What's with all the EA hate?

[zf6hellion]

Ok before we start, yes I searched for threads that asked the same question. The only answers I got were about singular posts in different threads about several other topics. The closest being one about Microsoft's own Hate-wagon.

Yes I am aware that EA are not the greatest company on the planet, I just don't understand why people act as if they are evil. Now you can go ahead and insult me or whatever for not being overly connected to everything EA does or does not do. I only ever became interested in the goings on of game companies in the past few years and have only really found so much hate for EA on the Escapist.

What I'm trying to understand is why. Sure they've pulled some screw ups - what with DRM and such but I still play quite a few of there games (Sims 2, Sims 3, Dead Space, Army of Two 1 and 2, Dragon Age: Origins and the list goes on) and generally never see much of a problem with them (Except maybe in the fact that certain saves are copy-protected which makes storing my data on flash drives from my PS3 a *****). But in overall I've always received good quality in the games that carry the EA logo. I don't end up with games like Fallout 3 that have more glitches and bugs than I've had years on this Earth or like Modern Warfare (I'm so getting flamed for this) where the hit detection is utter crap.

So anyone care to explain this to me... or berate my lack of Internet knowledge?

EDIT: Woops... thanks for pointing out ASC were from Ubisoft... I'll go sit in my corner now.

 

[JEBWrench]

They're big and successful. And for a while, were on everyone's shitlist of "Most Evil Game Company" before the rise of Emperor Kotick around Activision Way.

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

I think mainly it's the DRM thing that people still hate them for!

And assasins creed 1 an 2 were ubisoft and you surely don't need the ubi hate explained.

 

[Irridium]

Assassin's Creed is Ubisoft, not EA.

And people hate EA because they don't care that much for consumers, they are not above giving games ridiculous DRM which does nothing but punish the paying consumer (granted they have gotten better in this regard), and they push out sequel after endless sequel. And lots of people don't like their project $10 thing.

Are they the worst? Hell no, at least not anymore.
But they certainty are no saints.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

A lot of people have come to associate DRM with absolute evil-- it is the Anti-Christ of the gaming world which heralds the downfall of all that is good and free.

Personally, I think EA's games tend to be very high quality. Some of my favorite games come from EA: Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect, Dragon Age. All great stuff. But people are able to enjoy those games while still rejecting EA's DRM policies, and for some those evils outweigh the company's goods.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

Assassin's Creed is from Ubisoft. And I can't say I've seen too much EA hate for quite a while. It's all Activision hate these days, get with the program.

 

[thehorror2]

The DRM thing is pretty much THE big thing for a lot of us right now, especially we who found this site through Shamus Young's blog, where he talks about this issue a lot. The other thing is the "free" DLC meant to get us to pick up the game new, which does nothing at all for those without an internet connection on our consoles for whatever reason. (A policy that benefits the majority of your consumer base without doing ANYTHING for the not-so-minor minority is not a good policy, even if it is good business) And of course, there's the issue of killing online support for games that people still play, as they're only 2 years old.

The sad thing is, they aren't even the worst offenders in these areas. They're actually doing OK now. Most of the people giving them the most heat are the people who've always hated them.

 

[DwarfyP]

Amazing how people hate on EA for using DRM in the form of SecuROM but yet no one hates on Sony for making SecuROM.

 

[AnnaIME]

Someone once told me she had EA to thank for becoming computer literate - she never had to work so hard or learn so much in order to get her games to work before... EA "favors" the savvy user, the user who can search the forums for solutions, who can understand how to apply the solutions and who can find those necessary third party fixes.

At least if you are a PC gamer. Maybe it's different on a console?

 

[PhiMed]

Because a lot of people haven't figured out yet that Activision has replaced them as the evil empire. Now that they no longer occupy the position of playground bully, EA has actually gotten kind of adventurous. They've given a lot of original IPs a chance where they wouldn't have found one over the past 2-3 years.

 

[Vampire cat]

IDK, but for me I get pissed at EA when I play a followup game that sucked compared to the previous one cause the developers did some retarded changes instead of good ones. This doesn't mean EA had anything to do with the changes, but their big greasy name is all over it so I can't help but connect them to it!

 

[GuideBot]

They're pretty much your typical capitalist over-corp; easy to villainise. I know they're only looking out for their interests, but they're so big and powerful a publisher that they can appear to have unreasonable influence. Also, in the past, their interests have clashed with mine, leaving me feeling powerless.

