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How EA stopped being the worst company in America
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
DoktorEvil
Banned
Which makes it even more weird that EA didn't make any personnel change but decided to have executives act as a call center to gain perspective on the consumer issues.
Wouldn't they have an idea that shit wasn't going right as a publisher by the lack of game sales and bad word of mouth PR?
And yet it was voted one in what was a meaningless online poll. Do you think companies that actually destroy peoples' lives give a shit?
The vote probably hit the company that would actually take it most seriously out of the front runners (partially due to the somehow isolated video games industry and the internet echo chamber).
The fact that the 'changes' the vote inspired are about a quarter of what EA would need for me to like them again is another matter.
ActuallyHulk
Banned
For me they've only stopped being the worst game company in the sense that certain other AAA pubs are competing with them for the title.
I honestly think EA has been great these days. EA Access, taking risks like PvZ Garden Warfare, free MP DLC strategy on games like PvZ GW and DAI, delaying games when they weren't working well, like NBA Live, etc. They are FAR from the worst publisher out there lately. I'd say they're one of the best, actually.
deltacanuckian
Member
This is what people should be taking away from this article rather than the constant stream of cynicism that I'm reading. Sure, EA still has a long way to go to become "good guys" in the industry. It's just nice to know that they got the message at least.
They ran out of studios to kill for now.
But as many have pointed out there are worse companies that deserve more hate than EA. EA is simply the worst video game company.
I mean I don't think EA ever deserved the "worst company in America" reward (whatever that means) but it doesn't seem to me that much has changed with them recently (I admit to them not making a lot of products that appeal to me). On the consumer front, can people say how EAs has improved?
Ploid 3.0
Member
There are some people that will never forgive whatever EA did to them(?). Then those people will influence their friends or people that look to them for gaming advice to not like EA.
RipperGrim
Member
They aren't even the worst game company, go look up King, the people behind candy crush or Konami a company so vindictive against it's own employees it goes out of their way to erase evidence they worked there. Warner Bros is charging $40 for a Batman season pass and have enough pre-order dlc bullshit to make a table chart worthy of Watchdogs.
They aren't the best but they are sure as hell aren't the worst game company either nowadays.
They aren't the best but they are sure as hell aren't the worst game company either nowadays.
Imperfected
Member
Keep in mind that at the executive level it's very easy to adopt a tribal attitude and try to pass the buck when it comes to who's to blame for poor performance of a product.
Was the game rushed to meet the scheduling needs, and that's why it was bad? Was the game bad because it was poorly made, and would've been bad anyway? Were the advertising campaigns ineffective? Did it have a bad spot in the release schedule alongside a major competitor, or in a poor sales season, when it shouldn't have?
There are a lot of things you can blame, and executives have the luxury of finding the thing they aren't personally responsible for to try and pin it on, up until the point that you actually force them to be directly accountable for the state of the product front to back.
DannyDanger
Member
Transform a basketball court into a conference room?!?
EA is the worst company in the world after all !
EA is the worst company in the world after all !
Darth Smurf X
Member
I posted this a LONG time ago on GameFAQs, but I'd like to see people's opinions here:
Which Company Spit on Fans More in 2014?
So, this (er... last) year, there have been several contenders for worst video game company. EA, usually the crowd favorite, seems to have backed off from kicking us in the groin this year to allow other companies to rise in prominence. Let's take a look at each one to see why they deserve your snide internet remarks. Please forgive me if I miss some of their top achievements (there are a lot I'm sure I'll forget while typing), but make sure you list them in the comments.
EA:
• Usually the front runner, having won Worst Company in America awards consecutive years, did some surprisingly pro-consumer things in 2014 including EA Access, 3 free games at PSX and more.
• But they have now placed their game demos behind a paywall.
Ubisoft:
• Watch_Dogs graphics were purposely gimped, especially for PC.
• AC: Parity and the Faceless Man
• AC: No Girls Allowed
• Far Cry 4 PS4 patch actually removed graphic effects
• Review Embargo 7: The Crew
Square Enix:
• Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusive/timed-exclusive/but yeah console exclusive to Xbox debacle
• FF7: Now with 1997 graphics
Activision:
• Did they ruin Destiny?
• Call of Duty: Download Failed
Here were the results:
Which Company Spit on Fans More in 2014?
So, this (er... last) year, there have been several contenders for worst video game company. EA, usually the crowd favorite, seems to have backed off from kicking us in the groin this year to allow other companies to rise in prominence. Let's take a look at each one to see why they deserve your snide internet remarks. Please forgive me if I miss some of their top achievements (there are a lot I'm sure I'll forget while typing), but make sure you list them in the comments.
