How EA's CEO is Developing from People's Need to "Steal"

[Grabehn]

"What we want is to make you feel like what you get [with EA Access] is worth more than the money you have in your pocket. WHILE WE CONTINUOUSLY GIVE YOU LESS CONTENT AND GATE IT BEHIND MORE MICROPAYMENTS" I think I fixed it for him.

Do you really have to come up with huge BULLSHIT statements like this one instead of... I don't know, actually making GOOD and COMPLETE games without a disgusting amount of parts removed for the sake of "DLC"? I'm not against DLC by any means IF and only IF it means that you're going to extend the life of a game after it's been released, not some "day one" BS.

 

[ecoho]

honestly guys it seems like they're actively trying to do better, so I hate to say it but give them a break (or at least this guy) he got in front of a speeding crashing train and has slowed it now hes trying to put it back on the right side of the rails that takes time.

 

[Something Amyss]

honestly guys it seems like they're actively trying to do better, so I hate to say it but give them a break (or at least this guy) he got in front of a speeding crashing train and has slowed it now hes trying to put it back on the right side of the rails that takes time.

No, what he's doing is offering the same crap that EA has been offering since they won their second golden poo. It started with Peter Moore's "we can do better," which led into Dungeon Keeper and SimCity, and has led us to places like The Sims (and following their new "player first" mentality).

I would really like for EA to be sincere. But they have to freaking do something instead of talking. Otherwise, they haven't changed a damn thing except their tune.

 

[ccggenius12]

Call me crazy, but if I owned an Xbone, this would seem like good news to me. For half the cost of one game, you're going to get access to all of them. EA puts out a new, marginally different game every year, so you're paying half as much for the opportunity to never have to upgrade in exchange for not getting a physical disk. EULAs say you don't own the content on the disk anyhow, so I really don't see this as a loss.
You know, this subscription service probably means that Gamestop is going to suffer less from buying copies of last year's Maddens and FIFAs... not sure how to feel about that.
As concerns the first half of this article, the quotation mark in front of "Humans" should be an apostrophe. That may be where some of these people's misunderstandings are coming from. Either that or blind EA hate. In either case: Grammar Nazi powers, ACTIVATE!

 

[RealRT]

So you call the players thieves. EA... it's like you want to be hated.

Now, bad choice of words aside, you want to pack more value in your games? Go ahead. Start with not including microtransactions in paid games. Continue by reducing the amount of DLC.

 

[Abomination]

Once again EA shows they're not about making quality products, they're about convincing people their product has quality. The two are not the same.

Maybe if EA would focus less on marketing a business strategy and actually on producing quality games their company would be considered respectable again.

 

[Mister K]

This reminds me of a Korean fairy tale I read once - a king is throwing a celebration asks his old teacher to tell him a joke. The teacher, being an old and wise man, initially refuses, knowing that joking with kings can be hazardous for one's health. But the king insists, so the teaches tells him - "Your majesty, you resemble a (high ranking monk)." The king frowned - "That isn't very funny. You look like a pig." The teacher nodded and smiled. The king was drunk and failed to understand his joke - a holy man may see divinity, whereas a pig sees nothing but a pig.

If you see your potential customers as thieving bastards, what does that make you, mr Wilson?

Great story. I need to tell it to tell it to someone else.
OT: First lesson of PR is to never ever, NEVER EVER say negative stuff about people you want to sell your goods to.

 

[Avalanche91]

But NOT stealing EA games means I have to install Origin on my PC.....

I'm being facetious really. Last EA game I played was Mass Effect 3 and we all know how that turned out.

EA has just done too much wrong for me to believe them at this stage. Every time I have given them the benefit of the doubt, they fuck up all over again. I know giant corporations have little need for my approval but I sure as hell have no intent of buying an EA game again.

 

[Isra]

I have an inherent need to stay the fuck away from EA. I won't even steal their crap.
It's like they took Google's "Don't be evil" motto and got rid of the "Don't" part, and I'd really just feel a lot better if they vanished off the face of the earth or at very least got out of game publishing and committed full time to the supervillain in a mountain stronghold thing.

 

[AlouetteSK]

When a company is more worried about making a game look more valuable than actually making it more valuable, you've got a problem. Saw gameplay of Sims 4. Not impressed. Make something worthwhile in the first place.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Today, I decided to reinstall and replay the game. However, in the intervening time, Games for Windows Live had gone down, and no longer exists.

