So IGN decided to ask "why do people hate EA"

[Gearhead mk2]

I don't know about you guys, but the reason I hate EA is because, frankly they seem to be activley trying to bring down the industry with their goddam horrible practices. It's only a matter of time until we ditch big, souless publishers like EA and Activision, but until they leave they're trying to break every single thing about the medium (gameplay, story, online, customer rights) just to stay afloat. Something's gonna give, and if we don't get rid of them soon... we're gonna have another crash on our hands.

 

[MURPHYCHACHO]

Ha ha ha. Oh IGN. You still think people take you seriously. That's just cute.

 

[Valdus]

Please don't go to the website to view the article. It's very obvious nerd-baiting. The people that don't like EA (myself included) are very vocal about it, so chances are this article was made to get people like myself angry, which in turn means we talk about it, leading others to the site.

 

[Krantos]

saying working at EA is better than working in a diamond mine, Id bloody well hope so jeez.

I particularly liked that part, too.

It's like saying "So I shot your dog. At least I didn't shoot your entire family AND your dog."

Just because it's better than Diamond mines does not make it right, ethical, or acceptable.

I'm not typically one to accuse people of being apologists, but it was written all over this article. The writer even mentions a lot of the stupid things EA has done, then brushes them off and says he doesn't understand the hate.

My favorite was the last sentence, though: "I think the average gamer enjoys what we do and gets what needs to happen etc. etc."

No. No, I don't think you understand. The average gamer does not enjoy getting nickel and dimed. They do not enjoy you preventing them from playing the games they PAID for. They do not enjoy watching you buy developers and drive them into the ground so you can buy another one.

Most people tolerate these things. They do not enjoy them.

I know this guy is just doing PR here, but that last sentence makes him come across as either a complete ass or a total moron. Don't screw us and tell us we enjoyed it. We'll tell you if we do, not the other way around.

 

[Krantos]

I don't care if they buy everyone in the world a muffin, or if they curb stomp stray cats for fun.

I don't think you're helping your case with that analogy. I don't think I'd buy anything from a company that curb-stomps cats for giggles.

I think I see what your saying though. To sum: "You can dislike a company, and refuse to buy from them. However, not liking a product just because it came from the company is wrong."

Essentially, Don't say Mass Effect 3 sucked just because EA made it. If you didn't like the game itself, fine. Or if you refused to buy it because EA made it, fine. But don't confuse the two.

Does that, basically, sum up what you're saying? If so, I agree with you.

If on the other hand, you're saying the company's policies should have no impact on your purchase and you should only care about the product, I must respectfully disagree.

As a consumer any purchase you make is akin to giving the company an endorsement. You're saying "I approve of what you are producing and how you are doing it. Here's some money to keep doing so."

I don't like EA's business practices, so I don't buy from them. Which kind of sucks, really, because BF3 looks really good.

 

[lacktheknack]

But here's the thing: If Activision donated $100,000,000 to charity, I'd be more likely to buy their stuff. Even if it has nothing to do with the quality, it's still a factor.

And I checked, it looks to be a healthy mix of bitching about publishers and talking about games.

We may have to agree to disagree.

Now the thing is when EA does an objectively good thing they still get bitched at. Case and point : The kickstarer indie support.

It was pretty simple. Any project that had reached their goal in funding would be given 90 days free distribution over Origin. Now say what you will about Origin, but free distribution is free distribution. It is a free meal for a developer who is working hard to make the money last. Yet comment on every site I found this story on was damming them for doing this.

Its no longer about what they do, But who they are. They are just a hate target now regardless of what they do.

Last time I talked about this someone quoted me and said "Because we know the minute we change our tune they change theirs too and go back to being exploitative douchebags.".

That is more or less saying "If we stop hating them they will do something that makes them deserving of the hate". Its not about what they do. It is about who they are now.

That's probably true of most people, but I, personally, don't hold the Indie Support thing against EA. My issues with Origin are issues with Origin and Origin alone. I don't remember the Indie Support thing happening, but now that I've been told, my goodwill towards EA has increased. I won't take advantage of it (because Origin), but oh well.

