Law Firm Files Class Action Suit Against EA Over Battlefield 4

[Gezzer]

Really not sure how to take this. Does EA really deserve this? Are there details here that we don't know? A lot of games have been released by EA that were in such an unfinished state. Why is this one different? Perhaps because Battlefield is a massive revenue source for them.

I'm going to be honest, I don't think they deserve this lawsuit. When you invest in a company, you're taking a risk. That risk includes the possibility that the companies products may fail and their stock may lose value. So unless EA deliberately set out to make a bad game with the explicit intent of devaluing its stock, thereby breaching their fiduciary duty to shareholders, this just looks like a case of company made crappy game. Company stock went down. Risk taken by shareholders didn't pay off.

I mean, the world would be a pretty fucked up place if someone could invest in stock and if it goes up great, if it drops, let's sue them so we get a return out of it and still come out ahead. It's absurd.

I totally agree. This isn't just a problem in the video games segment of the market place. It's a major problem with the entire stock market institution as it currently stands. Some moronic economist put forward the concept that the only purpose a CEO should have was to maximize stockholder worth. And company boards restructured compensation packages to reflect this. What's resulted is a corporate structure where every move is calculated from the point of how will it effect stock prices. This has resulted in the consumers no longer being the customers. We're resources to be mined/abused in what ever manner will increase the stock prices. Now a companies true customer is the stock holder, and that leads to short term gain thinking over long term stability and growth. Take the whole Dell computers situation for example. It speaks volumes that the only foreseeable way of saving the company was to take it private. Stockholders have too much input into how corporations are run IMHO, and this could eventually destroy the US if not the global economy.

 

[Psychobabble]

Not an EA supporter, and in fact if I'm honest I'd say I hate their company and wish it to die the same horrible death as the wonderful game studios EA has murdered. However, what we are seeing here is the exact reason why creativity has become stifled and AAA publishes treat game selling as more of an act of loan sharking rather than trying to please the consumer. The bottom line comes first and damn everything else. Like Gezzer said DICE and EA scrambled to get their game out to capitalize on both the new console launches and the holiday season and let quality control go hang. Now that's come back to bite them on the ass.

Problem is though, if they had decided to hold off until they had hammered out a more stable game, the odds are good EA would still find themselves in hot water with their investors. So in this case it looks to be a situation of damned if you do damned if you don't.

 

[tdylan]

What I'm getting from this is that the stock holders couldn't care less that Broken game was released. Their concerns are that they were allowed to believe the game would net them more revenue than it has, and they want restitution for the money they were told to expect, but fear they won't be getting due to the state of the game.

I don't think they'd give a damn about the mess BF4 turned out to be had EA gave them ample notice that "hey! It's turning ugly. We won't be getting that DLC out. Here are our adjusted projections based on the issues that we're saying."

Had that been the case, the share holders probably would have said "thanks for the heads-up," and gone about their business. For their part, they don't care what the game is. Did we hear anything like this when medal of honor: war fighter bombed? No? Do we know why? Probably because EA was upfront with them and said "listen, it's not looking good out there. Here's what we're gonna do...we're closing the studio Danger Close, and aborbing them into whatever." Shares holders didn't make a stink about how pissed they were that EA released a piss poor game, because they were given a heads-up.

 

[FFHAuthor]

Well, looks like Capitalism is actually starting to catch up with EA in a big way.

You can only make so many questionable business decisions before your shareholders start to decide you should stop making bad business decisions. Even for investors who don't give a damn about the ME3 ending debacle, or haven't heard of SimCity, or even know what the difference between Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Anything are...when the stock price tanks, you start to get their notice.

Guess the ongoing losses were fine and the decreasing returns were alright, plus the blatant destruction of fan loyalty were okay...but the stock price drops by a quarter and shareholders decide there's a problem

 

[Roxas1359]

This is everything that is wrong with the AAA games industry. Everything must be done to appease the shareholders with a gun to your (financial) head, all other concerns are secondary.

The main issue here though is that EA lied to their shareholders about the state of the game itself. While yes, investors are a problem in the industry, outright lying to your investors is grounds for a lawsuit.

If you want to compare it to something else, think of investors as Congress and EA as the President during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The President wasn't facing possible impeachment because of his relationship with he, he was facing impeachment because he lied to Congress.

Again, the shareholders in the modern industry are becoming a huge problem, but what this is really about is that the company they invested in lied to them about the product that they invested in and hence has prompted this lawsuit. But the investors should know that investing is a risk and that they shouldn't always expect a return, but they should at least be given honest answers, even if they aren't positive.

 

[Grabehn]

They're being sued for releasing a game riddled with bugs and in an incomplete state that hurts the franchises name like most of their "milk-that-franchise" games?... I kinda like this.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Hell, EA also lied about the state of the game to us, the consumers. Where can I sign up for a similar class-action lawsuit?

While we're at it, can we also retroactively sue them for lying about performance issues in Battlefield Bad Company 2, Medal of Honor 2010, Battlefield 3, and Medal of Honor Warfighter?

 

[Erttheking]

EA is being sued because all of their lies are finally biting them on the ass? *Pulls up a lawn chair* Oh my that fire looks lovely.

 

[likalaruku]

The random crashing wasn't cool, but the bugs added a whole new level of entertainment.

