EA is "on a Journey" to Regain PC Gamer Trust

[Steven Bogos]

EA is "on a Journey" to Regain PC Gamer Trust

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EA wants to get back the trust it lost to PC gamers with stuff like Battlefield 4 and SimCity.

The relationship between EA games and PC gamers has been turbulent at best, but EA is keen to try and patch things up. Senior marketing director Peter O'Reilly claims that the company is "on a journey to regain the trust of the PC gamer."

When EA's SimCity [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/origin] - games that were practically broken on launch and took months to finally be fixed.

"Over the last couple of years we have focused on ensuring a great play experience from launch and bringing players a better experience on Origin with programs like the Great Game Guarantee, On the House, and now Origin Access. We're excited about the progress we've made, but are always pushing ourselves to innovate on behalf of players," wrote O'Reilly.

In EA's defense, the adopt a similar policy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127004-EA-Offers-Full-Refunds-For-Unsatisfied-Origin-Customers]. The other advancements in Origin have been numerous and consumer-focused.

That said, a lot of gamers still understandably harbor ill-will to EA, which was once voted the worst company in America [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123116-EA-Really-Doesnt-Want-to-be-The-Worst-Company-In-America].

Source: MCVUK [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ea-we-want-to-regain-the-trust-of-pc-gamers/0161776]

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[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I heard that before. Literally. So yeah, I still refuse to buy EA games.

 

[MiskWisk]

So, how long have they been on this journey? Three years now?

Who knows, maybe they are being honest this time. Maybe we'll also crack cold fusion this year and get a working Mars program. Not outside the realm of possibility, just incredibly unlikely.

 

[ron1n]

They announce this sort of crap every few months. I don't know why they feel the need to keep pretending. At this point, they're such a low hanging fruit for angry threads and internet scorn, I kind of wish they'd just shut up all together and own it.

It worked for Activision. Bobby Kotick stopped saying stupid shit ages ago and everyone just stopped caring.

Also I will say this: for all the crap Origin copped on launch, It's actually turned out to be a superior platform to steam in a number of ways.

 

[Jeteye]

Rather than telling us you're going to do something just do it. Saying you're going to do something are just empty words until you follow through (and with your track record, following through rarely happens).

Also, why the shit does Origin crash every time after I exit a game? Just because you briefly lose the network connection doesn't mean your program should be crashing and bogging down my computer. Fix this!

 

[Doom972]

The only thing I hate about Origin right now is the pricing in the Euro zone. Base prices fall a lot faster in the US.
EA are far from being the worst, but we PC gamers don't forget easily. I do wonder how we let Activision, Ubisoft and Square-Enix get away with some of the stuff they do.

 

[Aerosteam]

Words are words. If you plan to do something, do it. What are you, an aspiring artist?

 

[Bedinsis]

Well, I do appreciate that they want to do it. Whether they'll commit to it is another matter entirely.

And as the article points out, they DID initiate no-questions-asked refunds, which they should have major kudos for.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

They want to regain my trust? Well, they can start by putting their games on Steam and not making Origin a requirement.
And then do a remake or sequel to Future Cop L.A.P.D.
I'll start trusting them slightly after that.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Well, I do appreciate that they want to do it. Whether they'll commit to it is another matter entirely.

And as the article points out, they DID initiate no-questions-asked refunds, which they should have major kudos for.

Just because you beat someone within an inch of their life and wheelchair bound for the rest of their lives and then give them 1 million USD each month after that, doesn't make it ok.

 

[Zhukov]

Dear EA, don't fuck up Mirror's Edge 2 and I will love you just a little bit for at least a year.

 

[Zontar]

How to win back PC gamers in 3 easy stems.

Step 1: start releasing games on Steam again
Step 2: don't go Uplay on us and force us to use Origin on top of Steam if that happens
Step 3: make said new games be good

As simple as this is, I have a feeling EA's response will be this:

 

[Erttheking]

Yeah yeah EA. If you want to really regain trust then get walking, because you've laid out a long and hard path for yourself.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So, how long have they been on this journey? Three years now?

More like eight. The first time I remember hearing phrases like this was in the wake of Spore and it's DRM scandal.

The again after Project Sucky Sucky Ten Dollar, then again after Origin, Dead Space 3, the BF4 launch, Dungeon Keeper, usually a couple of months after they shutter a major studio. It's like listening to a politician, you just ignore whenever they say they'll be nicer and try to read between the lines.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

"Stuff like Battlefield and SimCity"?

Not to be a douche, but that just irked me for some reason.


I actually kinda like EA putting out broken games. I get to buy them two years later for dirt cheap with lots of free stuff that were made as incentives and apologies. See Battlefield 4, the game has a huge amount of progress as well as free content.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Yes, and the Titanic was on a Journey to reach New York.

Then again the Titanic actually launched and was going fine until the iceberg.

 

[Xyebane]

This is typical EA. It will take a lot more than empty words to get back my business.

Edit*: Can I just ask, why is this a news story? What here is news or a story? There is no announcement of anything they are planning on doing. No offense but, It just sounds like a puff piece to promote EA and remind us of (sarcasm) all the awesome things they have done for us (/sarcasm)

 

[OldNewNewOld]

How to win back PC gamers in 3 easy stems.

Step 1: start releasing games on Steam again
Step 2: don't go Uplay on us and force us to use Origin on top of Steam if that happens
Step 3: make said new games be good

As simple as this is, I have a feeling EA's response will be this:

Seeing EA and their works, I would say they image will more likely be "instructions unclear. Forced Uplay on top of Steam on top of Origin."

OT:
Yeah EA, good for you. This is the first time you said something like this. I will believe you and buy everything on Origin now.

 

[RealRT]

Oh wow, this is only the tenth time I heard them say that. Right before doing something shitty. Words are worthless, EA, especially yours.