Poll: Worst publisher based on Principles.

[BoogieManFL]

Hard to pick just one.

Many of them have done things that really piss me off.

EA. Nuff said.

Actually, no. Fuck them. I too am very bitter about them ruining Bullfrog, Westwood, and Maxis. Yeah, Maxis is still around but I firmly blame EA for ruining the amazing game Spore COULD have been. My number 1 top gaming disappointment. Some of the early wireframe with no texture prototype/proof of concept mockups were conceptually more complex and interesting than the actual completed product. I'd also venture a guess they're why Star Wars: The Old Republic copy pasted World of WarCraft so damn much.

Also, Origin. It will never be like Steam. You fail EA. You're like Google Plus trying to compete with Facebook. You're too late out of the gate. How good or crappy your service is doesn't mean much when people are already overwhelmingly invested in something else.


Activision
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines for example. Idiots mismanaged that. Despite their colossal ineptitude the game was great, but sadly, the last of it's kind for the most part. They also are probably responsible for stopping patching/support on Redemption before they should have.

THQ
It's probably their fault Company of Heroes stopped getting patches before the job was done, despite the game's success.

Kalypso Media
They outright lied and cheated their customers by letting Legends of Pegasus get released while it was still clearly in an alpha state.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xBc1O9USw

 

[R4ptur3]

Without a doubt EA. I actually used to think they were alright, but they have really been pissing me off over the last few years with their bullshit.

 

[The White Hunter]

Sega. Because goddamnit I want Jet Set Radio and Sonic Adventure 2 on XBLA now!

But leaving silly, petty reasons out of it, as much as I try not to give them as much stick as most others here, they are probably still the worst of the bunch.

I shall forgive Sega all transgression because they finally got around to making good Sonic games again. Also idc about SA2 on XBLA/PSN because I have it on Dreamcast :3 I wubs my Dreamcast.

OT: I'm gonna vote Microsoft because windows pisses me off and they sold millions of people defective hardware then wouldnt replace it because of the warranty a few years back. Bastards.

EA get a lot of hate and scorn but I think a great deal of it comes from the PR and the fact people at EA with brain cells let stupid people talk to the public.

Activision are probably more evil imo. They all suck though lately.

Except Sega. The aforementioned Sonic resurrection has won back my favour.

Yeah I sort of meant it as a joke answer, I'm just glad that they are bringing them (along with Nights Into Dreams, which I keep forgetting) to XBLA as unfortunately my Dreamcast died a while back And I do love the Sonic resurrection as well. And they do publish Football Manager as well, which can take up lots of my time as well.

I also love that EA have stormed into a huge "lead" in this poll.

My Dreamcast is a bit iffy and I havent had it too long, it dislikes Code Veronica and Power Stone sadly but everything else is fine, it's easily one of my favourite machines.

I hope Sonic continues to be good, I think they're gonna take a new direction though and leave the Unleashed style for a bit, which could be nice I think maybe a bit less boost to win, and I'd like something a bit longer and more varied than Generations :\

At any rate I do look forward to whatever is next for the blue blur. I even have my sonic plushy on my desk... > >

 

[McMarbles]

Capcom just got out of the gutter by announcing Phoenix Wright 5 (captcha: you're welcome), so right now it's Activision, for just general douchery (really? 30 bucks for a game I could have for three dollars on my iPhone).

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Game companies rise, evolve, advance, and at the apex of their glory they are extinguished. Bioware is not the first. By utilizing our funding game companies develop along the paths we desire. They exist because we allow it and will end because we demand it." John Riccitiello speaking to Gabe Newell

Didn't think of that myself but it pretty much explains why i'll vote EA

That sounds like something Emperor Palpatine would say if he ran a game publishing company.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Fuck! My distaste for EA made me auto-click them! I meant to vote LucasArts! Those guys are even bigger jerks!

Explain.
Trust me, I've got massive distaste for them after what they did to Battlefront III, but why Lucasarts over EA?

I can't think of much else other than The Force Unleashed 2 and Kinect Star Wars.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I gotta go with Activision. While I don't care for EA all that much they seem like the lesser of two evils here. EA has actually done some good things in the past. I can't think of a single good thing Activision has done. I am sure they have done some good things but I don't what.

Well they've published some good games like the Transformers Cybertron games, and Spider-Man 2...

 

[Smithburg]

Valve has 11 people voting them the worst... wat?