They've also built up a reputation for stymying developers creativity by enforcing strict release dates and demanding they stick to an established formula, which often makes a series feel stale. Again, there are good reasons for this, but since they are so large a publisher, they're often the target of developer-creativity based arguments.

Once a publisher gets to a certain size, they're pretty much obliged to draw negative opinion; just look at blizzard. Who'd have thought that harmless old blizzard (remember the days of diablo?) would become the giant it is today, open to much bashing every time they develop contentious policies (e.g. with WOW).

 

[Kinguendo]

I havent liked EA for a while now... In fact the last time I remember liking them was when they actually referred to themselves as Electronic Arts.

And yeah, Activision has become a real pain in the grapes too.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I don't know why other people hate them, but I hate them for their awful movie games. Oh, and the Sims, that too.

 

[GuideBot]

Oh. It's well worth mentioning their incredibly irritating adverts. While catchy from an advertising perspective (who could forget 'EA Sports: It's in the game!' or 'EA Games - Challenge Everything!') they're pretty much universally annoying.

 

[Catalyst6]

It's almost entirely the DRM. I don't really understand why so many people hate on the DRM, after all, it is an attempt to stop piracy and doesn't really impede much. Yes, you probably can't install the game a million billion times and perhaps you won't be able to play it in twenty years, but by then we'll be on holodecks and no one will care.

Although it is fairly futile, after all I am convinced that if you want shit done then you hire a pirate. They can crack *anything* in no time at all.

 

[Oktanas]

1) Firing entire studio (pandemic)
2) They release the same game over and over (maden, NFS, NBA)
3) They making way to much expansions for stuff what supose to be in original game. (your sims)
4) Theyr games are repetitive. (assassins creed, all sports, NFS, sims, sabatuer)

 

[oppp7]

I think it's that there's not much a company can do to make themselves look better in the eyes of consumers while they can make themselves look bad a lot more often. DRM and such will always lower a companies reputation to people, as will other such things that negatively affect consumers. But what can they do to undo this hate? They could remove the DRM but then people would say that they were just trying to cover their mistake. If they donate to charity "it's for PR." If they do anything it's always going to be thought of as a way to get on the consumer's good side, while anything otherwise is the "actual" company's actions, not some fake image for public relations.

 

[zf6hellion]

1) Firing entire studio (pandemic)
2) They release the same game over and over (maden, NFS, NBA)
3) They making way to much expansions for stuff what supose to be in original game. (your sims)
4) Theyr games are repetitive. (assassins creed, all sports, NFS, sims, sabatuer)

Well I can't disagree with no. 1 as that is a concrete reason to dislike something. But Nintendo do the exact same thing as EA considering Madden, NFS and NBA (Only it's with Zelda, Mario etc. ). In the case of 3 your pretty much right if your only talking about Sims 3, but they release quite a lot of stuff for it to download which is free and there is the option to make your own stuff within the game. As for four... any game can become repetitive over time, it has nothing to do with just EA - it's just games in general (At least that's my opinion)

In any case most people are pointing to the DRM and the fact that EA are a gigantic corporation so I guess I'm understanding this a bit more now, but I think I'll be following the hints and joining the Activision Hate-wagon...

 

[Oktanas]

1) Firing entire studio (pandemic)
2) They release the same game over and over (maden, NFS, NBA)
3) They making way to much expansions for stuff what supose to be in original game. (your sims)
4) Theyr games are repetitive. (assassins creed, all sports, NFS, sims, sabatuer)

Well I can't disagree with no. 1 as that is a concrete reason to dislike something. But Nintendo do the exact same thing as EA considering Madden, NFS and NBA (Only it's with Zelda, Mario etc. ). In the case of 3 your pretty much right if your only talking about Sims 3, but they release quite a lot of stuff for it to download which is free and there is the option to make your own stuff within the game. As for four... any game can become repetitive over time, it has nothing to do with just EA - it's just games in general (At least that's my opinion)

In any case most people are pointing to the DRM and the fact that EA are a gigantic corporation so I guess I'm understanding this a bit more now, but I think I'll be following the hints and joining the Activision Hate-wagon...

Even I don't like EA I totaly HATE NINTENDO I don't buy nintendos games at all. I never played zelda and I only prefer the first mario because I got it free.