EA did some things good.

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

When I look at this picture, it doesn't scream corporate greed or insane business policies and decisions, nor do they have an air of incompetency around them.

Then I envision the cast of people that run EA today. Could anyone here honestly, and with evidence, say that the group of today is capable of producing a game like they did? Not a service, not a product - but an actual just-put-it-in-and-play-it game?

Maybe I'm romanticizing the past...but I was rather fond of the storyteller making the RPG or the creative mind making the challenging platformer or action game; not the businessman making fucking products, or services, or that bile-inducing, mind-numbing phrase: transactions.

The EA of old? Pretty decent fellows. Did some awesome things.

The EA of today? Fuck them and fuck their money-grubbing, anti-gaming mindset, "visions" and the culture they've helped to fester onto this industry.

 

[Breywood]

Ever see this? The original manifesto of EA, the name says it all Electronic Art.

Breaks my heart a little when I read this.

(Heh. I recognize Annie Westfall, Paul Rieche III, John Freeman, and John Fields, in that photo. )

This. I can remember when EOA was a logo I liked seeing. All of their games being packaged in an "edgy" 8¾-inch "box" that unfolded into three panels of interesting artwork, media and manual. Games like Hard Hat Mack, Axis Assassin and the Adventure Construction Set, which I enjoyed in their quirky fun. I had a ball with Archon and its sequel. They published games by Interplay until they could afford to do it themselves and I even have the original box with the disks formatted for my C-64. It seemed then they were content to just embellish the software with a little art and let the coders, well, code.

While there are some of their newer titles that I've enjoyed since those days (the newest thing I've played, however, is NFS Underground II); There's been a big shift in their focus since the days when they seemed to be more interested in publishing than the profit margin. They made the same mistakes over and over again and ruined many beloved franchises for the sake of getting it out before a holiday or bawwing over the low profits in spite of hiring a dozen programmers too many.

While it's possible that they might smarten up and make some sensible decisions for something other than their sports titles, taking an iceberg and finally resting off the coast of Newfoundland is going to be inevitable. I suppose that remark would have been more apporopriate for Interplay, though.

 

[Varrdy]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age were created by Bioware under EA,

Wrong. Mass Effect was released in 2007, EA consumed BioWare in 2009.

They must have had something to do with it as the EA logo is shown as the game loads. I know this as my PC always seems to "bork" for a split second as the EA logo is displayed, thus making the animation stutter. The BioWare and Demiurge logo-displays all work fine! ;-)

 

[Holythirteen]

Yeah I liked Brootal Legend also. Can't really defend the weird, cheap, kinda lame rts that came with it, but the story, setting, characters and soundtrack made it such a unique experience, that I can forgive the minor chore of its stage-fights. I like Yahtzee for hating what I hate, but considering some of the crap he likes for stupid reasons I think he must've been out of meds and liquor when he reviewed this game.

Anybody cutting the game down without having actually played it should kindly shut their hole.


I think if EA did something good in the past 10-20 years it was an accident. Not sure that counts.

 

[synobal]

Ever see this? The original manifesto of EA, the name says it all Electronic Art.

Breaks my heart a little when I read this.

Well to be fair Mass Effect 3 made me cry a few times. Still doesn't change their shit business practices though.

 

[Gorrath]

EA produces a variety of fine games that are fun to play. The problem is that they tend to ruin the good ideas when the sequels are produced as they reach for homogenization to reach a broader audience. I cna give them kudos for backing some risky developments, but beyond that there isn't much to praise. I don't think EA are evil, they are just managed by people that don't care about games, gamers, gaming or anything to do with the hobby, and it shows.

 

[Nomadiac]

EA is a pretty badly run company. They've got terrible business practices, and they're so far up their own asses it's painful to see. (Though with the Xbox One launch, Microsoft seems to be outdoing them.)

However, they own Bioware, one of the few big RPG devs left in the business next to Bethesda (which I like, but I'm not so into their games) and now CDPR. I guess you could put Obsidian up there, but they're a bit smaller. And I don't see that Bioware post-acquisition has been going that badly. (Yes, I'm one of those freaks who actually liked DA2 and ME3, though they are quite flawed games.)

 

[Something Amyss]

I was hoping that people would post some fun or good games...
Guess there is still too much bad blood going around

Forced positivity rarely works. In fact, if it comes to that, something's severely wrong.

They must have had something to do with it as the EA logo is shown as the game loads.

They published the game when it came out a year later on Windows, as well as when it came out on the PS3.

 

[bug_of_war]

They still screw over consumers and employee's alike. Not to mention their unfortunate habit of buying up developers on the cheap, squeezing them dry and dumping the carcass as they move on.

Overpricing games, excessive DLC, microtransactions, always on drm, online passes (which they only removed because MS is basically doing it for them. So transparent, EA) The list goes on. Even I've enjoyed some games published by them (Published, remember that. Not developed) but that doesn't change what they are.

Overpricing games? I'm sorry, where are you from because every single EA game I have bought have been either on par or even cheaper than other video game titles. Mass Effect 3 cost me $78 on release, as opposed to Black Ops 2 ($99), Assassin's Creed 3 ($88), and Far Cry 3 ($90).As for the DLC, you could say they do produce excessive amounts, but if you don't want it, don't buy it. Same goes for micro-transactions, don't like it, don't use it, I didn't when I played Dead Space 3 and I enjoyed the hell out of that game. Always on DRM, sure, has it's issues, but EA aren't the only company doing so. Online passes, it's funny that you mention how transparent they are for removing this practice because of the Xbox One, you know, one of 3 possible consoles to play AAA games on. So in reality, PS4 and the Wii U users should be smiling, as no more online passes means that they will definitely get all the benefits of that practice.