Feel better?

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

EA has been losing money for years. Honestly I don't care how big they are I hate how they rush products and try to cast a wide net to gain the most market. These are overused tactics to gain the most capital and unfortunately the product suffers for it.

Instead of trying to make everyone happy with one product. Make multiple products that are real good for a select range of customers and take the time to make your product strong in substance. If your only making 5 dollars a game then raise the price. I don't mind paying 80 dollars for a game I really want. Besides we've been sitting at $50-$60 for a decade now.

Thats all I want... thats all I ever wanted. I am just tired of the generic games that have come out of EA. They are the first of many gaming corporations that are going the way Hollywood did and it makes me sad.

Marketing works well when your selling a product such as shampoo, cookies, or a clothes. Stories and gameplay are much more complex than that.

 

[ThriKreen]

Yet again, I don't think by linking that you are making quite the point you are trying to make, I actually agree though, EVERYONE in this thread should read that.

On what point do you say I'm trying to make then?

I seem to have missed the memo that made you the source of authority.

But not because it'd exonerate EA, but because that article is a prime example of what business practices they use against competitors, what kind of mistakes they make with acquisitions of companies (after all they're responsible for them still running after being bought off), as well as how EAs corporate culture and infighting potentially ruined a once great studio, many games and made almost every single employee leave.

I never tried exonerating EA, just saying that if fault is a colour, and EA is blue and Studio-That-Got-Shutdown is red, then the resulting colour is some mix of purple.

You, and many others on the other hand, seem to just say "NOPE!" and you cover your ears going "Lalala I will not acknowledge the studio had any fault in their own closure! The colour of fault is red and can only be red!" despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, like in said article or tidbits like this: "In response to EA's buyout, many long-time Westwood employees quit and left Westwood Studios." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westwood_Studios].

 

[giggetygooo]

Bye bye Deadspace, I have great memories of both games, really enjoyed them. Can only hope that Deadgears 3 bombs so badly as to send some kind of warning message.

 

[Callate]

"We're deeply baffled why anyone could be so mean to poor, defenseless EA. So rather than asking any serious questions about why that might be the case, we said, "hell, no one thinks we have any journalistic integrity anyway", and decided to offer up our space for a fluff piece from one of EA's top executives. Mmm, mmm, do his boots taste good!"

Seriously? The "alternative" to accepting the system is to move to Cuba? Companies needing to make a profit, or other companies also behaving badly is an excuse for all behavior?

I'd call it "bullshit", but at least that can be used for fertilizer or fuel. Someone who pens a piece like this with a straight face doesn't deserve a place in any kind of journalism.

 

[Ziame]

You know what if EA went bankrupt and goes under, it's gonna be pretty cathartic when it does happen and we laugh and celebrate at its demise.

Although I will feel sorry for the people that will lose their jobs in the process if this ever happens.

yeah and they will hold all the cool IPs in their dead hands, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space... really great moment.

At least they are dead right? right?

sigh.........now you made me depressed.

They can die after they let all those things go.

Read about Interplay (iirc) holding rights to FreeSpace even though it has no interest in it. Just because.

Being the greedy fucks that they are they will hold on to those franchises to their corporate grave.

Oh wait I forgot I only cared about Mass Effect and that's over. So, let them die. Or let them live. I don't care.

I don't know, as far as I'm concerned Bioware is already indoctrinated with the EA corruption so they are already a lost cause and that includes the Mass Effect series.

Alright then. You bring the gasoline, I'll bring the flamethrower then.

before it lays eggs.

Just two questions, how much? and what else can I bring?

A cistern will do. Bring marshmallows.

 

[survivor686]

I'd think its the fact that some of EA practices seem to muscle out the other talent in the market.

EA doesn't have a habit of producing unique content by itself (I'll admit there are some exceptions). It business model seems to be dependent on buying out smaller companies and their IPs and then milking it for all its worth and beyond.

