Poll: EA vs Valve or "The hilariously short battle for a consumer base"

[ultrachicken]

As a company, I vastly prefer Valve, not because I like their games (I don't), but because the Steam service, and their business practices in general, are much better for the consumer.

 

[AndrewF022]

I have no allegiances, I buy from both, depending on price and availability. I understand that they're both companies that need to make money, and if their product is good, and the price is what I deem to be fair, I'm more than happy to help that along.

... I also buy from GoG, XBLA and PSN Store, but that's beside the point haha.

 

[TehCookie]

I don't buy games exclusively for anything. The closest I've got would be avoiding digital distribution games if I can. So go retail! I'll still be able to play my games in the future!

 

[veloper]

GOG
Steam
Gamer's gate
every download service sofar is ok to me, except for Origin.

What everyone seems to forget is that's it's not just Steam and Origin on the market. Origin is only a minor player that came late to the party and changes nothing about Steam's dominance.
If you're unhappy with Steam for some reason go to GG or d2d instead.
EA may go out of their way to screw with their paying customers and Valve do have their DRM in place, but there's no bad news on GG, d2d, GOG, etc.

 

[Mr F.]

A monopoly is the worst thing for consumers no matter who has it.

*SNIP*

You wouldn't be happy about the Devil throwing his hat into the digital distribution ring, would you? Any competition isn't necessarily good competition.

I thought EA already HAD thrown their hat into the digital distribution ring?

*waits for the thunderous applause at such witty satire to die down*

On a serious note? Meh. I am one of the few people to have ever had bad customer service. I lost two games thanks to a mixture of bad timing and steam messing up (The two games were the Napoleonic Addition of Napoleon Total War and Civ V, both of which had been bought on day of release and were the only things on the account) but if I am totally honest, that was not really steams fault. It was bad luck that my email account was hacked at the same time as steam fucking up. Plus I was on drugs that year so it was hard to complain with much coherency.

I would welcome a Valve monopoly. Perhaps if they were harvesting income from every gamer on earth they might, just might, get enough money together to develop and release episode three. Or buy a small country and distribute food and the like purely through Steam.

 

[Tayh]

This will never end, because PC gamers have no self restraint. They will continue to buy games from EA no matter what they do. They will whine and bleat, and because they still paid monsy for games, EA will ignore their remarks and do what they like.

I think it's funny you should talk about consumer restraint, especially following the steam summer sales.

I'd go with EA because they have fucked me over less in the past.

 

[hazabaza1]

I tend not to go exclusive, but I prefer Steam. Origin doesn't seem that bad really.

 

[Mirroga]

Even though I never use Steam or Origins, I judge EA and Valve according to their game lineups for my consoles. Valve wins hands-down for doing a great job with Portal 1 and 2 as well as DotA 2.

 

[AD-Stu]

I'm gonna voice the unpopular opinion here and say EA.

While I might like Valve the company and the way they do business, the truth is if I look at the games I actually play, the titles I actually get excited about... for better or for worse, EA's logo is plastered on the vast majority of them. On the flipside, I can't think of a Valve title I've been particularly excited by since the original Half Life - for whatever reason, they just don't do stuff that interests me.

 

[thelonewolf266]

Guess what? I can buy different games from different companies without my head exploding or spontaneously combusting its a magical power that a lot of people on here don't seem to possess.
Also if I had to make a choice despite the ending of Mass Effect 3 that series is just too good to give up.

 

[Scorpid]

This is a very strangely formed question for essentially being "Who do you like more EA or Valve" If there was to be monopoly though it wouldn't make a difference if it was Valve or EA in the long run because circumstance of running a monopoly would make them drift both towards one direction that being "We have a monopoly let's abuse the shit out of it because there is no other company to try and one up us!"
You saw it with how EA ran the their exclusive NFL franchise Madden, and that'd just be a taste of things to come if either one had the market completely cornered.

But since you are asking which is better more in the sense of now then I'd go with Valve of course. Quantity simply doesn't beat quality and respect for customers. (Though what EA does release is usually the most finally polished aesthetics wise you can find. Too bad it's all bland, safe, and uninspiring)

 

[gigastar]

I think i trust Steam, given that ive offered well over $1200 USD over 4 years to it in return for entertainment.