EA:
• Usually the front runner, having won Worst Company in America awards consecutive years, did some surprisingly pro-consumer things in 2014 including EA Access, 3 free games at PSX and more.
• But they have now placed their game demos behind a paywall.
Ubisoft:
• Watch_Dogs graphics were purposely gimped, especially for PC.
• AC: Parity and the Faceless Man
• AC: No Girls Allowed
• Far Cry 4 PS4 patch actually removed graphic effects
• Review Embargo 7: The Crew
Square Enix:
• Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusive/timed-exclusive/but yeah console exclusive to Xbox debacle
• FF7: Now with 1997 graphics
Activision:
• Did they ruin Destiny?
• Call of Duty: Download Failed
Here were the results:
Yeah..what changed? Ha ha.
They're still perfectly content with charging £40+ for Fifa every year, which to me, seems like content that could easily be delivered in an update or dlc, and even with the dlc approach, it would be hard to justify imo if they actually added anything (Not that I care about sports games, so doesnt affect me, but its a bad example to me)
Sadly most people are happy to keep paying for it, though I don't understand why. I don't see whats been added or improved.
What did affect me was Mass Effect and Dead Space (And possibly Battlefront depending on how that goes). Mass Effect, still full price for dlc on the PC, never think I've seen a sale. That's stopped me from buying it on PC. Same story for the trilogy, dlc not included and it feels pretty significant. Dead Space, EA tried to change it, in DS2 adding more shitty dlc and in DS3, change the actual game atmosphere to make it appeal to more people, which only ended up killing it (I hope it comes back though...). Star Wars I just fear it will be a dlc fest and it sounds like it will be low on content on launch...
EDIT: To answer above... Feels unfair to list AC twice for Ubisoft. The no female characters seemed a harsh backlash too. They did add aveline for AC:Liberation, so they proved they clearly werent against the idea for that. AC Unity itself though for gimping PS4 performance to "avoid debates" and how it launched, and the dlc madness... That and a lot of things Ubisoft have definitely moved up in the list for terrible game companies. Maybe number 1, but maybe I'm being bias as I'd say more of Ubisoft games appeal to me more than EA's, so I don't really care for the most part what EA do, as long as it doesnt really affect the games I mentioned above and possible future titles that I do like, ha ha.
EA have felt "nicer" recently, but not "nice" by any means it feels. Nicest thing they did I can recall were the free games from PSX, that was pretty cool of them indeed, however.... Hardline offering the "full package" for £109+ was just totally insane, EA Access, maybe it is good, but it seems worse for me as it's a justification to move away from PS+ I feel...and I like PS+.(That and demos being locked behind it too it seems)
Square Enix.. I've felt they've got a lot better actually. It feels their focuses are on pushing out console/PC games that people have been wanting (And communicating on said games have been much better in more recent times). Seems they're just always announcing games that are actually appealing to me more and more lately and SE seem pretty good when it comes to releasing full experiences and not locking content away for pre-orders or to sell later as dlc or whatever. Only bad things SE have done have been things from quite a while ago...like the TWEWY 2 teaser... No type 0 on Vita could be another thing, but honestly I was just happy to just have it, and at least Vita can play it via remote play I suppose. The FF7 announcement...I don't even know with that. Did they want to be troll-y? I can't comprehend them thinking people would be happy after teasing it like that. Tomb Raider... I don't feel its such a big deal personally. It seems it is coming to other platforms, just MS have it for an exclusive period from what I understand. I think MS were more shitty in this regard actually for vaguely putting forward the statement that made it unclear whether it was exclusive to the X1 full stop, or exclusive for the X1 for winter. SE were just bound by the agreement I suppose. You could argue they could have refused the deal and just went multi-platform day 1, but if MS's money will help make the game better for all, then I'm fine with it.
Activision...they've somehow felt better too recently.... Just seems they havent tried to be as scummy as much, but maybe I've fell for their trap, ha ha. Destiny I would think it's bungie's fault, as I can't see why activision would think a repetitive game like destiny would win the hearts of mass gamers, so I can't really think activision were behind that "change" if it was changed. Worst thing I can think of them doing lately is Guitar Hero stuff. You need to rebuy all your songs again if you had any and you need all new accessories just because (despite it seeming the gameplay doesnt really seem changed, just the colour of buttons...), while rock band on the other hand seems to be loyal to it's older fans and keep compatibility with old dlc and accessories.
