Why we do let EA abuse us and get all hyped up for TitanFall?

[Raikas]

If you're so tied to a game publisher that you think their actions are abusing you, there's probably more going on on your side than theirs. I can understand being frustrated with their business practices, but if you're categorizing it as abuse, that's giving a maker of disposable entertainment a strangely central space in your life.

Myself, I'm interested in games that look like they'll be entertaining - so while I may think that EA has made some questionable business choices, that doesn't bother me because it has no bearing on my life in general. If they put out something that looks to match my taste, I'm going to buy it (and look forward to it before it comes out). I didn't buy Sim City, but it didn't interest me, so cries about needing to boycott (or of being abused) just make me roll my eyes. Similarly, I see people rage about DA2 and ME3, but I was entertained by both of those, so even if I thought they were imperfect, in the end they did what they were supposed to do, and that's all I ask of a game.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

I think people are just hyping the game because of the developers. And since there is no single player, it's already lost a lot of gamers. Now it's just people who like fast pased multiplayer shooters.

Alot of people are hyping the game because they have played the beta, and it looks VERY promising. Respawn comes with a pedigree, to be sure, but at this point a good part of your hype is coming from people that have played the beta, and probably played it extensively, like me. I am hyped for this game.

 

[electric method]

I give the industry, and EA, a lot of shit for their predatory practices because in honesty it's deserved. Personally, I think EA went "hands off" with Titanfall because of Respawn's pedigree. Someone at Respawn probably told some EA suit this, "Leave us alone and we will make you the next billion dollar a year franchise that *will* be a CoD killer." Shockingly, EA has seemingly backed off and let Respawn do their thing; or perhaps it's not so shocking due to EA's love for more cash. This is probably doubly true due to EA's other big shooter franchise, Battlefield, having crapped the bed at launch and still has major problems. Even EA can make a smart move every now and then.

Now if one is going to "boycott" Titanfall... then do it for the right reasons. Predatory practices. Seriously, this game is targeted at the same demographic CoD is and most of the demographic can't legally purchase the game. I take exception to a dev/publisher marketing a game to children and young teens that they have no business playing in the first place and will most likely behave terribly online. This is even more glaring as Titanfall is an online multiplayer game only. Secondly, it's half a game. No single player included and Respawn/EA are charging full AAA pricing. No thanks. Gamers should pass on this game because it's setting up a situation (if successful) that devs will start hacking out single player experiences and giving us more and more mediocre multiplayer experience and charging us full price for it.

I am going to make an important distinction here; A game can be both fun and mediocre at the same time. These things are not mutually exclusive. This is one of the core tenants that Infinity Ward, now reformed as Respawn, built CoD around and are now doing again with Titanfall.

 

[TotalerKrieger]

It is because many gamers are not terribly bright and/or are completely complacent when it comes to consumer rights. I'm not saying the members of the Escapist fall into this category, as most gamers who frequent this sort of site are a bit more informed.

Monolithic publishers like EA and Activision, once they have their claws into them, turn developers into pathetic corporate lackies. They silence and occasionally fire anyone with any integrity, ultimately forcing the developing company to give up any real independence and fall in line with their anti-consumerist practices. DRM, ridiculous microtransactions, crappy sequels, unneccessary subscription fees and whatever other bullshit that has come out of the AAA industry all directly result from the influence of such publishing companies. Less frequently talked about are the terrible labour conditions which many publishers impose on developers, with ridiculous deadlines and unpaid overtime perhaps being the most pressing issues. Obviously, such pressures often lead to the release of unfinished or simply substandard products among many developers who had previously taken a great deal of pride in their work.

Anyways, companies like EA simply need to go under, as they are an impediment to gaming's growth and are frankly becoming increasingly irrelevant. Many indie companies are able to become very successful through digital distribution channels and I suspect that many developers currently entangled with a AAA publisher may one day realize they are not really getting what they bargained for.

That said, Respawn Entertainment is comprised of individuals who have had a taste of ridiculous CoD revenues, so they probably won't challenge whatever nonsense EA comes up with in the future. In these cases, they will most likely be the ones coming up with new ways to screw over consumers (see also Maxis).

