gaming Is EA the worst gaming company?

[Chacobos 160]

The only thing I will give EA is at least it doesn't shove the same garbage down every gamers throat where as Activision doesn't mind shoving the same game out year-after-year and of course...rushing devs like no goddamn tomorrow. Other than that their business practices are complete bs and deserve to be called worse company just because of that.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Brolaire

[Quill The Pony. 175]

Now: Yes. They're horrible. Back then: No. They made/published some good shit such as TimeSplitters:Future Perfect and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. But nowadays, they're killing off their good franchises.

[The Milkman 186]

EA is bad, these days at least.
BF3 is good though, but at least it's playable unlike the other new games.

It is true that they have been very bad these last years, there's no arguement on that, talk about SimCity.
 

[Dr. Nefarious 195]

DAE EA literally hitler?? Lord Gaben save us from this horrible terror.

 

 

EA           EA EA EA EA

EA           EA

EA           EA

EA           EA

EA EA EA EA EA EA

               EA         EA

               EA         EA

  EAEAEAEA         EA      

 

 

 

*unjerk*

 

Seriously now, I don't like EA but you people are just annoying. You guys seem to ignore the actual reasons on why EA is disliked and just start circlejerking about how much you hate them. I seriously have seen about 2 guys compare John Riccitello (ex CEO of EA) to Adolf Hitler, and they were being absolutely serious. Yes, EA is not good, but lets not start another ''EA is bad'' circlejerk here okay?

[Evilshy 5,090]

I'd have to say Activision. EA is a real contender, but I will NEVER forgive Activision for ruining Blizzard.

 

 

EA is more or less the poster child of taking consumer feedback and throwing it out the window. Sure, plenty of companies don't listen to consumers, but at least others respect us enough to not give half-assed excuses and expect us to believe them.

 

"Spore install keys only work 3 times because, come on, like you're ever going to own more than 3 computers in your life and want to be able to play your games, right? Right?"

 

"Dead Space 3 has way more enemies than 1 and 2, but still has very scarce ammo. But don't worry, if you're having a hard time, you can always buy more ammo with MICROTRANSACTIONS :D"

 

"SimCity has always-on DRM because why the fuck would anybody ever want to make a city without other people's cities effecting them? And why the fuck would you ever not be connected to the internet with a flawless connection that never goes out ever?"

 

"What's the problem with always-on DRM? You buy vacuum cleaners even though the electricity goes out. I'm using this analogy because the electricity goes out as frequently as our servers, right? Right?"

 

EDIT: Seems that last one was Microsoft. My bad.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Evilshy

[Hawk Moth 390]

DAE EA literally hitler?? Lord Gaben save us from this horrible terror.

 

 

 

EA           EA EA EA EA

EA           EA

EA           EA

EA           EA

EA EA EA EA EA EA

               EA         EA

               EA         EA

  EAEAEAEA         EA      

 

 

 

*unjerk*

 

Seriously now, I don't like EA but you people are just annoying. You guys seem to ignore the actual reasons on why EA is disliked and just start circlejerking about how much you hate them. I seriously have seen about 2 guys compare John Riccitello (ex CEO of EA) to Adolf Hitler, and they were being absolutely serious. Yes, EA is not good, but lets not start another ''EA is bad'' circlejerk here okay?

A bit blunt, but I agree. Again, I just want to see some hard evidence that EA is the juggernaut of ineptitude and failure that people make it out to be before I jump into the groupthink tank.

[Killian Jones 2,655]

Let's not forget, EA is not a developer, EA is a publisher. And a very big publisher at that. Right up there with gargantuan mastodons like Activision and Ubisoft. Responsible for a bringing a great many games to the light of day. But this position comes not without a responsibility. let's not forget what Spider-Man taught us, "With great power comes great responsibility". And EA clearly doesn't know how to handle this power.

 

To them customers are people to pinch as much money out of. They don't value their consumer base as much as they should. First off adding horrendous DRM schemes to games, or changing games so much as to not make them offline single player but always on MMO's. Like the new SimCity. To be fair, other publishers are pushing these same tactics, but it seems that EA is taking to forefront with this. Making previously always single player games and reshaping them. To the point where if your internet cuts out, bad luck for you.