What they are is a very successful business, they're not suppose to be our friends, this is not a buddy relationship, this is a business transaction. Yes, you can very well complain when they do things wrong, I would think you'd be crazy not to, but to say that they're evil, horrible, terrible, blood thirsty, greedy is unfair. Hitler and Stalin were evil, the bank of America is evil, EA make business decisions in hopes of maximizing their profits so that they can make more games so that they can make more money. This isn't good, it isn't even bad, it's just life, and the world will keep spinning with or without one/all of us.

 

[bug_of_war]

Yeah corpoations don't care that you care about them they just want the money but the people behind the corporations can be assholes though.As for EA I feel they are driving themselves into the ground and they are mor concern with making a fast buck then thinking about long-term profits.Think how many people have they pissed off with their short sighted greed?Alot and it shows as EA's stock dropped by a considerate number,their problem is they are trying to grab as much money as possible by giving games short development times and turning them into the same boring thing because they want the fast money.

I don't think they'll drive themselves out of business, they still make a lot of money, just not as much as they want (which yeah, is an extreme amount that is caused by far too much advertising). It's kind of like the whole Capcom deal, they spend far to much money on trying to show everyone and their mums that they then have to expect 6 million copies sold to get their hoped for profit. Then they make DLC in hopes of getting more revenue, but making it costs money so then they need everyone to pay for it. It's kinda like a self replicating problem or whatever the right terminology would be.

Still doesn't make them bad though...

 

[Legion]

While I am not really into them myself, they are pretty much the only company that creates decent sports games. So at least one section of the market has a lot to be thankful for.

 

[ThriKreen]

Back on track...

Their health benefits are usually better than the acquired company's.

>.>

 

[madwarper]

They must have had something to do with it as the EA logo is shown as the game loads. I know this as my PC always seems to "bork" for a split second as the EA logo is displayed, thus making the animation stutter. The BioWare and Demiurge logo-displays all work fine! ;-)

EA published the PC version of the game. However, the development of the game has already been completed long before EA ever entered the picture, which is why if you look on the 360 version, there is no EA logo anywhere.

EA had nothing to do with making Mass Effect. GearsofWarclone Effect 2 was made under the tendrils of EA.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Not only did EA release a bunch of their old, classic titles on GOG, the best games download service period, but they also did it at they same time that they were trying to push Origin. EA has done a lot of shitty things, but I fucking applaud them for this.

They even allowed GOG to update certain games with their expansions at no extra cost to the customer.

 

[The Funslinger]

I was hoping that people would post some fun or good games...
Guess there is still too much bad blood going around

The first two harry potter games were a ton of fun, especially chamber of secrets. The Bertybotts economy was a great idea rather than having that silly easter egg in the first one. Really solid gameplay design. They should have tried to stick with that formula instead of turning them into action games.

The third one was like that, too, with the addition of co-op.

It was Goblet of Fire where they became the bullshit generic movie tie in game.

Spoiler: And booooy do I mean generic

 

[ThriKreen]

EA published the PC version of the game. However, the development of the game has already been completed long before EA ever entered the picture, which is why if you look on the 360 version, there is no EA logo anywhere.

Yet ME2 is herald as the best of the series, which was fully done under EA. So....

 

[JenSeven]

EA published the PC version of the game. However, the development of the game has already been completed long before EA ever entered the picture, which is why if you look on the 360 version, there is no EA logo anywhere.

Yet ME2 is herald as the best of the series, which was fully done under EA. So....

Or maybe it was the best of the series despite being done under EA.
Although, I kinda liked the leveling system of the 1st one more and the planet scanning was pure crap.
So, not really sure which one is better. Both were flawed but in completely different ways.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but the whole supporting gay rights thing was also pretty alright in my books...

 

[II2]

So did Hitler... *GODWIN'D*

But seriously, they did well by DICE early on financing some of their more offbeat Battlefield titles development: Vietnam, 2142, Heroes - stuff they most definitely wouldn't be arsed with right now. Plus, keeping DICE alive and happy must be a colossal investment: not to say videogame studio's are cheap, but have you ever SEEN their offices with 200+ people on payroll, under Swedish taxation?? It would suck, in most gamers minds, to have EA corporate as a boss, but most sane people would agree it's a REALLY nice place to work.

Along with past good will, they did greenlight the development of Mirrors Edge, Dante's Inferno and Deadspace as new IPs, mid 00's, while Activison was still just cranking out sequels.

... Coming up with compliments for EA is making my brain constantly fire off 'but then they,' qualifiers.

 

[2HF]

While I am not really into them myself, they are pretty much the only company that creates decent sports games. So at least one section of the market has a lot to be thankful for.

NFL2K5 was a better game than Madden and then EA got exclusive rights. It's not that others can't make a better game, it's that they aren't allowed to make it at all.

Many would argue that Pro Evo is a better game than Fifa, even the Winning 11 series was considered great.

I've never cared for EA's hockey titles, much preferred 2K's versions but that may just be personal preference.

Nobody bothers making a golf game because there surely isn't enough market for it.

2K makes a fantastic baseball game every year.

Didn't EA completely drop out of the NBA game making business because 2K blew them out of the water?