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Wow..so much hate up in this thread. I got a few points to say about Titanfall and my relationship with EA thus far:

I liked the Titanfall beta..I played it for around 20hours and had a blast with it.I made it my goal to play the game like a double jumping freak just like I used to play Unreal (very frantic and fast). I've had so much fun with this beta that I preordered it. I couldn't give two shits about the fact that EA publishes it, it won't ruin my experience.

I bought Dragon Age, Mass Effect games that were still published by EA (bought some of the dlc that I thought was worth it) and I haven't had any problems with Origin myself throughout all these years.

Don't get me wrong, I hate their practices (especially microtransactions and tons of DLC). Bioware is one of my favorite developers out there that still makes RPG's so when they got bought off by EA I was very pissed, because I knew they would put throw some wrenches in their cog machine. I still want to play Bioware games so boycotting for me is out of the question.

All in all..I'm done with CoD and Battlefield and Titanfall is a breath of fresh air with a hint of CoD arcadey shooting on side which is a good combination. The Titans and jetpack + verticallity helps a lot as well.

 

[unstabLized]

Because Respawn Entertainment isn't EA and they're making a very interesting looking game. Pure and simple really. I'm not going to stop myself from buying every single game that has EA on it just to prove a point. If I really want a game, I will get it.

Pretty much. I don't like EA's practices either but I'll be damned if Titanfall isn't amazingly fun to play. Origin hasn't been a huge hassle to me (it actually gave me 55 MB/sec after Titanfall Beta hit past 40% in the download. That's 10 times my download speed). Also, I liked Battlefield 3 enough to burn 200+ hours into it, and I burned almost 20 hours into the Titanfall beta in two days straight, so I thought Respawn deserves my money. Yeah I know I might get screwed by Season passes and all that, but if the DLC actually offers some content outside of maps and I think it's good, I'll pick that up too. For now, Respawn is good in my books, I just hope it lasts.

Looking very forward to the game.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Two words: Instant Gratification. Most gamers are not willing to put aside their entertainment long enough to stick it to EA and do what is necessary to get them to change their behaviour.

 

[laggyteabag]

EA is a company that I hate for various reasons, mostly due to poor business practices such as the always online DRM for Sim City and releasing games like Battlefield 4 in a horrible state as well as setting a completely unrealistic sales goal for Dead Space 3, essentially dooming the franchise, but I love their games and franchises like Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Dead Space and Titanfall. It just seems like EA knows which games are good and which games are worth funding, but they have no issues screwing over the customer trying to sell them.

EDIT: And Dungeon Keeper for iOS. We all know how that went. That is all.

 

[Kingjackl]

Well, if the game's good then what else matters right?

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm not allowing myself to get hyped up for Titanfall whatsoever. Sure the game looks pretty great but when I learned it was an EA game and subsequently would be an Origin exclusive on PC I immediately remembered that I wouldn't allow Origin on my computer under any circumstances. Plus with EA's focus on Micro DLC these days I probably wouldn't buy their game anyway. The burn cards for example look like a CCG players worst nightmare if they monetise them (which I have no doubt they will). There will probably be booster packs and specific equipment to buy and I would prefer everyone to be on a level playing field in that respect, not paying for advantages.

Plus the Smart pistol looks like such a cheap way for people to farm bot kills all the damn time. I imagine the team with the most Smart pistols will just have the advantage from such an early stage. Being able to headshot 5 guys simultaneously after a quick 1 or 2 second automatic lock on time doesn't sound remotely fair.

 

[RicoADF]

For some people I'm sure it could be boiled down to a single specific game controversy that bit them hard, like their handling of the ME3 ending, or Simcity, or Battlefield 3, or Dragon Age 2, or Command and Conquer 4... which included terrible anti consumer policies, terrible manipulation of game mechanics/budgets/time leading to terrible games, terrible handling of the outcry situations, straight out manipulation of the press and insulting the user base, and EA never ever ever admitting they were in the wrong unless it's some backhanded insult that they are sorry their customers "didn't get them" or some balls like that.