 

Another problem is microtransactions in every single game they publish, to the point where they just say "From our point of view, this is exactly what gamers ask for and want in their games. We have had great success in the past with microtransactions." Which is ridiculous, because they are referring to iOS and Android apps and $60 games. Jum Sterling made a quote saying that a new rise of games are coming. Pay-to-Fee. Which is just another way EA wants to take your money.

 

Lets also not forget things like online passes, $60 releases of the same game each year with a different team lineup (EA Sports) which all serve no purpose other then cash grabbing.

 

EA isn't a very nice company, and they are doing a lot to shape the industry as it is. I can't say yes or no on worst company, but, let's just say they don't deserve your love either way. They will often spout things and claim them as fact rather than look at feedback. Taking an often very detached attitude whenever they say something.

[Shift 4,272]

I started hating EA after Dragon Age 2. EA is full of ripoffs, scams, etc. If you want a really good game company, go check out Valve. They are LEGENDS.

 

EA publishes games and takes credit (Most of it, anyways.). I generally don't like EA.

[mycarhasaMoustache 449]

I dont care much for EA since they farted out sim city I got the game and couldn't play it for 2 days and when I finally did get to start a game I encountered more bugs then any other game in history. 

[Sanic Screwdriver 345]

Well I don't play many EA games so I can't put in a great opinion, however, they have botched the launch of sim city and they (from what I hear,) make too much DLC or something like that.

[Dr. Eggnog 203]

From what I hear, EA was the worst gaming company about five or ten years ago but nowadays it's Activision.  Activision did good Spider-Man games though so I find it hard to hate.

[Koori 156]

I started hating EA after Dragon Age 2. EA is full of ripoffs, scams, etc. If you want a really good game company, go check out Valve. They are LEGENDS.

 

A company that can't count to 3? While Valve has the legendary games like Half-Life 1 and 2 behind it, I just can't bring myself to like the company that much for two reasons: Steam because thanks to that and combined with my net connection that occasionally breaks, it's a pain when the game suddenly crashes and no save was made; and then the obvious one, Half-Life 3, which will never ever come.

[Shift 4,272]

A company that can't count to 3? While Valve has the legendary games like Half-Life 1 and 2 behind it, I just can't bring myself to like the company that much for two reasons: Steam because thanks to that and combined with my net connection that occasionally breaks, it's a pain when the game suddenly crashes and no save was made; and then the obvious one, Half-Life 3, which will never ever come.

 

We've been waiting for Half Life 3 for a while. However, at one point, Valve hinted they're working on a game that has something with a '3' in it. 

 

I like Valve because of the comedy. The Meet the ____ gang proves that.

[Doc Ginger 86]

Im sorry but no matter what happens EA will always have me for Origin. I have always been a Battlefield fan-bot since the the days of good ole 1942. So what does I when BF3 is announced? Pre-order that shit! But it install it, log ontp Origin. Doesn't work. Says I dont own the game. Okay no biggie. Re-isnstall. Still says I don't own their own damn game.

 

Call Customer-Support. NOPE! They insist for FOUR MONTHS that the problem Is on my end. FOUR MONTHS of me calling at first multiple times a day, then once a day, and finally once a week. Then, one magical day 4 months and 5 days AFTER Battlefields release someone at customer support looks at my account for the first time and see's that the issue is with their servers. They tap 3 keystrokes and I can finally get Origin working. 

 

A company with that much disdain for their customer's in my opinion can't even have a runner up for worst Publication company ever. 

[GrimCW 658]

Edit: Okay, I just now noticed my mistake. EA is not the developer of the games I mentioned. In fact EA is not a developer of any games, but a publisher. All the games with EA on it means EA has published the game. Just wanted to clear that up.

 

EA, like Ubi DOES have a development team or two they own and operate themselves, and Publishers have 90% of the control over the titles their contracted developers make.

 

DICE for example is short for "EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment" They actually are part of EA itself.

