Poll: Most "evil" video game publisher?

[RatRace123]

It's a close call between EA and Activision.

But EA tips it, seriously screw Origin and all its privacy.

But, as much as I hate them, they has Bioware, and they keep publishing games I'm interested in. Of course, Bioware denies it, but they've definitely changed under EA, the rushing of Dragon Age II is only the beginning I fear.

 

[Wintermoot]

EA
terrible DRM
SOPA support
the shit fest that is Origin
EA sports
stupid marketing techniques.

 

[RA92]

Valve, for making near the entirety of PC gaming dependent on both DRM and digital downloads, while single handedly creating a monopoly on digital download systems and eliminating the PC used games market.

Also, the insidious, money-sucking fiend that is... hats. Damn them...

This.

They aren't the type of evil that plans supervillainy and gets defeated by the heroes during their long monologue of 'How you are going to die, mr Bond.'

No, Valve is the sort of evil that makes an empire of fervent followers screaming their names to rhe sky while carrying out obscene acts of worship.

Both want to take over the world, but Valve's evil methods have an actual chance of success.

Stupid Evil vs Affable Evil.

Aren't you being a bit unfair? Valve didn't eradicate the PC used game market. Back around the XBox generation, retailers stopped stocking PC games, and Valve simply came in and filled a void. And they've certainly opened up a new market for indies to publish their games by advertising them along with AAA titles and taking a measly 30% cut for it (whereas on a console their will be the licensing fee, platform fee, retailers' cut, publisher's cut, etc). I don't really see the 'evil' bit here. They're just doing business.

OT: Ubisoft, for being an absolute dick. Too bad they've got publishing rights for Trackmania.

 

[Conza]

Its Activision, no questions asked.

They are the wankers who made the MW series, who have kept Porsche from being in Gran Turismo all these years.

I hope the executives there all pull out, or just that that company goes broke, I fucking hate Activision.

EA, myeah, they reuined the Dragon Age series, sure, but other than that, they are just... ok they are second, but not a close second, Activision is so much worse.

 

[DanielBrown]

Gonna go with Activision. Dislike that they milk their franchises until it makes absolutely no money. Though all in all I really don't care. I don't judge games based on the publishers. If it seems intresting I'll buy it.
Two Guitar Heroes was enough, however.

 

[Aprilgold]

Valve, for making near the entirety of PC gaming dependent on both DRM and digital downloads, while single handedly creating a monopoly on digital download systems and eliminating the PC used games market.

Also, the insidious, money-sucking fiend that is... hats. Damn them...

They took a opportunity by the god damn horns, and no one seeks to take em' out except for EA, which failed miserably. DAMN THEIR STYLISH HATS!

EA, is ev.... DAMN YOU NINJA!

I had decent views of EA until this year came along...

- The rushing of Dragon Age 2.
- The horrific marketing campaign for Dead Space 2.
- Origin and the controversy surrounding it.
- (Along with Origin) - Them removing their games from Steam, being immature about it, and restricting Battlefield 3 and future games to Origin use only.
- Lying about bonuses for games. (Where is Battlefield 1943 for the PS3 users?)
- The support of SOPA.
- Shitty customer service and horrible working conditions for their employees.

It really sucks cause a lot of the titles they publish I enjoy immensely. Such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Battlefield...I'm looking forward to Kingdom of Amalur as well.

 

[brainslurper]

EA cause they absorbed Westwood Studios and horrifically maimed Command & Conquer. Than murdered it with RA-3 and C&C-4.
I'll never forgive them for ruining my former favorite games series.

This ^^

And that fucking spyware/virus called origin.

Hey! That is disrespectful slander, calling origin a virus. The correct terms are trojan, or malware, or nevergoingtobeatsteamsomightaswellstoptrying.

 

[brainslurper]

I wouldn't consider microsoft a publisher, but I vote them just because they represent the largest threat to PC gaming of any company here. I really hate EA, but they publish REALLY good games. Maybe bioware's new game is a mercenaries game so I can slightly forgive them for pandemic.