While there are projects that benefited from EA's investment (ME2, CnC 3, Dragon Age etc..), there exists other projects which have suffered as well (ME 3, CnC 4, DA2 etc...). Combined with the rise of charging full price for products, with signifigant content held back (aka: Javik from ME3), I personally find myself wary of purchasing EA products at full price (ME3 was the exception...and now I regret it).

There are plenty of other great companies out there, don't let EA's practices negatively affect them.

 

[AncientSpark]

Snipt

I'm one of the biggest advocates of "figure out what you're buying first". You're preaching to the choir there. I just did badly with the bread analogy, sorry. D:

Anyways, I don't complain a whole lot about the companies, I just keep on top of which ones do things I don't like. And you're right, I AM the consumer. However, I'm not a blind consumer. I actually give a rip about where my products come from, what it took to make them, and the strings attached to them. Free range eggs exist entirely to appeal to consumers who want ethical animal treatment, even though it has little to do with the eggs themselves (whether or not free range chickens are actually free is a different thread). What I think of the people selling me the game is a perfectly valid thing to consider.

As I said, I love gog.com. I like Steam. I dislike Origin. I make this opinion based on the companies running them and the attached requirements. THIS IS VALID. It's worth discussing. People who purchase games they didn't look up are silly, yes, but I don't. I've never bought a game I didn't like. It doesn't stop me from giving care about the other factors surrounding the game, often connected directly to the developer or publisher.

And I refuse to talk about the merits of Diablo 3, newer Assassin's Creeds, etc, because there's an entry barrier I can't surmount on them. Thus, I'm trapped outside of the game, and the only input I have is on the entry barrier.

"What do you think about Assassin's Creed: 's new features?"

"Sorry, I have no idea because my internet is too unstable to even consider buying a game with such restrictive DRM."

See the problem?

I'm gonna start out by saying that when I said "you", I didn't mean "you" personally, but I think you got that.

I'm going to try to simplify my thoughts on this, but I'm afraid I might not be able to do so properly.

People are forgetting that gaming is about the games. It's about the enjoyment you get when you play them. It isn't about business practices. They have absolutely no effect on your enjoyment.

For example; I like Call of Duty. Always have. Now, let's say Activision donates $100,000,000 to a charity. Does that make me like Call of Duty more(or less)? What if Activision spent $100,000,000 on euthanizing dogs in shelters instead? Would that make me like Call of Duty less(or more)?

No.

My concern is with the game, not the company. I don't care if they buy everyone in the world a muffin, or if they curb stomp stray cats for fun. It has no effect on my opinion of the game, and if you dislike a product/service just because you dislike the company that made it, you're a moron. And that's the nicest way I can put it. You can dislike the product because of its quality all you want, but we both know that isn't what happens around here. Anything attached to EA is quickly dismissed for no reason other than being attached to EA.

Take a quick look at the gaming section of the forums and tell me if it looks like a gaming section, or a "***** and complain about developers/publishers" section.

That's your prerogative. If anyone hates on you for that, then they rightfully deserve as much spite as you have. But the thing is that not everyone shops this way and not even most people shop this way. Many people do look into design ideas, advertising, business practices, and similar ideas to figure out what they're getting into. Short of actually buying the game and playing it, that is largely the only ways people can hear about the game.

The thing is that "***** and complain about developers/publishers" is not only an inevitable fact about the industry, it HAS A PLACE in the industry.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

The question really becomes here...why *don't* people hate EA?

They treat their employers like absolute ass, is my reason.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

The reason for the hate is because of what they do to our games, namely ruin them by removing the things that made them great. By trying to "broaden appeal" to the "mass market", adding coop gameplay where none is needed, by turning ME3 into a military shooter complete with obligatory turret sections, marines LZs evac points and other garbage they turned a brilliant sci fi RPG into a miilitary shooter with RPG elements. DA:O, another great BW title should have enjoyed at least one or two more expansions, instead we got a rushed, half arsed sequel that removed almost all the great things of the original.