This creates an issue, because without GFWL, the game is literally unplayable. It's impossible to get past the title screen. I spent about two hours surfing the internet for answers and trying every suggestion I could find. I even spent 20 minutes on the phone talking to an EA support rep (Who insisted the error I was getting didn't exist. My screenshot proved otherwise, and he promptly passed the buck to Steam).

This is only the beginning of the future to come I'm afraid.
They (AAA publishers mostly) push and push towards all-out online only renting.
When they get some backlash for pushing too hard, they take two steps back and one forward.

And they'll get away with it. boycotting won't work.
In a world where enough people buy madden every for it to be successful, the apathetic majority rules democratically over the (vocal) minority.
Or is it the market forces. Eh, nevertheless, money talks as they say.

I feel for and with you. I'm glad you found a solution that let you play your bought game again.

 

[JLF]

This is one of the most anti consumer speeches I have heard in a while. It implies that their consumers steal where after they imply stealing is part of human nature. (The need to survive and acquire resources that is natural, but stealing is a social construct created to explain the action of taking something that is not lawfully yours to take)

Seriously stop catering for you stockholders needs and concentrate on your customers! This sounds good for a shareholder but its outright offensive to people who buy games from EA.

A content customer is a good customer = better value for your stocks and increased dividends.

 

[james.sponge]

I think he got it all wrong, people don't download Sims 4 or new SimCity illegally because they want to posses valuable products for free, they do it in protest against dumbed down, feature-deprived products with designs dictated by boards of directors and investors instead of proper developers.

See how you murdered Spore, S3/4, SC and learn from it, ffs -.-

 

[mindfaQ]

They hone storytelling in games, yet there it is still in its infancy and pretty bad most of the times.

And people want to optimize the value they get for their money - I think that's nothing new since... the times peopel started trading goods.

 

[LaoJim]

Im beginning to think that the EA we hear the news and business decisions from might just be an entirely different business, devoted to cars or kitchen appplainces and all the gaming press gets them mixed up with the one that makes game.

Hmm. I think you might be onto something here. It would certainly explain everything that has been reported by EA over the last decade while still allowing me to keep my faith in humanities essential goodness.

On the one hand the headline is misleading and he was actually saying (in perhaps a awkward way) that people like to get more for less, or at least feel like they are. And yeah people like to get a good deal and feel like they are getting what they paid for.

Here's the thing though. Wilson knows EA is the most one of the most hated company in America and he should also know that gamers have a habit of jumping on anything, literally anything, EA spokesmen say, as proof that EA are evil. So it seems strange of him to say "People like to steel" rather than the less controversial "People like good value". If someone like Steve Jobs had said this, most people and especially fans would dismiss it as a piece of (maybe slightly unfortunate) rhetoric. EA can't say these kinds of things at the moment and not expect to be pilloried for it.

Also note how what he is talking about is a feeling of value rather than actual value (admittedly for video games the actual value is a pretty abstract concept). There were forums about EA Access when it was announced and opinions ranged from "EA are evil" to "It may be reasonable value depending on what games get added to it later". I don't remember anyone describing it as "a steal".

 

[SecondPrize]

A subscription fee for their entire catalog seems like a good idea, in theory. The problem I am seeing with it is bandwidth usage. Observe;

You pay your subscription, download and play. Finish playing and the game deletes itself, you are (essentially) renting it remember (most likely after a set period of time, 24-48 hours maybe?). Now while this may seem like a fairly big assumption, keep in mind this is EA here.

Now to circle back to my starting point, bandwidth usage. The average data plan is, what, 300gb? With games clocking in at around 20-30gb installs means you will burn your entire allotment very quickly.

slow down there, Hoss. Not all of us are crazy enough to accept anything but unlimited as far as internets go.

 

[Greymanelor]

So, let me see if I'm getting this right. It's a paywalled service to access a relatively narrow selection of games which are largely mediocre and themselves nickle and dimed to death on DLC?

There may also be discounts of some variety. You pay them to get discounts for buying their already substantially overpriced games.

By Grabthar's hammer, what a savings.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

slow down there, Hoss. Not all of us are crazy enough to accept anything but unlimited as far as internets go.

What country are you in where Unlimited actually means Unlimited?

 

[SecondPrize]

slow down there, Hoss. Not all of us are crazy enough to accept anything but unlimited as far as internets go.

What country are you in where Unlimited actually means Unlimited?

I'm in Europe now. I never had a data cap in the States but it's been a few years.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Oh please, EA. You couldn't give away free beer without somehow tainting the entire town's water supply.