Metacritic Ranks EA as #1 Publisher of 2012

[Little Gray]

EA is not the detest of video gaming communities for the quality of it's games, they're hated for how they do business, the customer-unfriendly treatment and what they do to the industry overall. Metacritic only reads the collective scores of critics, it doesn't judge by the business done on them.

Makes you think though, doesn't it? If EA wasn't so keen on less-than-amiable business practices and lack of customer respect, maybe they'd be showered with resepct and hailed as an industry leader.

The thing is they kind of are. Sure there are people out there that hate EA but they are only a small minority. The majority does not give a shit what a company says as long as they keep releasing good games.

After reading the metacritic article, I would be much more interested in seeing the number 1 publisher of the year based on user reviews, that would be far more accurate.

It would probably be far less accurate. A lot of idiots out there either give the game really high or low scores based on how they feel about the company instead of the quality of the game. Take mass effect 3 for example, a ton of people gave the game a zero because while it was all around a really good game it had a mediocre ending that they didnt like.

 

[kouriichi]

Im sure if i flatulated money into the face of every reviewer with no sense of morality, i too could have my company in the #1 Spot.

But in all honestly, while EA does blow, the studios under them are solid, and they are the only thing keeping the angry mobs from knocking down EA's doors.

 

[3asytarg3t]

I can't bring myself to express any outrage over this in light of not buying anything EA publishes.

I can however yawn and patiently wait for the publisher business model to die.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

dis gon b gud.jpg

In all seriousness I openly and unashamedly like a lot of games that are published by EA. However, for the vast majority of them I'm say they were good in spite of EA. rather than because of EA.

Wise words, dude,... wise words...

 

[Apollo45]

Far less than getting flaming mad at this, I actually laughed out loud when I read through the whole thing. I suppose their games generally get good reviews despite being demonstrably almost universally mediocre when compared to other games. Still, it'd be interesting to see what happens when they take user reviews into account. Obviously those are almost completely worthless, but it seems like the critic reviews are about as bad.

I really think that the people that think EA is a bad company and that they publish and have developers that make and do stupid things, are in a vocal minority. There are plenty of people that buy the games and don't say a thing, even if they like it, and they give the games a good score on places like Metacritic without giving a written review.

If anything, the Bioware made games would have and should have had higher scores than they got, if it wasn't for the people that stupidly zero bomb games if they don't like something about them instead of giving a proper review and score, then EA's numbers would be even better.

I for one have never played a game that I would give a zero to. Even if I didn't like a game, if it technically worked and wasn't glitchy, I would give it no less than a 4 out of 10. That is proper critical etiquette, if the product works on a technical basis, you must give it some credit. And since there are varying degrees of technically working, there are point categories for those degrees.

I would disagree on the vocal minority part. Most everyone I talk to who plays videogames doesn't like EA. That ranges from not caring about them to absolutely despising the company, but I can't think of a single person I know who actually likes EA. There are people who buy their games because the games are decent, but with the exception of some buddies who couldn't tell you an EA game from an Activision one they all still don't like the publisher.

Of course, the vocal portion that absolutely despises the company might be a "minority", but that doesn't mean the majority likes the company. It means that there are more people vocally hating the company than vocally liking it. Compare that to Valve, who has quite a few vocal lovers and less vocal haters; you can assume that the majority of people are on the "liking" side than the disliking and you would be correct in doing so. They may be the extremists, but the fact that there are so many more of one side than the other usually tells you where the community as a whole lies.

 

[Snotnarok]

I really don't get why people gather the weapons and armor to leap infront of a company and defend it or attack another as their favorite. Who bloody cares it's a company, do you do the same for your bank? Most game companies seem to be screwing people on a regular basis these days so I don't know why anyone defends them anymore.
I love my games but I just can't get behind a company and 'protect them', I think enough is done by buying their games but I never buy games because [COMPANY A] made a game. I have made it a thing to avoid companies games, like a certain Ubisoft with their constant dive into shitty DRM.

Good on EA they won, maybe they deserved it or maybe not, I don't know.

 

[Lunar Templar]

So ... A website that I consider the single most worthless thing on the net, crowned a company I'm at best grossly indifferent to, 'best publisher of the year'.

And I'm supposed to be mad about this? Sorry, can't do it, I just don't care enough about ether to get worked up. It's like a friend coming up and talking you about their other friends that you've never met, and have no desire to met

 

[Strazdas]

Prep the forum for a flamewar. In the past couple of years I've thoroughly enjoyed a multitude of EA releases and for some reason even used Origin while playing them. Have I been struck by cancer or leprocy? Have I started sacrificing kittens to the devil? Has my computer been hijacked by all the supposed spyware from Origin?

All psychopaths think they are sane. Im joking of course.


EA has became like Nintendo. everyone knows its up to no good, but they still buy their games. typical gamer i might add.

 

[bug_of_war]

EA deserved this reward. So did many other companies, but with the amount of hate they get, they deserve those bonus points for not giving all the ragers the middle finger and trying to save face.

 

[Kahani]

EA has captured this year's #1 position, thanks in part to being the only major publisher scoring 75 or higher for its 2012 releases.

I'm fairly sure that having the highest score was actually rather more than just part of the reason for coming first.

As for the all the whining, I think many of you have rather missed the point. EA's business practices are irrelevant. Your personal views of specific games are irrelevant. All that matters for this ranking is the general opinion of the various games EA has published, and it's an undeniable fact that an awful lot of people like quite a lot of them. Complain about EA as a company all you like, and for the most part I'll be happy to join in with you. But it's pointless to use dislike for them as a reason to claim this ranking is somehow invalid. They're a bunch of asshats who publish many popular games. This ranking only addresses the second part of that statement.

Edit: Wait, something doesn't quite add up here.
7. Ubisoft - 68.2
8. Konami - 69.0
9. Sega - 69.9