I think it's appropriate to begin this thread with 2012/2013 and EA being voted "Americas Worst Company" twice in a row, this all revolves around several lacklustre moves, from the Mass Effect 3 ending, to the mediocrity of MOH: Warfighter and the Zynga-fication of the beloved Dungeon Keeper IP.
EA was not perceived as a pioneer of entertainment and didn't adhere to the 'Arts' aspect of it's name at all, its games seemed primarily designed with a cash-first consumer-maybe priority, nearly every company seeks to make money, but EA was managed to the point that what emanated from their output was a blatant disregard for quality.
It's developers were desperately scrambling around either rushed or catering to the wrong audiences, Bioware and it's approach to DA2, SWTOR and ME3 come to mind, the erasure of horror in exchange for a blockbuster action approach in Dead Space 3 come to mind, and sacred old IP's kept coming back as Frankenstein's monsters like SimCity 2013, C&C Tiberium Alliances, Dungeon Keeper. The onslaught of negative PR from poor development and poor business decisions eventually ended in a mass condemning of EA and the departure of John Riccitiello as CEO.
Do I think they were the "worst company in America"?...no, I would probably give that to a thousand other banking and airline companies. But were they a healthy presence to the industry? I have to echo what everyone else was saying and state that they were no at allt, EA became the personification of every possible gaming sin, excessive microtransactions and DLC, online passes, excessive DRM, uninspired annualised sequels, bastardized IP's etc. etc.
But since then, and since Andrew Wilson's tenure as CEO, have they become better? Here's a quote from Wilson regarding their 'victory' in the worst company contest
Have figures such as Peter Moore, Andrew Wilson, and the developers at EA listened to the consumers? Bioware saw a recent boost of confidence from critics and consumers alike with Dragon Age Inquisition, voted GOTY from several institutions and seen as a return to form for Bioware in terms of having an engaging combat system an immersive world, and likeable characters, my personal opinion is it's still lacking a bit of that polish that makes games like The Witcher 3 a master class, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
Titanfall was released and by all regards, it was commercially safe (A shooter from the former Infinity Ward devs was bound to do well) but it made several quite significant gameplay changes to the standard FPS formula that went on to influence and freshen the massively stagnating franchises it was competing with. Unravel was also given a massive amount of coverage for a game of it's stature at E3 2015, and very much serve as some evidence that EA are willing to risk financing more creatively rich games. PvZ Garden Warfare 2 saw Popcap turn a very simple and shallow mobile IP into an engaging fun and dynamic experience worthy of purchase. And EA's online offerings have seen an improvement as well, EA Access/Origin Access (and for that matter, Origin itself) have been seen as being value for money and a win/win for both consumers and EA.
It's not all improvements though, Maxis and The Sims seem to have taken a bit of a rough turn, with the Maxis Emeryville closure and the lukewarm reception to The Sims 4's lack of content, however fan consensus seems to be that The Sims 4 has made several leaps in improvement since it's release it still hasn't gathered the "love" the other games have. Star Wars Battlefront was a top notch effort in capturing a Star Wars-y game from sound design and aesthetics but massively stripped in any sort of depth or engaging mechanics that irreversibly damaged the final product. Need for Speed 2015 as well, whilst looking gorgeous, was lacking any sort of depth that keeps a player engaged. A 4vs1 game called Shadow Realms was quietly cancelled and shoved to the side (shortly followed by a similar game, Fable Legends)
But in the future? An actual sequel to Mirrors Edge that oozes style (Mirrors Edge in itself is a positive indicator of where EA can go) a WW1 Battlefield game that seems to be killing it in terms of PR, another installment of Unravel, and a potential redemption for Bioware. So I take this to you GAF, have EA improved in your eyes? Or are they still the ultimate evil of the industry?
EA was not perceived as a pioneer of entertainment and didn't adhere to the 'Arts' aspect of it's name at all, its games seemed primarily designed with a cash-first consumer-maybe priority, nearly every company seeks to make money, but EA was managed to the point that what emanated from their output was a blatant disregard for quality.
It's developers were desperately scrambling around either rushed or catering to the wrong audiences, Bioware and it's approach to DA2, SWTOR and ME3 come to mind, the erasure of horror in exchange for a blockbuster action approach in Dead Space 3 come to mind, and sacred old IP's kept coming back as Frankenstein's monsters like SimCity 2013, C&C Tiberium Alliances, Dungeon Keeper. The onslaught of negative PR from poor development and poor business decisions eventually ended in a mass condemning of EA and the departure of John Riccitiello as CEO.
Do I think they were the "worst company in America"?...no, I would probably give that to a thousand other banking and airline companies. But were they a healthy presence to the industry? I have to echo what everyone else was saying and state that they were no at allt, EA became the personification of every possible gaming sin, excessive microtransactions and DLC, online passes, excessive DRM, uninspired annualised sequels, bastardized IP's etc. etc.
But since then, and since Andrew Wilson's tenure as CEO, have they become better? Here's a quote from Wilson regarding their 'victory' in the worst company contest
Have figures such as Peter Moore, Andrew Wilson, and the developers at EA listened to the consumers? Bioware saw a recent boost of confidence from critics and consumers alike with Dragon Age Inquisition, voted GOTY from several institutions and seen as a return to form for Bioware in terms of having an engaging combat system an immersive world, and likeable characters, my personal opinion is it's still lacking a bit of that polish that makes games like The Witcher 3 a master class, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
Titanfall was released and by all regards, it was commercially safe (A shooter from the former Infinity Ward devs was bound to do well) but it made several quite significant gameplay changes to the standard FPS formula that went on to influence and freshen the massively stagnating franchises it was competing with. Unravel was also given a massive amount of coverage for a game of it's stature at E3 2015, and very much serve as some evidence that EA are willing to risk financing more creatively rich games. PvZ Garden Warfare 2 saw Popcap turn a very simple and shallow mobile IP into an engaging fun and dynamic experience worthy of purchase. And EA's online offerings have seen an improvement as well, EA Access/Origin Access (and for that matter, Origin itself) have been seen as being value for money and a win/win for both consumers and EA.
It's not all improvements though, Maxis and The Sims seem to have taken a bit of a rough turn, with the Maxis Emeryville closure and the lukewarm reception to The Sims 4's lack of content, however fan consensus seems to be that The Sims 4 has made several leaps in improvement since it's release it still hasn't gathered the "love" the other games have. Star Wars Battlefront was a top notch effort in capturing a Star Wars-y game from sound design and aesthetics but massively stripped in any sort of depth or engaging mechanics that irreversibly damaged the final product. Need for Speed 2015 as well, whilst looking gorgeous, was lacking any sort of depth that keeps a player engaged. A 4vs1 game called Shadow Realms was quietly cancelled and shoved to the side (shortly followed by a similar game, Fable Legends)
But in the future? An actual sequel to Mirrors Edge that oozes style (Mirrors Edge in itself is a positive indicator of where EA can go) a WW1 Battlefield game that seems to be killing it in terms of PR, another installment of Unravel, and a potential redemption for Bioware. So I take this to you GAF, have EA improved in your eyes? Or are they still the ultimate evil of the industry?