 

[DracoSuave]

Valve, for making near the entirety of PC gaming dependent on both DRM and digital downloads, while single handedly creating a monopoly on digital download systems and eliminating the PC used games market.

Also, the insidious, money-sucking fiend that is... hats. Damn them...

This.

They aren't the type of evil that plans supervillainy and gets defeated by the heroes during their long monologue of 'How you are going to die, mr Bond.'

No, Valve is the sort of evil that makes an empire of fervent followers screaming their names to rhe sky while carrying out obscene acts of worship.

Both want to take over the world, but Valve's evil methods have an actual chance of success.

Stupid Evil vs Affable Evil.

Aren't you being a bit unfair? Valve didn't eradicate the PC used game market. Back around the XBox generation, retailers stopped stocking PC games, and Valve simply came in and filled a void. And they've certainly opened up a new market for indies to publish their games by advertising them along with AAA titles and taking a measly 30% cut for it (whereas on a console their will be the licensing fee, platform fee, retailers' cut, publisher's cut, etc). I don't really see the 'evil' bit here. They're just doing business.

OT: Ubisoft, for being an absolute dick. Too bad they've got publishing rights for Trackmania.

Yes, I too welcome our new robot overlords!

 

[Ovoon]

Activision... is so bad. Kotick is the devil.

But... EA. I can't forgive you EA. What you did to my C&C is unforgivable. DIE EA. DIE.

 

[illas]

blizzard, my son.

They have perverted all that they had going for them. Go back to 2006 and the sky's the limit. WoW is the best it will ever be, people only have good thoughts about Diablo, and Starcraft if still a national sport in south korea.

Now where are they? Split one game in to three for the sake of profits, has turned diablo into a microtransaction-ridden WoW clone and WoW is a joke. So cruel.

Congratulations, you have managed to make me regret voting for EA as the most evil publisher in gaming.
Do you have any idea how impressive that is?! GG Sir, GG.

 

[RA92]

Yes, I too welcome our new robot overlords!

You're not paranoid.

Not at all.

 

[meryatathagres]

It's funny how people hate EA still, even couple years after they kinda cleaned their act. Activision and Ubisoft are really dragonian nowadays.

 

[Magnicon]

Ive had a running joke with a couple buddies that Blizzard, Activision, EA, and Ubisoft are in a contest to see who can corrupt themselves the worst.

EA and Ubisoft have both put a tremendous effort in recently, but I voted for Activision because of Bobby Kotick and simply having much more time at it.

Sadly though at this point, it seem almost every company is doing it. Bathesda seems to be on the edge. Only major company I feel confident in at all at this point is Valve.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

1st - Activision in first for being the most money-grabbing whores in the industry, churning crap out on a production line with little to no innovation or creativity. CoD's success has changed gaming as a whole for the worse.

2nd - EA in a near second for a) buying BioWare who up till then could do their own thing free of EA interference and tactics, b) closing down more decent studios than I can remember (Westwood, dice, Pandemic), c) churning out the annual sports franchises and getting away with it for decades and d) all the crap and controversy around Origin and pulling games from Steam. Not cool you sneaky, underhanded gits.

3rd - Nintendo for not creating an original game in decades and for turning gaming into a casual, hand waving fiasco that has developers diverting resources to creating pap like Cooking Mama instead of actual good games.

4th - Ubisoft for draconian DRM and their apparent attitude towards PC development.

I have nothing but love for BioWare, Bethesda, Capcom, 2K and Atari.

Oh, and Microsoft and Sony get honourable mentions for keeping hardware development back for so long. We're at least a year or two overdue for a new console generation.

 

[Sumrex]

EA they chained down bioware and made origin eviiill

 

[xdiesp]

EA, the Fox News of gaming publishers.

 

[erbkaiser]

In the past EA, for ruining every studio they swallow up (although they might be getting slowly better),
probably in the near future Ubisoft, for insinuating all PC gamers are thieves and their insane business decisions,
but currently? Activision. Activision is at least as bad as EA was up until recently, and Kotick is one of the biggest assholes in the industry. Plus, they killed Troika, for which they deserve eternal damnation.