They've just announced they plan to do the same to Dead Space. They destroyed Westwood, Pandemic and BioWare (reputation at least) because they let shareholders design games. Stop it EA, this is why you're hated. Let the game's developers, new blood and old hands alike come up with ideas. Let them get creative like Valve does. Let them create the games we want to play instead of slapping multiplayer onto everything. Let them polish said games till they shine and you will have our thanks, our money and maybe even our goodwill again.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Also, forgot to mention, Online Passes, Day 1 DLC, removing sh*t from Steam to try and push your Origin spyware onto people's hard drives. Too many reasons for the hate.

Why did you bother releasing Syndicate, while we have this one-way dialogue? Instead of reimagining/reinventing the original, brilliant, inventive 4 character, tactical combat with upgradeable agents, possibly working in 4-player coop into a game it would have worked brilliantly in, you made a bland, unoriginal, unimaginative FPS. You have these wonderful IPs and you drag through the mud, almost intentionally.

 

[Apollo45]

snip

It is the business model for ALL services, and entertainment has always been a service before it was a product. Services doesn't allow for refunds.

A ticket is a ticket.

Games used to be sold by ticket form in the arcade, but changed as the experience of the "Home system" became indistinguishable from the that of the arcade and cheaper long term. With the internet gaming became an even more of a "personal" (individual expression) thing and going back to Ticket system became impossible.

And therefore it stopped becoming a service. We're buying the games, not access to the games like we did when arcades were popular. I'm sure if an arcade were to purchase a defective game system they would be able to return it, and it should be the same way for other consumers since we're the ones buying the actual games now. Hell, even if it could still be considered a service, I can elect to not pay for my service at a restaurant if I was served something absolutely disgusting, or get my money back at a theater if the projector breaks. When Blizzard's servers shut down, however, I'm shit outta luck despite doing nothing wrong on my end. When Origin is down, or if their games are glitched beyond playability, I can't play them despite having paid for that "service". In any other service industry I would be entitled - yes, entitled - to a full refund. In this one? The company laughs at you and continues on their merry way, and if i have the gall to complain about it I get called childish by both the media and other more "mature" consumers.

Like I said, it's absolutely ridiculous on so many levels. Doesn't matter if it's a product or a service (it's a product for the most part, with elements of a service at times, but I'm still purchasing a product with the intent of using said product for my personal entertainment), either way there are major issues with the standard business model that need to be addressed.

 

[Suncatcher]

First I'd like to say that I have no issue with companies making money. DLCs aren't robbing you once you've bought something, they're changing what the product is and offering you more if you want it. But a lot of what they've done isn't just annoying, it's clearly unprofitable. How many sales did they lose by switching their games to Origin instead of putting them on Steam, just because they hate sharing? How many customers do they lose by taking the brilliant original properties they own, all with built-in fanbases, and turning them into idiotic FPS clones? How much do they have to spend on PR just to slightly mitigate one of their DRM failures?

Yes, EA is a corporation. But unlike Valve, CDProjekt, and the hundreds of other game companies that have never been voted worst in america, they're just a corporation, and not a very smart one at that. They aren't artists trying to make some money, they're just trying to maximize profits. They don't raise goodwill and grow a loyal customer base like google or other highly profitable "good" companies, they just squeeze for every penny they can at every moment with no thought for the future. And along the way they've completely destroyed smaller companies that were making good games.

I used to love Bioware games, but I strongly suspect that ME3 is the last good thing they'll ever make and even that was filled with executive meddling. And now that the last EA series I've played is over (and it is over. Yes, they'll keep trying to exploit the name, but the story is done), I'm free to never give them money again and watch them continue their death spiral.

 

[Jason Luu]

I just hate EA because they're fucking hypocrites, they keep saying that games need to be cheaper then go and charge people ridiculous amounts of money for a product that to me is rarely worth the cost, and they wonder why piracy is a problem.

Also I'd like a gravity rush shirt.
and also Jim Sterling is one sexy beast.

 

[fireaura08]

I'm just going to say a few names:

Bullfrog
Pandemic
Westwood
......
Bioware

That is all.

*bursts into tears*
Command and Conquer was my childhood, and EA shat all over it back in 2010. At least CnC3/KW was pretty good.