EA also own Origin and killed that team. So they do have more control over things that people are often led to believe. Including on subjects such as gameplay, content, and platform release. If anything the problems lay with the publishers 2/3 of the time and NOT the developers who merely do as their told BY the publishers.

 

As for being the worst.. as consumer relations go, its a toss up between Ubi and EA for me though.

Ubi tried hard at the always on thing, and flopped, but they're making strides to come back from it.

However years ago they also made a major misinformation campaign, and not long ago they labled the PC platform and its players as "most pirated" and "95% are pirates" despite its one of the major selling platforms for many games (believe it or not, PC gaming is NOT dead. if anything its the only thing holding gaming up until the new consoles release)

They also said that a game could be "ported from a console to PC with 3 months and a 12 person dev team"

Ask them how well that worked out, go ahead

 

EA on the other hand is still trying to hide their bad moves, and push micro transactions into FULL PRICED games, as well as move for always on DRM methods among other issues.

While DLC can give you plenty of additional gameplay, (see also expansion packs of old under a new name) microtransactions only give bonuses. This isn't all bad on the outside, but anyone here own an iOS or Android device and play games on them?

Eventually this'll devolve into a mess where you pay for the game up front, then need to buy additional garbage just to finish the game or be stuck forever in a loop (I.E. Infinity Blade. You can "complete" what appears to be the games objective only to find you need to use in game currency to buy the weapon you just aquired through effort. And this is impossible without either paying out in cash, or throwing your time away in a constantly repetitive loop to earn it. Trick is you can't just keep going, you also need to spend said in game currency to upgrade gear or be restricted from progression). While not bad for Freemium, think of how this'll affect full front games.

Either cut the price tag, or lose the transactions.

 

Always on DRM is also a bad mojo since many people find themselves with spotty connections or worse.

Much like the ever hated Securom that Spore had, that tied itself to hardware configurations, i hope this is doomed to die.

Theres way to many factors to accommodate for, and these execs are entirely out of touch with the consumers.

In the case of Securom it was that even so much as adding new memory or changing your vid card cost you an activation, and under the original design, these activations were non-returnable. use up 3, and never use your product again unless you buy a new copy.

Always on will have similar problems, and if they try to tie them to IP eventually (wait for it they will) than they'll have issues with people on rotating IP's, bad or laggy connections, and more.

 

Ubi at least backed down and more or less apologized, EA continues to insist that this stuff is necessary, and are going to run themselves into the dirt if they keep it up (Ubi did this in the aforementioned misinformation deal i mentioned above, and nearly got sued out of existence before turning around)

Edited April 8, 2013 by GrimCW

[Loriem 639]

It is all because of there company practices. They shut down game server 2-3 years after the games come out, in some cases making the games useless. Not too mention putting some games on always online DRM, which renders the player to relying on the server to connect right, which in SimCity's case, it is a hit or miss chance.

[Dave247 568]

BF3 is good though, but at least it's playable unlike the other new games.

Heh, I guess you weren't around when BF3 first launched huh?

 

I get a strong feeling that DICE really wanted to make a good game with BF3, but with EA constantly breathing down their necks they were forced to cut corners just to release the game before COD came out. I remember really early on there used to be a massive player base for BF3, but that quickly dissolved for various different reason and players either moved onto another game or went back to BC2 from what I hear. There would always be multiple people complaining that they couldn't play the game because it wouldn't launch, constantly crashed at random intervals, and then there was Battlelog... oh god.

 

Mind you Battlelog has gotten a lot better now since back then but it used to be buggy as hell after they would push an update for it which would fix one thing, but then break 3 other things in the process. That's just how it was with the game too.

There were also a lot of gameplay elements that people would complain about, the major one how because they wanted to make the game "available for a wider audience" they ended up attracting the COD crowd to the game, and ultimately ended up ruining the community. The Battlelog forums were just full of absolute crap that I never went myself.