So I would think Ubisoft is probably easily number 1 for me atm, EA number 2, Activision number 3, and SE number 4, though I can think of worse to go above SE, Microsoft (Or more specifically 343i), for the MCC mess. MS made up for it I guess with the ODST and free gold I suppose, and I do like 343i making MCC and even if I know how it would launch, I still definitely would have wanted them to make MCC, but MS have seemed bad in a few other ways too, like that stupid annoying parity clause, which they are still trying to make like it's no big deal and it's not a problem if devs talk to them, which isn't good enough to me. I don't care as I'll be on PS4 anyway, but I just feel sorry for X1 only owners missing out on perhaps great indie games due to MS pushing them away with that clause.
They're still perfectly content with charging £40+ for Fifa every year, which to me, seems like content that could easily be delivered in an update or dlc, and even with the dlc approach, it would be hard to justify imo if they actually added anything (Not that I care about sports games, so doesnt affect me, but its a bad example to me)
Sadly most people are happy to keep paying for it, though I don't understand why. I don't see whats been added or improved.
What did affect me was Mass Effect and Dead Space (And possibly Battlefront depending on how that goes). Mass Effect, still full price for dlc on the PC, never think I've seen a sale. That's stopped me from buying it on PC. Same story for the trilogy, dlc not included and it feels pretty significant. Dead Space, EA tried to change it, in DS2 adding more shitty dlc and in DS3, change the actual game atmosphere to make it appeal to more people, which only ended up killing it (I hope it comes back though...). Star Wars I just fear it will be a dlc fest and it sounds like it will be low on content on launch...
EDIT: To answer above... Feels unfair to list AC twice for Ubisoft. The no female characters seemed a harsh backlash too. They did add aveline for AC:Liberation, so they proved they clearly werent against the idea for that. AC Unity itself though for gimping PS4 performance to "avoid debates" and how it launched, and the dlc madness... That and a lot of things Ubisoft have definitely moved up in the list for terrible game companies. Maybe number 1, but maybe I'm being bias as I'd say more of Ubisoft games appeal to me more than EA's, so I don't really care for the most part what EA do, as long as it doesnt really affect the games I mentioned above and possible future titles that I do like, ha ha.
EA have felt "nicer" recently, but not "nice" by any means it feels. Nicest thing they did I can recall were the free games from PSX, that was pretty cool of them indeed, however.... Hardline offering the "full package" for £109+ was just totally insane, EA Access, maybe it is good, but it seems worse for me as it's a justification to move away from PS+ I feel...and I like PS+.(That and demos being locked behind it too it seems)
Square Enix.. I've felt they've got a lot better actually. It feels their focuses are on pushing out console/PC games that people have been wanting (And communicating on said games have been much better in more recent times). Seems they're just always announcing games that are actually appealing to me more and more lately and SE seem pretty good when it comes to releasing full experiences and not locking content away for pre-orders or to sell later as dlc or whatever. Only bad things SE have done have been things from quite a while ago...like the TWEWY 2 teaser... No type 0 on Vita could be another thing, but honestly I was just happy to just have it, and at least Vita can play it via remote play I suppose. The FF7 announcement...I don't even know with that. Did they want to be troll-y? I can't comprehend them thinking people would be happy after teasing it like that. Tomb Raider... I don't feel its such a big deal personally. It seems it is coming to other platforms, just MS have it for an exclusive period from what I understand. I think MS were more shitty in this regard actually for vaguely putting forward the statement that made it unclear whether it was exclusive to the X1 full stop, or exclusive for the X1 for winter. SE were just bound by the agreement I suppose. You could argue they could have refused the deal and just went multi-platform day 1, but if MS's money will help make the game better for all, then I'm fine with it.
Activision...they've somehow felt better too recently.... Just seems they havent tried to be as scummy as much, but maybe I've fell for their trap, ha ha. Destiny I would think it's bungie's fault, as I can't see why activision would think a repetitive game like destiny would win the hearts of mass gamers, so I can't really think activision were behind that "change" if it was changed. Worst thing I can think of them doing lately is Guitar Hero stuff. You need to rebuy all your songs again if you had any and you need all new accessories just because (despite it seeming the gameplay doesnt really seem changed, just the colour of buttons...), while rock band on the other hand seems to be loyal to it's older fans and keep compatibility with old dlc and accessories.