 

[grigjd3]

The legal phrase here is going to become "intent to deceive" and I think you'd have a damn near impossible time showing that a company that is as inept as EA at making money could gather their wits about them enough to actively and successfully deceive their stock holders. I mean, let's be honest about this. EA has fewer quarters that they make a profit in than quarters in which they lose money. They have a reputation in the gaming world as the graveyard of developers. Their releases that depend heavily on online play have now long had a reputation for crappy server-side starts. All of this is information that was commonly available long before EA started providing any guidance on their expectations of profitability. If you were honestly deceived by EA and what the stock price would be, you probably deserve to lose money on that bet.

 

[Something Amyss]

Sucky situation for the consumer in the long run, if you enjoy EA titles.

I disagree. this could actually improve EA's marketplace presence in the long run. If shareholders start paying closer attention to the product, we might actually see EA do decent things.

 

[lacktheknack]

From what I can tell, this is EA's derptastic rushed release (a certifiably bad thing) versus a class action lawsuit against a company for falling stock (a certifiably bad AND worringly stupid thing).

I can't take a side, as I don't support either one. It says a lot, though, that if pushed, I'd take EA's.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

The way I see it, if BF4 had been delayed they could have had a more successful launch. However, they wouldn't dream of delaying BF4, because it would affect profits. Which is for the benefit of the shareholders. So in my mind, this is their fault. We all know that the way publishers attempt to crank out games as fast as possible is detrimental to the game, gamers and the industry, and it's becoming more and more obvious.

Look at CoD, sliding into the gutter year after year. Marginal improvements, an aging engine, models, textures and even animations being reused across several games. CoD has to go away for a while, for it's own sake. I want CoD to go off the market for 2, maybe 3 years, and when it comes back I want it to be the best damn CoD I ever played.

BF is buggier and buggier with each new release. The guys over at DICE are clearly talented, but it's also obvious that they need more time to make the games that they want to make. Bugs are to be expected, especially with a game as complex as BF, but there comes a point where it's simply unacceptable. Battlefield 4 is certainly a step up from BF3, but given more time I reckon it could have been something that really rocked.

 

[Metalrocks]

im more and more happier that i dint get the game on day one. even when i enjoyed the beta a lot, having all these bugs and problems doesnt sound like fun either. now even BF3 is having problems with their severs that i hardly can play on it anymore. so even BF3 is unplayable for me, even when my ping is 16 or lower.
i hope this time EA will learn from this and will take more time to finish a product before it can finish brushing its teeth.

 

[JLF]

Sucky situation for the consumer in the long run, if you enjoy EA titles.

I disagree. this could actually improve EA's marketplace presence in the long run. If shareholders start paying closer attention to the product, we might actually see EA do decent things.

The problem with shareholders is that they seldomly have any clue what the company actually does (other than they make video games, if even that in some cases). They follow their "gut feeling" and reports which are mostly based on media from other sources than the gaming industry's (e.g. Financial Times etc.).

People seldomly put all their eggs in one basket so I doubt they ever actually check out in detail, what is going on in a company.

They actually trust what the companies tell them. Ergo they are pretty pissed at EA now for lying.

 

[Something Amyss]

They actually trust what the companies tell them. Ergo they are pretty pissed at EA now for lying.

That they are mad they were lied to is already an indicator of attention that's atypical. That in itself is enough to turn heads because heads have been turned.

From what I can tell, this is EA's derptastic rushed release (a certifiably bad thing) versus a class action lawsuit against a company for falling stock (a certifiably bad AND worringly stupid thing).

Except it's not so much for falling stock as it is for allegations they lied to their investors. Pretty big difference between stocks dropping (which tends to be handled internally) and fraud or deception (which tends to be handled by courts).

I mean, there's honestly no need to simplify things so much the truth is streamlined out. Although that sounds fitting, given it's EA we're talking about.

 

[JLF]

They actually trust what the companies tell them. Ergo they are pretty pissed at EA now for lying.

That they are mad they were lied to is already an indicator of attention that's atypical. That in itself is enough to turn heads because heads have been turned.

We can hope for the best.

 

[NKRevan]

Hrhrhr,

so, a law suit initiated by investors. So these are the people who are, most likely, in no small parts responsible for pushing the schedule of the game to the point where they couldn't polish it enough. And now they sue the company for it. That's hilarious.

And the internet is rooting for the stockholders because "it's against EA" so no more reason needed, no thought wasted on what is actually happening here. If this lawsuit wins in any sort of way, it reinforces that stockholders can demand anything from publishers and developers and get their way with it.

But it's against EA, so obviously the stockholders are the good guys now. Hahahahahaha.

Edit: I think the industry needs to rethink the idea of game development being part of the publicly traded sector. Just doesn't seem like it's a good fit.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

As funny as it always is for something possibly bad to happen to EA, are you fucking kidding? They're being sued over a buggy game, and worse, for doing the right thing by their players in order to fix it? Bugs of BF4's level are horrible, and it's despicable for a publisher like EA to release a game in that state, but taking resources from other projects to fix them is the best way to handle it.

 

[rapidoud]

I wonder why the stock price rose 40% the day the game came out and stayed at that level for a few weeks despite the issues being well known at release?

Hmm...