 

I haven't played the game in ages and neither do most of my friends that I used to play it with. We all had a lot of fun with BC2, despite it's issues here and there but that was nothing compared to this in hindsight. Looking at BF4... I basically just view that as DICE trying to fix the mess they created and be what BF3 was supposed to be, hence it being dubbed "BF3.5" I've been told.

 

---

 

Enough about DICE now. I also played the ME series and very much enjoyed it, up until 3. When I heard about all the uproar with the ending, I stopped playing right before that and went ahead to watch the ending and although I wasn't angry, I was disappointed. So basically I just put the game aside and even now that I've heard that they have finally bought everything to a proper close, I haven't bothered to finish the game as I just don't care anymore. The whole thing kinda ruined the whole experience for me I guess. (Plus I have to pay for it too.)

 

As that game was from a separate developer though, it is starting to look very much like EA ruins everything it touches. Bioware was only bought out by EA a handful of years ago but as for DICE, they had been a part of EA back since the Battlefield series first began, which many people think that is how the series is supposed to be like, and that it has been changed far too much.

 

Although I've played a number of other games published by EA those were the two that I feel have had the biggest impact on my view about the company. It's left me not holding them in that high of a regard. Although I will still but future games that they publish, I will do so wearily, most likely waiting until after the game has released until I make a purchase to see what problems arise because so far, there have always been something with every game released now days I believe.

[zDashiez 496]

Its funny really. All the game series I love seem to go down the shit hole when Ea steps in. Aka. Da, Me, crysis. Etc

 

I also played the ME series and very much enjoyed it, up until 3. When I heard about all the uproar with the ending, I stopped playing right before that and went ahead to watch the ending and although I wasn't angry, I was disappointed. So basically I just put the game aside and even now that I've heard that they have finally bought everything to a proper close,

Trust me, you did the right thing not watching the new ending/s. Atleast with the old one you could believe in the fan made indoctrination theory. But the new one is a giant shit that steamrolled all over it, still leaves a ridiculous amount of plot holes and WTF moments.
I was also really pissed about how horribly they went about revealing Tali's face.

Edited April 10, 2013 by zDashiez

[The Milkman 186]

Heh, I guess you weren't around when BF3 first launched huh?

 

I get a strong feeling that DICE really wanted to make a good game with BF3, but with EA constantly breathing down their necks they were forced to cut corners just to release the game before COD came out. I remember really early on there used to be a massive player base for BF3, but that quickly dissolved for various different reason and players either moved onto another game or went back to BC2 from what I hear. There would always be multiple people complaining that they couldn't play the game because it wouldn't launch, constantly crashed at random intervals, and then there was Battlelog... oh god.

 

Mind you Battlelog has gotten a lot better now since back then but it used to be buggy as hell after they would push an update for it which would fix one thing, but then break 3 other things in the process. That's just how it was with the game too.

There were also a lot of gameplay elements that people would complain about, the major one how because they wanted to make the game "available for a wider audience" they ended up attracting the COD crowd to the game, and ultimately ended up ruining the community. The Battlelog forums were just full of absolute crap that I never went myself.

 

I haven't played the game in ages and neither do most of my friends that I used to play it with. We all had a lot of fun with BC2, despite it's issues here and there but that was nothing compared to this in hindsight. Looking at BF4... I basically just view that as DICE trying to fix the mess they created and be what BF3 was supposed to be, hence it being dubbed "BF3.5" I've been told.

 

---

 

Enough about DICE now. I also played the ME series and very much enjoyed it, up until 3. When I heard about all the uproar with the ending, I stopped playing right before that and went ahead to watch the ending and although I wasn't angry, I was disappointed. So basically I just put the game aside and even now that I've heard that they have finally bought everything to a proper close, I haven't bothered to finish the game as I just don't care anymore. The whole thing kinda ruined the whole experience for me I guess. (Plus I have to pay for it too.)

 

As that game was from a separate developer though, it is starting to look very much like EA ruins everything it touches. Bioware was only bought out by EA a handful of years ago but as for DICE, they had been a part of EA back since the Battlefield series first began, which many people think that is how the series is supposed to be like, and that it has been changed far too much.