For others it's the large amount of studios (and their franchises) that are no longer with us because they were terminated after EA took them over. While the situation differs for every studio, in many cases EA had an awful lot to do with the run up to the studio's flagging success and inevitable shutdown, and everything to do with changing the left over franchises to fit marketing demographics and loading them with anti-consumer policies that would finally sink the barren husks of what remained of the games that we all used to love.

Finally I suppose there's the uniformly obnoxious and horrible press statements that the executives at EA routinely come out with, showing utter derision and contempt for their customers and being absolute asshats. No one likes that.

You just hit the nail on the head, personally it's a mixture of all of the above that has me saying "stuff it", while I haven't boycotted them I have stopped buying their games at full price and will just wait till their $20 or less, or just not get the game at all.

Captcha: happy blessings - apparently captcha agrees with me O.-

 

[00slash00]

The reason we get hyped up for EA games is because they make good games. If they churned out nothing but shit, we wouldn't care about their business practices because they wouldn't affect us. There's a certain amount gamers are willing to put up with for a good game before they're willing to throw up their hands and walk away. Clearly most gamers haven't reached that point and as much as they complain, still feel that they games they create are good enough to keep them coming back

 

[spartan231490]

Easy answer. Because EA doesn't actually abuse us. They provide us with good games and, like the coddled, entitled whiney-babies we are, we whine because this or that tiny little issue that isn't exactly how we'd want it.

 

[Funyahns]

I don't support EA games. If you buy this game at release and the severs don't work and you come online and cry about it I am going to mock you for being a moron who hasn't learned a thing.

 

[Funyahns]

Easy answer. Because EA doesn't actually abuse us. They provide us with good games and, like the coddled, entitled whiney-babies we are, we whine because this or that tiny little issue that isn't exactly how we'd want it.

That is just a logical fallacy. EA is pretty bad about a lot of the ways in which they treat consumers. Like forced online play in Sim City, day one DLC is pretty much all of their games. You are not doing a good job defending EA since all your doing is attacking the people ad hominem, which is what people do when the facts are stacked against them.

 

[Sanunes]

For me if I boycotted EA for the practices I disliked I would have to boycott basically any large publisher for the same things, so I let the individual game determine if I want to spend my money on it or not.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Like what a lot of other people said, I'm not hyped for Titanfall. Furthermore, Respawn is not EA. Granted, we don't know what the DLC model is going to look like X-months down the line and indeed, we don't know what the final game is going to look like once it's pressed to discs and shipped out. So far it doesn't look as bad as Dead Space 3's micro-transaction thing that EA probably shoe-horned in or, the pay-wall you had to climb to get the Prothean for ME3 that EA almost definitely made Bioware do.

I'm not automatically against EA but they aren't going to be [/S]making[/S] publishing games that I'll be buying any time soon (unless they're forced to make Star Wars games for the Wii U). So EA can continue doing what they're doing and receiving their wave-after-wave of hate while I largely just ignore the games they put out.

 

[Yopaz]

A lot of people whine about EA.
A lot of people want TitanFall.

This doesn't mean each lot is the same. It just means that some people complain about EA, some people want TitanFall and some are somewhere in the middle.

 

[The Lunatic]

I'm sticking to my guns and ignoring EA games.

Don't really want the game, not going to be harmed by sitting this one out.

 

[Banana Cannon]

You are not doing a good job defending EA since all your doing is attacking the people ad hominem, which is what people do when the facts are stacked against them.

That ad hominem pot shot is the primary defence mechanism of any ignorant being on this planet. I'd have a little hope in my mind for Dragon Age: Inquisition because I love the setting & the plot from Origins, but that's stacked alongside this gnawing cynicism that comes with anything to do with E.A, never mind Bioware. I don't have any faith for another product associated with E.A. in the slightest, & I'd rather possess introverted, perceived-as-antisocial mannerisms than waste my money or attention span on their annual sports releases.

Titanfall didn't even register with me. Waiting on Dark Souls 2 like any smug From Software fanboy.