Electronic Arts

Mostly PC, but console and mobile too
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Psychopath defends EA.
To produce a high quality game it takes tens of millions of dollars, and when you add in marketing that can get up to 100+ million.

Wrong. Just fucking wrong on every single level that matters. I can Google and rattle off a list of a thousand games that would be labeled "quality" that cost under $1M.

Another factor to consider is the fact that many game development studios are in places like the San Francisco bay area, where the cost of living is extraordinarily high.

Because no other programmers live anywhere else in the world and game development can only be done in the the most expensive cities.

I’m going to come right out and say it. I’m tired of EA being seen as “the bad guy.” I think it’s bullshit that EA has the “scumbag EA” memes on Reddit and that Good Guy Valve can Do No Wrong.

You're pissed that EA's got a bad rep or that Valve has a good one? Which is it? Is it Valve's fault that EA's biz decisions and PR surrounding them make Valve look positively genius by comparison?

If you don’t like EA, don’t buy their games. If you don’t like their microtransactions, don’t spend money on them. It’s that simple. EA has many smart people working for them (Hi, Frank, JR, and Patrick!) and they wouldn’t attempt these things if they didn’t work. Turns out, they do. I assure you there are teams of analysts studying the numbers behind consumer behavior over there that are studying how you, the gamer, spends his hard earned cash.

So if microtransactions let other people twink in a competitive multiplayer environment and I take offense to that, your response is, "Go fuck yourself and play another game." Do you let people get an extra card in draw poker if they chip in another $10 to the pot? Once you start letting cash compensate for skill, you turn off lots of players that jump in the game world specifically to test their skill, not their fucking credit limit.

No one seemed too upset at Blizzard when you could buy a pet in World of Warcraft – a game that you had to buy that was charging a monthly fee. (How dare console games have steady cycles of buyable DLC!)

This analogy isn't even in the fucking ballpark. WoW is a MMOG. It's hard to prevent "cash for twinks" when your in-game currency has exchange rates comparable to real, physical bank notes from actual countries. Shit like Madden NFL 20XX doesn't need "pay $5 to access the premium teams" feature.

People like to act like we should go back to “the good ol’ days” before microtransactions but they forget that arcades were the original change munchers. Those games were designed to make you lose so that you had to keep spending money on them. Ask any of the old Midway vets about their design techniques. The second to last boss in Mortal Kombat 2 was harder than the last boss, because when you see the last boss that’s sometimes enough for a gamer.

When I talk about nostalgia for the "good ol' days," the act of pumping quarters into a machine is not included. My living room != video arcade.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

I completely disagree with him.

EA has publicly shit on their consumers. That doesn't merit "don't buy their stuff". They are getting the reputation and treatment they deserve. Their products are shit, they pulled their games off Steam because (in their own words) they feel like people should always pay full price, and they want to add more squeeze to those games with microtransactions, which destroy competitive nature in games.

Not to mention all the great companies and franchises they've run into the ground.

Fuck EA.
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Post by Trooper »

Not to mention all the great companies and franchises they've run into the ground.


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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

Yes, I even chimed in on PC Gamer's facebook post about it. Said EA doesn't care, they already got suckers to buy the game and any work done at this point cuts into their profits.

And Valve is funny.
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Post by Leisher »

I'm going to buy a game tonight just to show my appreciate for Valve's sense of humor and gift to their customers.
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Post by Leisher »

EA is backpedaling on microtransactions.

I think it would be impossible to argue that any game company is run worse than EA.
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Post by GORDON »

Leisher wrote:EA is backpedaling on microtransactions.

I think it would be impossible to argue that any game company is run worse than EA.
CFO Blake Jorgensen shared that original statement during the Morgan Stanley Technology conference last week, but he’s now used another conference—the Wedbush Transformational Technology conference—to redact that statement.


And their CFO can't understand at all why customers wouldn't like EA doing anything and everything possible to give the customers less product for more money. It just doesn't compute in his world.

As I have said before, as soon as the accountants get in charge of an entertainment company, the company is fucked. EA has the C fucking FO making business announcements. The accountants are definitely in charge.

But hey Madden 2013, yo.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

But hey Madden 2013, yo.


The sports genre is what tricked EA into becoming the company they are today.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

EA may repeat as Worst Company in America.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
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Post by GORDON »

Malcolm wrote:EA may repeat as Worst Company in America.
EA CEO is a real prick. He spends his press release whining about the things he says the company gets blamed for but doesn't, ignoring the real issues people have with EA.
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TPRJones
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Post by TPRJones »

"The complaints against us last year were our support of SOPA (not true), and that they didn't like the ending to Mass Effect 3."

Is this a pathetic attempt at spin, or does he really not understand why EA is so universally loathed?




Edited By TPRJones on 1365428604
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Post by Leisher »

That's a great question TPR.

Is he this incompetent or are they trying to spin things for investors?
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

PA Report weighs in.
Can you remember the last EA title that you truly loved? Can you remember the last interview you read about that game where a developer was allowed to explain their passion for the game? Bonus points will be awarded if it wasn't a Bioware-developed game.

EA has become a company that releases mediocre products created by faceless teams.




Edited By Malcolm on 1365442796
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

And there was much rejoicing!!!!!

I'm sure the board members at EA are livid that all the racists and homophobes voted them the worst company...
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Board members won't give a fuck until their bottom line starts suffering. Even then, they'll just cut their staff before they cut the execs costing them cash.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
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Post by Leisher »

From the article on their win:
When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row — come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?


That's fantastic.

Also, look at the bracket. Apple lost to Microsoft in round 1. Ha!
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“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row — come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?

It says, "Don't piss off consumers when they're trying to relax." All those other industries are concerned with work. EA should be concerned with recreation, although their products inspire the opposite. Bank of America might suck, but at least when they roll out a new type of checking account, I can usually get the cash I deposited within a week.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Former BioWare dude talks about BioWare before, during, after EA.
Dr. Greg Zeschuk will likely never make a video game again - that's what he told GamesIndustry International in a recent phone interview. Let that sink in for a moment.

The man who co-founded BioWare with Dr. Ray Muzyka and brought gamers numerous top RPGs like Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, and more has unfortunately lost the passion he once had for game development.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

Solitaire presented by EA:

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