 

Although I've played a number of other games published by EA those were the two that I feel have had the biggest impact on my view about the company. It's left me not holding them in that high of a regard. Although I will still but future games that they publish, I will do so wearily, most likely waiting until after the game has released until I make a purchase to see what problems arise because so far, there have always been something with every game released now days I believe.

 

Yeah, i haven't been in that moment where BF3 launched, i knew about it but i was waiting for a friend to buy it and tell me how it was.

He played on PS3 so he basically didn't use battlelog, also he had to wait over 2 months to get the PS3 and the game, so by that time all the bugs and stuff might have been fixed, something we did not notice.

BF3 is the first Battlefield game that i played with interest, but when my friend told me to play BF2 for a while with him, i was impressed.

BF3 is pretty much what you say, a COD audience oriented game, previous games were completely different, much wider and better, the only one i didn't like was 1942.

I'm still on doubt with BF4 though, if they keep it up like this then i doubt BF4 is gonna work.

[Thrashy 2,800]

Regardless of the few good games they've been known to put out, EA has a reputation for slashing production values in order to meet strict deadlines. One of the worst instances of this I've witnessed is through their absolute butchering of the Ultima series, although I'm sure there are plenty of gamers who can attest to many other series being ruined by their hand. Maybe not THE worst game company ever, but they're pretty high up there in my opinion.

[Prince Doopliss 2,351]

EA has made a few bad games like. Sims City, I haven't played it, but it don't really interest me. Well the sports games are repetitive and well most of the sports I don't care for now days. Even though I never played these 2 games, Ultima 8 and Ultima 9 were bad from reviews I saw. While they have publish some good games, they still not really one of my favorites.

[ToridAkbolto 170]

EA is the worst gaming company that people still expect something from. There are likely worse. They are most likely unknown.

[ParsoOfEquestria 1,490]

here, I'll explain my reason with one simple video

those are the reasons I hate EA so much that I will laugh at its downfall so hard

[-BleachedOne- 233]

To be honest, I rather peg Nexon for being the worst gaming company today, even if they've only produced MMOs. Among the several gaming companies that have 'jumped the shark,' Nexon has directly impacted me. To this day, I still have no idea why I put up with their BS, and it's been 7 years.

 

Regardless, more on topic. EA used to be rather good, more specifically the Need for Speed series. I've been following them since their beginning roots as Electronic Arts, back when the most awesome game (in my opinion) was NFS III. NFS Underground is STILL one of my childhood favorites, but I'm sure we all saw what happened with the series as a whole. NFS Underground 2? Awesome. NFS Most Wanted? Still awesome, less so than the previous game. Carbon? Meh. Undercover? Nope. The Run? Nope again. Shift? I hear it was overhyped. Most Wanted 2? Have yet to play it, but I'd assume it's not as good as the original.

 

Rounding off that note, it seems EA's trying to mesh with the newer generation of gamers, leaving behind their past and moving onto 'better' things. It is true that the whole underground street racing scene was a thing in the late 90's, and it, admittedly, isn't as popular nowadays. Same thing with police chases. I leave that to the players to decide if they'd rather have legit racing in the series or not.

 

There's also the excessive DLC and paid content, horrible customer support, and all the other downfalls of a bad company.

 

Just my two cents, but yeah, this is how I feel about EA. At this point, I'd rather them NOT try to make an Underground 3. It would probably destroy the series.

 

EDIT: I haven't included any other series that they've worked on because I feel that NFS has impacted me the most. That doesn't mean I'm neglecting any other games I've played by them, including Sim City (preferred 3000 and 4) AND the NASCAR series (which I don't even WANT to talk about, because they started out bad, became slightly better, then fell apart when EA began struggling with the licenses).

Edited April 11, 2013 by Seraphim

[Jokuc 8,174]

 

 

Battlefield

 

Battlefield

 

Well EA doesn't make Battlefield. They are just the publishers of the game. The Swedish company Dice made Battlefield.

 

Anyways, I like EAs games. But I still can't ever forgive them for shutting down the servers for my all time favorite game battle for middle earth II.