 

[Smithburg]

Nintendo because I HATE their fucking fans! I want to stab them in the eye, whenever they talk about the "golden age of gaming" (It was NOT GOLDEN AGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and always complain about modern gaming all the fucking time! RAGGGHTHTH!#W /RANT over

Anyway, I choose also Ubisoft for what they did to Splinter Cell. Fuck you Ubisoft. Just fuck you.

It's considered the golden age of gaming because of the influence it had and so on

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I am temted to say EA (i voted for it) but really it's valve. They keep saying "Oo, Half Life 3, it could be round the very next corner" *wink wink, nod nod* but it never is!

 

[josemlopes]

Well, nice to see that 2K games didnt get any votes. From what I remeber they have never actively exploited costumers and while they dont play the "Valve super nice guys" card they play the rolemodel publisher right. They usually publish good games that usually try to do something interesting and they took a huge chance with Spec Ops The Line

 

[Orks da best]

This thread is made up by people who are blinded by valve. A monoply in any form is always bad, no matter the creater or owner, monoplies are bad. Also doesn't help that eveen if you buy a game from a store you still need bloodly steam to play. (mad about Dawn of War 2)

EA, I have really have no quarrels with them, either I don't play games they make, or enjoy them immesely, which is more than I can say for valve games. Valve enjoying for shorts bursts, EA, I tend to enjoy longer, but than again it could be because I'am a gamer who enjoy playing games for a good while.

Also I think valve is trolling their fans for half-life 3 just because they can, after all, most valvies are blinded.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Dont care, i play the games i want. Dont care who makes them. Mostly i rent through Lovefilm unless the game is a "must have".

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Valve dont make games, i dont even consider them a game company. Just Steam.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Valve has 11 people voting them the worst... wat?

Maybe cos people are dumb in believing there will be a half life 3. Their wont. Valve started episodic gaming yet cancelled HF Ep3 cos they couldn't be bothered. I dont get why people have this jesus complex with valve, they do fuck all. Yet people worship them.

 

[Vivi22]

This thread is made up by people who are blinded by valve. A monoply in any form is always bad, no matter the creater or owner, monoplies are bad. Also doesn't help that eveen if you buy a game from a store you still need bloodly steam to play. (mad about Dawn of War 2)

You know what I hate? People who completely misuse terms in order to create some scare that doesn't actually exist.

1) Steam is not a monopoly. They have several competitors which do exist in the market. They've managed to be the most successful by being first to market, listening to customers, and offering a better service than most, but success alone does not a monopoly make. In the very real sense of the word, they aren't a monopoly.

2) Even if they were a monopoly, there would be nothing stopping other companies from coming in and competing with them. They aren't given sole domain over PC gaming by any exclusive rights or government interventions, and plenty of companies in the industry have the capital it would take to dethrone them if they finally went batshit crazy and screwed over companies and customers.

3) Monopolies are only inherently bad if they lead to one option in the market and the exploitation of consumers and the inefficient allocation and use of resources. Frequent sales, and constant implementation of upgraded community features aren't exploiting consumers. Even if they were, you're not forced to buy from them to play games, even PC games. You can skip Steam altogether if you don't like it and still play plenty of games.

To sum up, you're misuse of the term monopoly and attempts to create some scare where there's no cause for one are utterly transparent and would only fool the most jaded of Valve haters.

 

[jbm1986]

EA.

Absolutely no contest. That company is the gangrenous appendage of the video game industry and needs amputation right the fuck now.

Yup. EA needs to stop hurting the game industry with their evil.

 

[dimensional]

Got to be EA for me I have hated them for as long as I can remember and very rarely buy a game they touch, Activision I just generally dislike same with Blizzard and Valve just piss me off as I really really dislike Steam the others I couldnt care less about im neutral on them (publishing wise).

 

[Therumancer]

I couldn't decide between Actvision, EA, and Ubisoft.

The reason being is that while EA has been worse recently, Activision has been just as bad in the past and is mostly out of the "hate" spotlight simply because of EA. Ubisoft on the other hand was the company that majorly implemented things like always on DRM and the like which are now in common use, sort of innovating the garbage that all of the bad companies use, even if it takes an EA or Activision to really take it to the extremes of douchyness.

Lucasarts is bad, but really they seem to mostly be an anti-fun copyright troll more than anything. They reliably produce mediocre games that should be outstanding given the liscences. Their biggest flaw is really jus chasing around people who could make good games or mods to defend trademarks, which they then use to produce shovelware tie in products, with the occasional gem sticking out from the morass of mediocrity.

 

[Johnny Reb]

You'r all wrong...

[http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h403/hippykiller15/?action=view&current=LJN_toys_logo.png]