Electronic Arts Wants To Be Voted Best Company In America

[A-D.]

Origin was the last straw, where I was forced to install it, despite buying a physical copy of Mass Effect 3, where an alternative method of acquiring this game would've been easier than actually having to track down a physical copy and more userfriendly..

You know, when I bought The Orange Box in retail I was also forced to install Steam to be able to play it. Funny how some of EA's buisness practices get absolutley shit on just because it's EA doing it.

Which actually is what happened with steam as well. The mass outcry that happened when Half Life 2 required Steam? Yeah, that wasnt funny and it was much more caustic than anything thrown at EA for doing Origin, which by the way is just the EADM (or EA Download Manager) rebranded anyway, so Origin is by no means new, they just rebranded something they already had.

The reaction is just different because, for one, it happens on smaller scales, i mean how many people buy a game now that requires steam, when they didnt already have it? Origin was new and was suddenly forced when it wasnt before, plus EA pulling all their games off Steam because they didnt want to give Valve a cut for their DLC crap just points to it that they want you to use their system, thats essentially how you create a monopoly. Without competition, and EA now doesnt have any because you have to use Origin to play their games, they can dictate how you play the game, when you play it, how much you pay etc.

So yeah there are more factors than "its just cause its EA" that Origin gets shit thrown at it.

 

[Draconalis]

'Why are people saying these things?'," he told MCV. "We did that and we started to realize that we are doing things that people don't like."

HOLY SHIT!

It only took about a bajillion fucking years... but one of them finally gets it!

I'm sure a monkey could have figured it out faster... but I mean... progress!

 

[VikingKing]

Just to toss my hat into the ring here, this is nothing more then a company who's gotten consistently bad publicity and now seeks to change their public image because it will hurt their ability to be a business.

Note, this is exactly what a company, any company, should do in those circumstances.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

You tried to be 'the best company in America' back in 2007 and we all know how that turned out.

Face it EA, you're a soulless bureaucratic nightmare devoted to making money whose schemes range from 'incompetent' to 'what the fuck were they thinking.'

I think aiming a little lower would be more realistic, like beating Activision and Ubisoft.

While I definitely laughed at that little clip, I do think they can really up their game. At the very least, though, they are better than Activision and 2K, so that's a start...

Also, spare an explanation of what happened in 2007 for lil' ol' me?

Remember John Riccitiello?

Back in 2007/2008 he became the CEO of EA and came out stating 'we blew it with Bullfrog, Westwood' http://www.destructoid.com/ea-admits-it-blew-it-with-bullfrog-origin-and-westwood-69491.phtml and stated that EA was going to improve, no more devs being shut down, more creative freedoms for said devs, etc.

And it looked like they were putting their money where their mouth was, Bioware had released Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins and non-mainstream games like Mirrors Edge from DICE and Dead Space were popping out.

Fast forward to now:

Dragon Age 2 being rushed out and suffering for it.
The Medal of Honor series dying due to EA running after the CoD market.
Devs are still being shut down.
Bioware talent leaving in droves.
Dead Space 3 needing 5 million copies to continue as well as having micro-transactions and co-op.
And lets not get started on that steaming pile of giblets that was once the dead horse of Mass Effect 3.

I've seen this song and dance from them before, and I'm not falling for it again.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

You tried to be 'the best company in America' back in 2007 and we all know how that turned out.

Face it EA, you're a soulless bureaucratic nightmare devoted to making money whose schemes range from 'incompetent' to 'what the fuck were they thinking.'

I think aiming a little lower would be more realistic, like beating Activision and Ubisoft.

While I definitely laughed at that little clip, I do think they can really up their game. At the very least, though, they are better than Activision and 2K, so that's a start...

Also, spare an explanation of what happened in 2007 for lil' ol' me?

Remember John Riccitiello?

Back in 2007/2008 he became the CEO of EA and came out stating 'we blew it with Bullfrog, Westwood' http://www.destructoid.com/ea-admits-it-blew-it-with-bullfrog-origin-and-westwood-69491.phtml and stated that EA was going to improve, no more devs being shut down, more creative freedoms for said devs, etc.

And it looked like they were putting their money where their mouth was, Bioware had released Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins and non-mainstream games like Mirrors Edge from DICE and Dead Space were popping out.

Fast forward to now:

Dragon Age 2 being rushed out and suffering for it.
The Medal of Honor series dying due to EA running after the CoD market.
Devs are still being shut down.
Bioware talent leaving in droves.
Dead Space 3 needing 5 million copies to continue as well as having micro-transactions and co-op.
And lets not get started on that steaming pile of giblets that was once the dead horse of Mass Effect 3.

I've seen this song and dance from them before, and I'm not falling for it again.

