Poll: Which Company holds the title of "Biggest Bunch of Pricks in the Business"?

[Drexlor]

Activision just for being the most obviously greedy of the three. Plus I really don't like Bobby Kotick.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Three different flavors of awful, just can't choose.

Brilliant, I totally agree with this, I reckon Ubisoft aren't evil people, at heart, just morons a lot of the time.

 

[RJ 17]

Valve, just to march to a different beat.

Sure with the other three main companies you know and acknowledge they're greedy, evil, monopolistic corporations that take over anything they can, force out poorly made games and tend to smash innovation and developers while amassing intellectual property.

But damn it, they're honest about it.

Valve...Valve is that guy who's friendly and helpful to your face, but steals your stuff and makes you do all the work.

Think about it.

Steam is great, but you don't own anything on it. Team Fortress, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, all fun. But where are the sequels? Just DLC for some, micro-transactions for others, 'episodic' releases that are full price...

Come on, we vilify EA, Activision and Ubisoft for that, but people still worship Valve, even though they do the same things, just on a smaller scale. At least the bigger ones are open about it, sure they dress things up, but come on, you KNOW it, you accept it, you expect it from them. Valve just has you tricked into thinking that they're not like the other 'bigger pricks'.

A very valid point. Really I think the reason that no one blames Valve is because they've got a better history as far as game quality is concerned. I think many gamers are willing to overlook such transgressions so long as the game quality remains good.

 

[Upbeat Zombie]

I used to feel that Activision where the assholes and EA was just not very likeable. But EA have definitely been working hard to catch up to the level of asshole that Activision is at. But for now I think Activision is still the worst of the two, but maybe not for long. As for Ubisoft I don't think they're trying to be an asshole. They're just very thick/incompetent.

 

[CleverCover]

I would have to go with EA.

Somewhat because of that Extra Creditz video about their marketing strategies. It was horrible.
Mostly because I despise having to sign in on anything to be able to get something that was mine in the first place. And the online passes thing is very annoying for someone in a household with more than one 360. And the day-one DLC thing. Despise that with a passion. Not sure if they are the only ones who do it though.

Ubisoft is a distant second because I'm STILL WAITING FOR BGaE2! Bastards.

The other two, I have no issues with. Maybe because I don't really play anything published by them? They still suck though.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Three different flavors of awful, just can't choose.

Best graph I have seen in ages!

I voted for EA because they're the Unicron of the industry; using their vast financial mass to consume smaller developers and then shutting them down one after another.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Steam is great, but you don't own anything on it. Team Fortress, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, all fun. But where are the sequels? Just DLC for some, micro-transactions for others, 'episodic' releases that are full price...

1) Nobody owns their games, just licenses.
2) Valve gives their dlc for free and microtransactions are optional. Assuming you're not playing the free version of TF2, you can get everything from normal play.
3) Half life episodes were less than 20 dollars on release, currently 8 dollars. Hardly full price, and considering the Half Life episodes have just as many hours, if not more, of gameplay than most full 60 dollar games, it's perfectly reasonable to ask for 10 dollars.

A very valid point. Really I think the reason that no one blames Valve is because they've got a better history as far as game quality is concerned. I think many gamers are willing to overlook such transgressions so long as the game quality remains good.

No, not a valid point. Read above. The big difference between Valve and the other 3 on the poll, aside from quality, is their business model. They believe that providing a service is most important, something that all 3 of the big publishers have failed at. Ubisoft constantly tacks on idiotic DRM that never works and only keeps their honest customers from enjoying their product. Activision is shamelessly greedy (Skylanders as an example), milking every vaguely successful IP into the dirt and EA are incapable of providing competitive prices on Origin, a service that they expect to have compete with steam and forcing people into using.

He's provided no point towards Valve other than "They're pricks because they're not being obvious pricks". How is that a valid point? I've given at least one reason for each of the major 3.

 

[Lunar Templar]

of those 3? ubisoft

Activision i just don't or very rarely buy from.

I've actually had no issue with EA yet, and the last 2 EA games i got, i didn't need to worry about origin.

but which just leaves Ubisoft, whom actually had the gal to call ever PC gamer a pirate, on top of having not developed, or published anything worth my time since No More Heroes, plus, they're french, and petty as it may be, nothing good or useful ever comes out of France imo

not on the list

Capcom .....
canceling MMl3,
pretty much shelving Mega Man on the whole,
threatening not not make Dark Stalkers 4 if tekken x street fighter doesn't sell well,
handing DMC to a bunch of twats,
and,
killing Breath of Fire -.-


yeah, Fuck you Capcom

Pretty much this on top of what was already said. Everyone hates the big three that get a lot of shit but Capcom is by far the biggest offender. They've literally killed off some of their best franchises and anymore they literally cannot do anything decent they doesn't feature Ryu.

It used to be Capcom now it's Capcom and Ninja Theory.

