EA's LA Branch Admits to Poor Product Support

[Junaid Alam]

EA's LA Branch Admits to Poor Product Support

Electronic Arts' Los Angeles branch has conceded that product support has been an ongoing problem and said new steps would be taken to correct the problem.

"I am not as proud of our record in supporting our games after launch. In fact, I'm downright unhappy with that aspect of our business," EALA General Manager Mike Verdu wrote candidly on the official Command & Conquer website.

The team worked on Command & Conquer 3 and its expansion pack, including the PC version of Kane's Wrath which has suffered from a delayed patch.

Verdu said the scarcity of patches and their long development times could be ascribed to "tension between developing new products and supporting our older products."

However, he said greed was not a factor and that millions of dollars were poured into support for previously-released titles.

Verdu also said a new team will be tasked with a post-release "protect and serve" mission for Command & Conquer titles, including Red Alert 3, due out in October.

Here too, Verdu spoke bluntly: "I am not going to say that this initiative is going to instantly solve all of our support issues and I don't think we have the credibility with our customers to make that claim anyway," he said. "But over a period of months and years, I believe the benefits of this new approach will be evident."

Source: Shacknews.com [http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53471]


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[Royas]

When EA actually develops some sort of good after sale product support, my first impulse will be to see if the sun has gone out and if the seas have turned to blood. In other words, I don't believe it's ever going to happen. When Verdu says that they don't have credibility, he's understating the situation. Forget the patches, the tech support they provide alone is disastrous. I've never had a response from EA in less than 24 hours, and the responses have always been some kind of form email that shows that nobody actually even read my problem statement. That's pretty much the definition of incompetent from where I stand.

 

[Dectilon]

I find it interesting how EA time and time again claim to have listened to the wail of their customers and promise to repent then go ahead and do the same stupid thing again. Like the 2K issue. He's right they have no credibility. People who spit in people's faces rarely have.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

the important issue here is that the problem lies in logistics and planning and not money. since i'm assuming that most people believe it's always the latter.

 

[Royas]

the important issue here is that the problem lies in logistics and planning and not money. since i'm assuming that most people believe it's always the latter.

That's only true if you take Verdu's word for it. There is, no doubt, a lot of spin there. I'm inclined to believe that an unwillingness to spend more money is definitely part of the equation. Logistics and planning are certainly part of it, but I really doubt those are the only culprits. This is a corporation, they really only see the bottom line. Adding to that equation is the tendency for corporate executives to be very short sighted, being only interested in what the profits are NOW, because that's all the shareholders are going to care about.

 

[Echolocating]

Was there a particular situation that prompted Verdu to talk about how much EA's customer support sucks? ...or is he just flapping his gums?

 

[Lt. Sera]

The community of C&C dragged it out i think. I don't know if you've played it, but C&C3 Kane's Wrath has (months after it's launch) some serious issues balance wise, but more importantly, connection wise. One out of every 3 multiplayer games i start i can actually finish, the others all desynch.

It's a damn shame since i do like the game, it's just been unplayable since it came out.