And you forgot the sims 3, 2 years later, which managed to be even MORE money grubbing than the sims 2. In fact, they made it so you get slapped with micro transactions every time you start up the game. Even by taking out the good items (good stats, doesn't break after every use) charging a ransom for them.

When you manage to run the sims into the ground, you have a problem.

And the new Simcity, can't forget the new Simcity.

 

[Pebkio]

No! No, guys, c'mon! Let's give the big unfeeling monster a chance!

Listen, EA, I'm going to lay it out on the line for you: You will never win that competition. Go home.

It's not that you aren't making good decisions. I wouldn't know because I don't buy your products. At all. But you might be doing right by your customers. You might even have reversed your business practices so that, maybe, you aren't screwing new developers into oblivion. I wouldn't know because KoA: Reckoning. You might even try to honestly want to be a good company because it's the right thing to do and not, say, because you're worried about your image.

You might have all of that going for you, but you still won't win because you offer a luxury good to the half of the world that's entitled enough to be picky about wonderous future tech. It comes with the territory.

You're not a producer of hybrid foods that contains all the nutrients we need to be healthy and fit. You're not a research company trying to find the cure for all of our physical and mental ailments. You make toys. Super toys with all the latest and greatest, but they're still just for entertainment. Toy makers can be good or bad, but they're never going to be the best our species has to offer.

So go home, and stop being so fucking full of yourselves. That's probably your biggest problem anyway...

 

[PonceyMcTosserFaic]

That's great if they mean it, but they have a LONG way to go. A REALLY LONG way to go.

Godspeed, EA.

 

[___________________]

If they bribe the right people they will.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

Wow. This was so funny I .... I literally could not laugh. I want to laugh ssssoooo bad, but no matter how hard or long I try, it would never be enough. Huh.

Welp, good luck EA. It'll never happen, and as long as you continue along the path you're still on, I'll always vote you for Worst.

 

[scorptatious]

GOOD FUCKING LUCK!!!

You guys are going to need it. Like seriously. It's going to be hard to recover from all the screw ups you made.

 

[veloper]

There's nothing wrong with having that ambition. It would have to be a long term goal though.

There are plenty ways for them to improve: better quality control and less intrusive DRM is a good start, so there won't be any more problems of the magnitude of Simcity, where nobody could play the game at launch.

Nagging customers to buy more DLC when they are in the middle of a game a la Dragon Age, couldn't have done much good either. This is bigger issue than the pricing of small DLC things, because the buyer has the choice wether they think something is worth the price or not, but pestering them is a no-no.

Producing good games and keeping talented devs on board is the hard part that has no easy solutions.

 

[Product Placement]

It takes being publicly shamed as the WORST company in America for them to listen. It's sad.

No. No, no, no. It didn't take them being publicly shamed as the WORST company in America for them to listen.

It took them being publicly shamed as the WORST company in America... twice.

...

At any rate, I've long since firmly planted my foot down on the ground, in my stance that this company deserves no good faith from me and I bear no trust to anything they say. None. Talk is cheap and it's very cheap to say "I listened to your concerns". This fucking company is like a cancer that spreads across development studios, taking them over, degenerating their IP and shutting them down, once it stops producing Blockbuster hits. They've been doing this for years, long before they started pissing off the general public, with their shitty Online passes and DRM implementations that sabotages consumer satisfaction.

Yeah, they say they don't want to be hated but they act like they want you to hate them.

Fuck.

That.

Company.

P.S. For the record, I don't actually go around and vote EA as the worst company in some consumer poll, either. There definitely are institutes more deserving of that title. But that doesn't change the fact that I will have nothing to do with them and that I have no intention of forking over a single Cent in support of them or their product. It will take allot of convincing for me to change my opinion on them and, so far, I'm far from convinced.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Well it's ridiculous they ever were called the U.S worst company. Complete lack of perspective when the company that ruined Mass Effect is placed on a higher pedestal than truly harmful and exploitative companies. That said they have a long way to go. They have actually been better this year, but there is still a majority of their awful cashgrabbing system to be phased out before anyone will cote them Best Company.

 

[KiKiweaky]

Baahahahahahahaha great now the only thing your going to have to do is scrap origin the most ridiculously draconian piece of DRM I have ever seen I was genuinely looking forward to battlefield 3 before you took a dump in punchbowl by adding origin to the party.

So you didn't buy BF3, a predominantly multiplayer game because EA wanted you to... *gasp*... go online? Even though you can play the single player offline? Huh. How 'bout that?

A better example of EA's DRM would be the new SimCity's constant multiplayer that shouldn't exist in a game like SimCity. That's something to get upset about. Even though I think it was just a poor design choice by Maxis that EA was definitely accepting of, but not something forced on by the publisher. Maxis is just as bad as EA when it comes to that situation.

