Poll: Is EA becoming a better publisher?

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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WAAAYY too soon to say, IMO.

I'm waiting until next March (at absolute earliest; probably longer) to see if the "Tone at the Top" really has changed, or if it's all just a big corporate bluff to staunch PR hemorrhaging.

Consistency, between their actions and promises, over time will say more than any PR blurb.

And I'm VERY skeptical, because I've seen this song and dance from EA before. Several times now.
Every time, the changes (in regards to consumers and their products) started out good, but deteriorated within a year or two; basically, whenever EA feels confident in exploiting their newly-regained trust.
 

Lightknight

Mugwamp Supreme
Nov 26, 2008
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Hell no. Think about the last few major titles they've launched.

Sim City 4 (Always on shenanigans)
Battlefield 4 (p1 bugs left unaddressed for weeks)
Dead Space 3 (took a horror game and made it an action FPS with freemium tactics applied without being free to play).

This year they haven't even put out that much. So why would anyone think that they've gotten better? Putting out fewer titles doesn't make them less crap.

I will say that Ubisoft has gained the crown. But that doesn't make EA less shitty, it just makes Ubisoft even shittier but I've been calling Ubisoft an EA in training for years now so I'm glad to see them accomplish their goal of being terrible.
 

Neverhoodian

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Apr 2, 2008
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I'm just going to leave this here:

NEVER FORGET! NEVER FORGIVE!

sanquin said:
Let's just say that EA has destroyed so much of my trust that they won't get it back so easily. Even a little. If they keep on...'improving' for another two or three years, then they might regain some of that trust. I usually easily trust someone, but when said someone breaks my trust it will take a hell of a lot to regain it.
Pretty much this. EA has done so much shit over the years that you'll forgive me for not buying their "we've changed, honest!" routine (especially since they've made this claim before to no avail). While it's cool that I got some free games off of them thanks to special deals on Origin,[footnote]Naming their online store after a company they bought out and systematically destroyed? Classy.[/footnote] it's not nearly enough to magically nullify their reputation for me.
 

Edl01

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Apr 11, 2012
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No, they're just as bad as ever. But suddenly they seem better because Ubisoft have just gotten so much worse than them in the past year or so, which is saying a LOT.
 

OldNewNewOld

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Mar 2, 2011
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Well, they made Origin better than Steam right now so that's a plus.
They also aren't Ubisoft which is another plus.
Rest stayed more or less the same so... There is some small improvement.
Overall they went from exactly 0 games I'm interested in to exactly 1 game I'm interested in. I tried the free 2 day trail of Titanfall and I was pleasantly surprised. It's actually a good FPS game. Only downside is that it has a low player count which is sad considering the ridiculously high player count that CoD games have which are cancer that almost killed the genre (I would have said killed instead of almost killed before I tried Titanfall but now there is still a chance).
If they make Titanfall 2 and actually improve on it and don't repeat the same mistakes they did when they released Titanfall it will be a good sign that EA is getting better.
 

Mirroga

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Jun 6, 2009
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As long as they keep doing their annual sports games and the direction they went with Sims 4, they are not improving at all.
 

T_ConX

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Mar 8, 2010
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I don't think they've improved. It just seems like they're being overshadowed by other companies fuck ups.

They're still selling woefully unfinished games (just look at all the features missing from The Sims 4 and NHL15), they're still locking up all their PC games behind Origin, and they're still killing Bioware.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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erttheking said:
It's less that they've been becoming better and more that they haven't openly shown contempt for the consumer recently. Even if they are turning over a new leaf, they have a LONG way to go to make up for all of their bullshit.
Unfortunately, their releases have been problematic at best and continued many of the same problems.

There's an episode of the Simpsons in which Mr. Burns loses his fortune and Lisa helps him organise a new outfit through "good" means. In the end, Burnsy starts putting all the positive lessons to use, actually managing to be more evil.

I don't know why I bring this up, except I suspect we will find that EA subsudises its Origin sales by auctioning off the organs of orphan children on the black market or something.
 

Aerosteam

Get out while you still can
Sep 22, 2011
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Better? Eh. They're definitely pulling less crap currently than before.