As far as im concerned with EA, Dead Space and Command and Conquer are the only franchises that i care about, given that theyre not likely to survive past 2014 the least i can do for them is be there at the end.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I prefer the games EA make and I enjoy making unpopular decisions in remembrence of Richard Nixon so I'd save EA and drive a knife into the heart of Valve.

Nixon's still alive, back to your parallel universe you!

Ahem. I pick Valve.

If only for not banning people from forums and accessing their origin account and from accessing their single player games at the same time, for being insulted by another user in the forums.

EA match Ubisoft for the Brazil-like treatment of customers. Corporate abuse is not a service.

 

[viranimus]

Personally I have no exclusivity. After basically forcing me to abandon 400$ worth of an investment, it puts valve very much below EA for me personally as they are both now on equal footing and I simply find the types of games EA creates to be better than what valve makes. (Not that the games are better, but I am not a fan of shooters of derivatives so Valve does not create much that appeals to me)

So to me, honestly both suck now, EA sucks just a wee bit less, because Valve does more damage by virtue of their popularity and baseless irrational fandom.

 

[Rariow]

Does EA stop being so idiotic? If they're forcing me to pay in FPS's for RELOADING MY DAMN GUN, Valve. If EA DOES stop being so idiotic... Still Valve. Mostly because I want them to prove to the world that trusting your employees to work without having someone barking orders at them every five minutes DOES WORK.

Captcha: al capone. Is it trying to tell us something here?

 

[WanderingFool]

A monopoly is the worst thing for consumers no matter who has it.

Nah. The only thing that is objectively bad for consumers is a corporation that has grown large enough to make bad practices profitable. EA is so large that it is always in their (shareholders') best interest to invest as little as possible into their products(across the board) while squeezing as much raw production as possible from their employees. That's why EA gives us games like Dragon Age 2 (reused dungeons, half-assed quests, etc.) and big quasi-scandals surrounding employee abuse.

A monopoly is certainly one way to become so large, but the actual concept of a monopoly is not inherently bad. Everything depends on who is in charge. Take a company like Valve, staffed with happy, motivated gamers who clearly do give a shit about the industry, and a monopoly might actually be a very beneficial thing for consumers. The idea that Origin is somehow valid because it represents competition, and competition is somehow always good, is reductive and, well, a little stupid. You have to take into account the specifics - the people involved and their motivations.

You wouldn't be happy about the Devil throwing his hat into the digital distribution ring, would you? Any competition isn't necessarily good competition.

While I think any competition is good for the consumer, you do have a good point.

BTW, an Off Topic bit of curiosity, anyone know the name of the game where you have to arrange atoms or compounds or something into complete atomic structures. Its like... somethinglab?

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

I'm gonna voice the unpopular opinion here and say EA.

I CAST YOU OUT!

Nah, it's cool man, you are the 15 out of 275.

So I suck at maths okay! Stop silently judging me guys!

 

[SpectacularWebHead]

This is a very strangely formed question for essentially being "Who do you like more EA or Valve" If there was to be monopoly though it wouldn't make a difference if it was Valve or EA in the long run because circumstance of running a monopoly would make them drift both towards one direction that being "We have a monopoly let's abuse the shit out of it because there is no other company to try and one up us!"
You saw it with how EA ran the their exclusive NFL franchise Madden, and that'd just be a taste of things to come if either one had the market completely cornered.

But since you are asking which is better more in the sense of now then I'd go with Valve of course. Quantity simply doesn't beat quality and respect for customers. (Though what EA does release is usually the most finally polished aesthetics wise you can find. Too bad it's all bland, safe, and uninspiring)

Eh, it would have been EA or Valve? but the mods have caught onto the whole writing artificial post lengther thing, so I had to be over complicated but with a very simple point.

 

[LetalisK]

I'll be honest, kinda depends on which developers go to which publisher. I love Steam and hate Origin, but if Steam doesn't have many games I like, it doesn't make much sense for me to go with Valve.

All things being equal, though, Valve.