How to Fix Electronic Arts

[xEightBitPlayerx]

Well, my vote is for Shamus to take over EA.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

The only solution to the EA problem is the company going under and freeing up the IP's to be taken up by people who actually give a shit about making a game. No matter who is at the helm of EA, its owned by investors. And they won't let off the leash of mediocre money maker titles. As a company it is totally dysfunctional to its customers. There is no fixing this level of broken. Sometimes you just have to admit that its a complete failure, and start over from scratch.

This so much.

EA is beyond redemption. It badly, BADLY, needs to go under.

I would squee if I heard Petroglyph bought back Command & Conquer and renamed themselves Westwood Studios.

 

[coldfrog]

Hey Shamus, I know don't know if you ever look at the stuff posted here, but aside from yourself and Extra Credits, I have a hard time finding any gaming media that looks at games in such a thoughtful, forward-thinking manner. Admittedly I don't spend my time scouring the net for these kinds of things, but video games aren't my profession and I would rather not spend my time sifting through the same and the hype for something worthwhile. Is there any place you frequent that you could recommend (or frankly, anyone else who appreciates this kind of view of the world of gaming)?

 

[Deacon Cole]

Imagine a Starbucks where the decision-makers didn't really care for coffee and just thought of their product as any other beverage.

So, exactly like the Starbucks in the real world.

Zing!

Seriously. The Starbucks corporation doesn't care about coffee. Fortunately for them, neither do most consumers. This is why they roast their coffee so dark. It's not better. It masks the inferior quality of their beans. The other reason why they're successful is because they mimic the appearance of an Italian coffee shop. They aren't one in reality. More like the amusement park facsimile of one. This works because most of the US doesn't have a strong coffee culture and can tell when it's fake, like Starbucks.

 

[blackrave]

Fixing EA?
It is possible
It will require locating their HQ, gathering all the shareholders in it, a lot of gasoline and some fire source >

 

[John P. Hackworth]

I didn't realize Shamus was posting articles again, he had been away for so long. They are always thought out and well written, thanks Shamus!

 

[Phishfood]

The leadership of EA does not have a visible passion for videogames.

This is why I hate EA in a single sentence. This is why we call EA greedy and not Valve. I feel like Valve made a great product then asked "How can we use this to pay the bills?" I feel like someone at EA said "My money fort only has 2 rooms, how can we squeeze more money out of these fools? Guess we will have to make another game."

Another is the marketing method. If marketing were a conversation, Valve came over to my house, brought a coffee and a sample box for me and said "you can buy any of these, look we even reduced the price a stack!". EA came to my house with a gun, bundled me off to the Origin warehouse, pointed a gun at my head and said "LOOK BUT DON'T TOUCH UNTIL YOU PAID FOR IT! WE'RE ON TO YOUR CRIMINAL WAYS!"

Lets boil this down to a single concept that the column strongly hinted at - EA's practices are so bad they made me not want to buy Mass Effect 3 or SimCity 5. Congratulations EA, you win the award for anti-marketer of the year.

This so much.

EA is beyond redemption. It badly, BADLY, needs to go under.

I would squee if I heard Petroglyph bought back Command & Conquer and renamed themselves Westwood Studios.

You are hoping the IP can be saved. I wouldn't be surprised that if EA were to go under so much IP would go down with it, just because it is so contaminated with EA's bad practises.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

True, Shamus, but to do that would probably uproot more than just EA's CEO. We might be talking a new board of directors too, and I don't think those people are very inclined to give up their seat in a (still relatively) profitable company.

While I'm hoping that EA eventually evolves into the gamer-run company that would benefit the industry, I think we'd have to wait a couple of years for that reality to happen.

 

[GAunderrated]

I see people saying "screw it let EA die".
let's not forget the damage that would do to countless people's livelihoods and to the industry in general. No guys, as much as I hate to say it I think EA going under would do more harm than good.

I strongly disagree with this fearful sentiment. If EA were to go under there would be a massive bid for the IP's and studios meaning a lot of people WON'T lose their job just transfer to a new company. For those that lose their job they will do what ever other person who loses a job does, find another one.

I really hate the whole "too big to fail" mentality that cooperations are trying to make people believe. People losing their jobs would be a short term damage to the industry while keeping EA as they are now is a LONG TERM damage to the industry.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

The fact DICE had to literally beg EA to give them the go to make Star Wars Battlefront 3 shows us that they're leadership is still woefully out of touch of the gaming culture; that match was made in heaven really and EA didn't see it until they were beat over the head with it by DICE guys.

 

[McMarbles]

How to fix EA?

*grabs clippers*

Same way you fix a schnauzer.