They are hated because they have some sort of immense hard-on for DRM, to the point where they had to get sued to stop installing what essentially amounted to a damn piece of spyware on your computer that would delete your files if you did something wrong. That, and as people have already said, they flog an IP until every last drop of blood is milked from its body, then they start to suck the marrow from its bones with spin-offs and expansion packs. They're like the Sonic Team turned into an entire company. Seriously, there's an entire division of the company devoted solely to the Sims.
As for the people arguing that they do make good games: Yes, they have made one or two good games recently. but really, it's more like they bought smaller developers that were making good games and slapped their label on top of it.
Plus, EA Sports is jsut ridiculous. I have Madden 01 for the PS2. I played Madden 09 for the PS3 recently. I didn't see any goddamn difference. 8 games, and all they do is update team rosters and add a feature or two every 3 games or so. Things they could do with patches just as easily. But then they couldn't charge you through the nose for it.
As for the people arguing that they do make good games: Yes, they have made one or two good games recently. but really, it's more like they bought smaller developers that were making good games and slapped their label on top of it.
Plus, EA Sports is jsut ridiculous. I have Madden 01 for the PS2. I played Madden 09 for the PS3 recently. I didn't see any goddamn difference. 8 games, and all they do is update team rosters and add a feature or two every 3 games or so. Things they could do with patches just as easily. But then they couldn't charge you through the nose for it.