholarly...
 

Something Amyss

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Adeptus Aspartem said:
What the heck are you talking about? Nothing in that statement even makes sense.
If people dont buy your shit, you'll notice. And it has impact.
What? Huh? You don't make any sense!

Also what's the other option? Buying everything EA puts out because it makes no diffrence? What's your point?
Wait, so you trim down my post to excise content, and then you ask if the alternative is something completely antithetical to what I had just supported? Are you intentionally misrepresenting me?

Buy good stuff, ignore shit and people will make more good stuff because shit doesn't sell. It's not rocket surgery.
Yes, and that's worked with Ubisoft and uPlay, hasn't it? EA's suddenly started producing nothing but classics, right? Activision's done the same, yes? Let's ignore for a moment that "voting with your wallet" hasn't actually done anything to any of the above companies. Ignoring it? Good. Now, and only now does your claim hold water.

Unless your idea of "good stuff" includes Call of Duty: Ghosts, Dungeon Keeper mobile/SimCity, and Assassin's Creed Unity.
 

Something Amyss

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visiblenoise said:
If EA really deserves it, they will lose business.
That only works in a world where merit is rewarded and failure is punished. That is so far removed from the real world that if I should ever visit it, I expect to see unicorns and dragons.
 

Something Amyss

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Dragonbums said:
You missed the point. "Vote with your wallet" is often used in two ways in the gaming community. You see, if we "vote with our wallets" and not buy the next Asscreed games because of it's lack of female representatives, than EA can take that as either non existent demographic or "people want female characters as mains in games more." They often go with the with the first one because someone who doesn't spend their money on their game might as well be non existent to them in terms of market share. Now, however if they see that as a trend than maybe they will consider the former. But that rarely if ever happens.

People who don't buy things in an industry that's built on money might as well not exist to them. Otherwise you wouldn't have bullshit arguments like "Well lgbt/minorities/women etc. don't 'contribute' enough to the game's industry so why should companies care about their complaints on X". Contributing in the sense that you don't open your wallet. So in this case "vote with your wallet" is used against minority consumers.
Well, I mean, you're partially right. If we were to not buy Asscream Unity because of a lack of playable women, I'm pretty sure that would be considered "censorship" and compromising "artistic integrity."

I mean, you mention women and minorities, but when we do get our way, it's censorship, bullying, PC pandering, or any of a number of other things.

You are pretty much right about this, though. "Vote with your wallet" is predominantly used in a negative sense, as a call to inaction. Honestly, when people do it and "we" don't like it, they get angry and hostile. "vote with your wallet!" "ARRRRG! Why are you voting with your wallet?"
 

Las7

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I already boycott them, I'm no longer buying anything from EA/Ubisoft - I would say the same about Activision but it's kind of hard to boycott Blizzard.
 

CannibalCorpses

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What can i say, i don't really need to boycott them because they don't really release anything i consider worthwhile. I still play the odd game my mate lends me and generally i come away thinking 'the nothing i paid to play this is about the right price'. When they address that issue i will happily consider buying from them again.