They are a major player in Vancouver's economy, and helped put Vancouver, British Columbia on the map as a technological center in the gaming world. Yeah, things have been going down the tube recently in Vancouver, but I've known professors in their 50s who got their start at EA back in the day.
Speaking of back in the day, EA did used to make some very original titles and was a pioneer in world of gaming. One of my very first memories of PC gaming was Star Flight II, published by EA in 1991. This space exploration and trading game was the grand daddy of Mass Effect, and one that took me years to finally finish (even with the hint book) and if anything, EA deserves thanks for letting a kid fly a pixelated space ship around the galaxy.
Save for EA's last three or four years of generally being a jerk company, I liked them more than Blizzard-Activision but they keep tripping over themselves to out do all the other companies in terms of being assholes. Project 10 dollar, canning their Steam selection, Origin, day 1 DLC, the Mass Effect 3 ending, Battlefield 3's consolefication of the PC version, and Dragon Age 2 being fired out come to mind of short sighted dick moves that what ever good will anyone had towards EA has evaporated. The stupid thing is if EA would just move to a more good will customer friendly approach in their strategy rather than trying to nickel, dime, and annoy consumers they'd have a lot going for them as a company, with a lot of good series and studios under them. Seriously EA, just step back, focus on letting your studios make fantastic games that are of good value to the customer and maybe take a more humble approach to the business and there's no reason people can't like you again.