They did choose to delay Battlefield Hardline instead of release it then patch it later on so there's that.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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May 15, 2010
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EA isn't what they were a decade ago, but they're also not a horrible company just horribly short-sighted. They need to focus less on deadlines and more on quality. Its been proven that one can announce a game but not have to put it out immediately for it to be successful and a successful game is heavily dependent on its functionality at launch. While a game may sell well at the outset, a bad entry in a series can tank the next game because fans may not want to buy the next one or they will wait until they can get a heavily discounted copy.
They may be doing better, but they have a long way to go to be the company the used to be. I still don't harbor ill will towards them, they treated me well as an employee back in the day, but rather I'm just disappointed in them. They have the capability to do better.
I will say that Origin isn't half as "evil" as people make it out to be. Especially folks who would praise Steam and hate on Origin.
 

azurine

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Jan 20, 2011
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They haven't actually done anything to make themselves look better recently, EA is still terrible, but people might feel as though they've improved by virtue of not being Ubisoft.

Because lately, Ubisoft seems to just not care what happens to it. Every time they open their PR mouth they say something stupid, and the internet laughs. All the while, EA is still awful, but it does so quietly.

Well, for now at least.
 

someonehairy-ish

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Mar 15, 2009
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I dunno, they were so bad that I'm giving them brownie points simply for not turning pools for Sims 4 into paid DLC. Most other companies I'd never believe could be stupid and greedy enough to remove a feature from a sequel, only to bring it back and charge extra for it, but with EA I would. And they didn't.

So I'm undecided. I guess in a few years we'll find out.
 

The Madman

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Dec 7, 2007
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Amazing how quick some people are to forgive and forget. EA is a giant mega corporation, not some poor slob that makes the occasional mistake, they don't need either your forgiveness nor your sympathy.

Every couple of years EA tries to 'improve their image' and does the whole 'that past greed and incompetence is behind us' act, and yet every few years they continue to pull the same bullshit over and over and over till I've come to the conclusion that they really don't give a shit. Would EA like to be seen as less of a burden on the gaming industry? Yes. Do they care enough to actually bother making the changes necessary to make that a reality? Nope. Not so long as people keep giving them their money anyway.

The only thing different between the EA of yesteryear and the EA of today is that there's finally some competition for title of 'biggest dick publisher in the industry' in the form of Ubisoft, a title EA usually just wins by default.
 

Kmadden2004

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Feb 13, 2010
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My opinion of Ubisoft has just been on a serious decrease for the last year, with all the PR blunders, stupid excuses, obnoxious review embargoes and the latest buggy releases. After Watch_Dogs and AC: Unity, my anticipation for Far Cry 4 has actually been knocked down by quite a bit. To me, Ubisoft's only saving grace right now is Michel Ancel, and it really wouldn't surprise me if he were to leave the company at some point in the next 12 months. Ubisoft are really going to have to serve up quite a hefty slice of humble pie for me to truly trust them right now.

EA... I approach cautiously. Yeah, they've done some stupid bulls!t over the last 12 months, but they also have new leadership, and Andrew Wilson at least hasn't come across as a complete idiot to me yet (a semi-automated Ken doll, maybe, but not an idiot), so I am willing to accept that maybe - just maybe - all that bulls!t is just fallout from the previous regime's stupid decisions. They are at least sending out messages that the Golden Poo stuff and reducing sales figures are perhaps humbling them in some way.

There have been at least two developments that have me more willing to at least give EA at least more attention than I would normally;

1.) Dragon Age: Inquisition's positive word of mouth. The fact that people have been describing it as a return to the Origins side of the RPG spectrum, and that the general quality level of the finished product is reportedly to a decent standard (and feels uncompromised) leads me to hope the EA really is just leaving BioWare alone to do its thing in this case.

2.) The delay of Battlefield: Hardline. It's one thing for a company to delay a key franchise that's intended to be a Christmas release, it's another to delay it so that the devs can start making some pretty sizeable changes to the game itself in direct response to player feedback from the beta. I, in all honesty, actually find that to be quite commendable.

Also, on a personal level, I will also say that I've had much better experiences with EA's customer service than any other company (including Nintendo!). For example; I remember when I bought Dragon Age 2, I'd pre-ordered the special edition with all the added content (I know, I know, i'm a DLC whore), but the store was only supplied with standard editions without any of the download codes. So I e-mailed EA that night and explained the situation (in a "this isn't really a big deal, but..." tone), and within the hour they sent me an apology with the redeem codes for all the extra content (didn't even ask for proof of pre-order, or anything).

I'm not saying I'm ready to accept EA back as a bosom buddy yet, but - like an abusive relationship - I am at least more willing to hear them out again in the hope that maybe, just maybe, this time will be different...
 

Platypus540

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May 11, 2011
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They're getting better but they have a looooong way to go. And their customer service is still unbelievably terrible.