FUUUUUU

I don't even know why I'm going to try this but to start off Capcom directly told Ninja Theory to make Dante controversial so people would talk about it. Ninja Theory has been trying to appease the fan hate so far by showing off the gameplay, bringing in hardcore Devil May Cry fans in to get their approval, and the only reason the story has seemed to change so much is because fans won't shut the hell up about everything. They are only doing what they are getting paid to do. To be honest it was wise to bring them in since when it comes to writing Capcom is somewhere around the level of a 6th grader. Also considering Capcom themselves are doing the gameplay while Ninja Theory is only doing the story that should be an attempt to solve the series's problems. But people still just won't shut up about his appearance.

I can't speak for everyone but my main problem isn't with Dante's looks. It's the fact that Capcom says DMC4 didn't live up to expectation and they want DMC5 to sell at least five million copies, putting in a controversial change and expecting bigger numbers isn't a sound business strategy. Capcom is out of their minds with this decision. Now back on topic about his looks, I wouldn't have a problem with his looks if Ninja Theory's lead designer didn't model Dante after himself.

just for an extra 2 cents, my hate of ninja theory isn't exclusively because of the design choice (30 FPS? really? they do know its always run at 60 right? ) its because of what they have SAID, and I'm pretty sure Capcom didn't tell them to be assholes to the people they want to buy the game

 

[Autumnflame]

valve for y u no release HL2 EP3 .

they are trolling all the expecting fans so hard.

Ea may exploit our wallets. but Valve is breaking our hearts

 

[Skulltaker101]

Activision and EA are greedy bastards.

Capcom and Ubisoft are incompetent.

I don't know which trait is worse.

Greedy. People who actually know what they're doing are always worse when they've made a conscious decision to BE douchebags. Between an incredibly rich dark lord and his bumbling rivals, I know which I'd be more worried about facing down...

 

[Something Amyss]

Three different flavors of awful, just can't choose.

That is so awesome I must save it.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Activision and EA are greedy bastards.

Capcom and Ubisoft are incompetent.

I don't know which trait is worse.

Greedy. People who actually know what they're doing are always worse when they've made a conscious decision to BE douchebags. Between an incredibly rich dark lord and his bumbling rivals, I know which I'd be more worried about facing down...

I don't know.

You can always rely on a douchebag to be a douchebag, but Capcom and Ubisoft are like friends that keep making terrible decisions.

 

[TheLoneTerran]

valve for y u no release HL2 EP3 .

they are trolling all the expecting fans so hard.

Ea may exploit our wallets. but Valve is breaking our hearts

I'd rather have my heart broken then my wallet stolen. =o

 

[RJ 17]

Just watched Jimquisition's video on Ubisoft...I'm actually rather surprised it's not winning.
(Edited because stupidly wrong post was wrong.)

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Activision isn't all that bad. Sure they're greedy bastards, but which corporation isn't? They have a few working models and they stick to them. They're not trying to fuck over a lot of people like EA and Ubisoft, and they let Blizzard do their thing, which is nice. Kotick is still a talentless, greedy, good for nothing prick. And virtually anyone [or anything] can do his job even better than he can.

Ubisoft is being run by morons. They make some awesome games but they're so fuckin' stupid with their DRM policy, it's driving me mad sometimes.

EA is fuckin' mental though. They are greedy. Can't make a game worth a fuck. They ruin great studios, they force developers to make shitty DLC all the time, and their PR department is being run by by the criminally insane.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

It used to be Capcom now it's Capcom and Ninja Theory.

FUUUUUU

I don't even know why I'm going to try this but to start off Capcom directly told Ninja Theory to make Dante controversial so people would talk about it. Ninja Theory has been trying to appease the fan hate so far by showing off the gameplay, bringing in hardcore Devil May Cry fans in to get their approval, and the only reason the story has seemed to change so much is because fans won't shut the hell up about everything. They are only doing what they are getting paid to do. To be honest it was wise to bring them in since when it comes to writing Capcom is somewhere around the level of a 6th grader. Also considering Capcom themselves are doing the gameplay while Ninja Theory is only doing the story that should be an attempt to solve the series's problems. But people still just won't shut up about his appearance.

As far as I'm concerned they're both equally to blame. The lead devs of Ninja Theory have as much empathy for the fans of the series as Capcom has - if the interviews are anything to go by.

I'm pretty sure Ninja Theory is doing the gameplay. Do you have any sources?

And as long as Dante looks like a twat I'll continue to treat him as one! Ha

 

[him over there]

Nintendo, because why the hell haven't you localized Mother 3 yet? No amount of greed and incompetence can compete with keeping Mother 3, an amazing and heart wrenching experience superior to anything you've made recently from outside Japan. Other than that they're pretty cool though.

 

[Tiger Sora]

EA, I haven't played a Ubisoft game in years. But I know EA with their Origin spyware has been driving people the that hate convention.
Acti/Blizz. They may be greedy, but they make some solid products and don't try to cut off your hand while you use them.
And solid doesn't mean every game is great, but they seem to be bought up.

 

[psicat]

Valve, and mostly just for Steam.