So I would think Ubisoft is probably easily number 1 for me atm, EA number 2, Activision number 3, and SE number 4, though I can think of worse to go above SE, Microsoft (Or more specifically 343i), for the MCC mess. MS made up for it I guess with the ODST and free gold I suppose, and I do like 343i making MCC and even if I know how it would launch, I still definitely would have wanted them to make MCC, but MS have seemed bad in a few other ways too, like that stupid annoying parity clause, which they are still trying to make like it's no big deal and it's not a problem if devs talk to them, which isn't good enough to me. I don't care as I'll be on PS4 anyway, but I just feel sorry for X1 only owners missing out on perhaps great indie games due to MS pushing them away with that clause.
The bolded is the important part for me. The way they handled Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition from a suit standpoint was night and day. Inquisition got as much time in delays as DA2 had start to finish.
Chaos2Frozen
Member
I was thinking the same thing, until I remembered Konami is Japanese.
I guess sometimes it takes a larger public outcry, but still, not all will listen to their customers anyway. I think this was one of the very few times a company has even made a statement on winning this award and then discussing what they're doing to try to change.
The cynical person in me still says that this is thinly veiled PR but the optimist in me wants to believe they are trying to do something. I remember the last EA CEO talking about EA after he left and that the company culture is very toxic and that he wanted to try to change much of it. He couldn't and he probably fell into it himself during his time there.
Pathfinder
Member
No mention of Capcom and their exclusive Street Fighter V?
Very curious list indeed...
Wow, it's weird to think that people at EA actually took that award seriously, but completely ignored all of the other feedback their customers have been giving them for years, who themselves mostly just saw the award as a joke anyway.
You don't need 146 people to figure out why people dislike EA. Just Google "Why EA sucks" and you'll get plenty of relevant information.
You don't need 146 people to figure out why people dislike EA. Just Google "Why EA sucks" and you'll get plenty of relevant information.
Darth Smurf X
Member
At the time I made this list, it was a common assumption that Capcom needed Sony's funding in order for Street Fighter V to even exist. So... not really a spitting on fans offense.
Pathfinder
Member
Ahh, gotcha.
Yeah EA is still a pile of hot garbage, but now it looks like other publishers saw what EA was doing and decided to do that as well. So EA looks slightly better in comparison only because they are now just one turd in a pile of turds.
Also I love how hung up people seem to get everytime about the "Worst Company in America" thing.
Flame Lord
Member
Probably would have won again if it weren't for the fact that they started having voting in the middle of the day out of the blue, and it ended in like an hour.
Pathfinder
Member
Yeah, they're pretty much locked for this award for 2015...
Arkam
Member
As someone who worked for EA for years.... Nothing.
To be fair I always liked working at EA. IMO the public is a bit unfair to them...though they have made a few major FUBARs over the years
I'm amused by how salty and bent out of shape people get every year over what amounts to a completely unscientific joke poll on the Internet.
That's just like your opinion, man.
I have to set time aside to read the whole article, but from the summary it's not clear what's changed and what EA did that turned things around. All this arguing about whether or not they really are "the worst"... Who cares? What the hell did they do differently last year? It sounds like the argument is " well, we made a bunch of money, therefore we solved all our PR issues."
They destroyed my favorite companies from the 90s and shit all over a friend who used to work at EA Chicago...a profitable year means jack shit to me.
fabricated backlash
Member
What would you call a company that sells broken products and then refuses to live up to their legal obligation to provide me with a working one (note physical products, not digital)
Being called a thief and a pirate by the customer service was just the cherry on top of the shit cake.
To me they are scammers nothing more.
Gentleman Jack
Member
****of any EA executives.
Yeah the same feeling I have, EA havent improved, other publishers have just got as bad as them (cant blame them when they see the money EA is making)
Theres very little out there that EA has done since that award that I would say theyve made net improvements - nothing like that article attempts to portray...
ps3ud0 8)
StrongBlackVine
Banned
Not even close.
What did they do exactly?
There was a time when Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Burnout Paradise, and Dragon Age: Origins released within the space of two years. Remember that? That was EA at its finest.
I don't feel as though EA have reached that same level of success yet, nor is it in the pipeline. But I'm willing to give them a chance. E3 might go some way to convincing me.
I don't feel as though EA have reached that same level of success yet, nor is it in the pipeline. But I'm willing to give them a chance. E3 might go some way to convincing me.
You don't see how making games I don't like is more egregious than say running a fundamentalist Christian mercenary company, or spilling oil into the ocean, or providing harsh working conditions without proper heating and air conditioning for minimum wage workers?
These internet polls are polls of whiny self-centered internet babies.