Read the terms of service, you'll find they are very very different specifically this part of the Origin EULA

"You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware"

They may have changed it since I last looked at it but that was enough to make me say 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuck that'. The terms application usage, software and software usage are far too loose for my liking. They didn't specify which software they are looking at and in a legal document like this it speaks volumes. Basically they didn't specify so they can legally look at everything. Also why do they want to see what peripheral devices you are using? They have absolutely no effect on the game at all, I asked EA customer service the exact same question and they neglected to send a reply which didnt really surprise me.

I don't care that I have to be online to play anything, I'm online pretty much all the time when I'm at my computer unless I'm watching a film or a tv series so it doesn't really bother me. It is the shameless collection and sheer volume of data that EA have no need or right to that made me decide I didn't want to use their service.

 

[rumdumconundrum]

"...we started to realize that we are doing things that people don't like."

But seriously. It took them THIS long to realize, "Oh gee, maybe treating our customer base like the gum we find stuck to the bottom of our shoes is a BAD IDEA. I think we're pissing people off!"

So yeah, let's see... I'll make up an itemized checklist for what they need to do to be viewed as even remotely less crap:

[ ] Stop treating your paying customers like criminals and remove your B.S. DRM.
[ ] Stop buying up dying companies and gutting them
[ ] Fix your quality control standards
[ ] No more on-disc DLC. EVER.
[ ] Remove microtransactions for anything except DLC characters/expansions.
[ ] Get rid of Origin requirements for games. In fact, get rid of Origin entirely. Nobody's going to use it in its current state.
[ ] Cut down on your bloated advertising budget. Seriously.
[ ] Give your workers reasonable timeframes for finishing games so we don't have more rush jobs.
[ ] STOP USING PUNKBUSTER FOR ALL OF YOUR PC GAMES. Seriously. STOP.

I'll probably think of more soon.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Why on earth, should I even begin to take them at their word?
Especially after bearing witness to stupid, exploitative schemes and mediocrity for more than a decade.

There are many gamers who jump on the EA hate bandwagon today because of hot button controversy, or whatever negative buzz has built up around them at that moment. But me? I ride no bandwagon; I've distrusted ("hated") EA for well over a decade now.

I've seen the attitude of the people at the head of their company for years and their brand of fake-enthusiasm for games.
Suits have come and gone, but the attitude never changed.

I've witnessed their pillaging of classic developers for their IP, and the inhuman schedules they imposed to recoup their costs; Trying vainly to change everything into a production-line model of homogenized shit, just like their profitable line of sports games.

I've seen EA flat out lie to their customers just to get more sales, and lie again when exposed.
(Most recently via the Simcity 13' controversy. So. Many. Lies. Before and after launch.)

EA can certainly improve to become better than the "worst*", but never, EVER, can they be the "best".
They can't even approach being "best". Not in the gaming market, let alone of all corporations in the US.

Because being the "best" requires having better business ethics, and if there is one constant at EA, it's that their executives have ALWAYS treated ethics as just another cost to their bottom line. A cost, might I remind everyone, that EA begrudgingly paid once before. Ironically, paid the last time they said they would improve, and they only paid it at all because they were forced to as a result of them being sued by their own employees.

Only when threatened financially did they even suggest the notion to improve, and as soon as their PR started improving they quietly went right back to doing the same shit they were before: Rushing games and homogenizing everything to fit their "ideal" product-model.

Why? Because nobody at EA's upper echelon really gives a fuck about games, or gamers, or ethics except in the smallest required capacity to do business, and they never have. That's why they just "talk" about it. Like how they "talked" about preventing a repeat of the same on-launch problems D3 suffered in Simcity 13'. Or how they "talked" about how the ending for Mass Effect 3 was going to be more than pushing a button.

Don't take my word for it: you can easily find exactly what all that "talk" amounted to.

Just like Mr. Soderland is doing here and now.
EA "talks" and promise, but rarely ever "acts" on what they promise except in the weakest possible way, if at all. "Talking" is just the the bare minimal commitment they have to make for PR in the gaming world, because again they don't really care beyond that.

Unless that attitude changes, they will -NEVER- rise above where they're at now.

So again, why the should I even begin to take them at their word?

What will be any different?
Answer: It won't. At least, not for very long. Once they start recouping sales, and the vocal hatred for their company dies down enough, they will go right back to doing what made everyone mad at them in the first place. They've done it for 15 years, and they're to keep doing it.

(*I maintain both of their Golden Poos are the result of ridiculous bandwagon hatred; EA has ruined some lives, yes, but it absolutely pales in comparison to several other American corporations I can name.)

 

[cryogeist]

They don't have to look very far on the internet to see where they fucked up
And hey, I hope they actually do try, EA actually has some decent games but the fact that they are EA games puts me off from them