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Why is EA so disliked?
Carpainter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Electronic Arts has a reputation for being hated in the gamer community. After a little research, it seems like its not such a bad place to work at or be associated with. So my question is, other than their mostly shitty games, is there any reason(s) that EA as a company is so hated by people?
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It's not a bad place to be associated with, because they sell so much shit. It depends on your association. If I were a jizzmopping janitor for EA, I might not really care. If I were a code monkey, the association might hurt when they force me to work 100 hour weeks before Madden X00X comes out. If I were a shareholder, I might enjoy the association.
Also, they like to rape their customers for as much money as possible. They also eat up small developers and spit them into the eternal void.
Also, they used to be awesome, like in the 1980s. Now they regurgitate the same horseshit year after year after year. After year. After year.
I hope that answers all your questions.
Two: Almost everything they touch(gamewise) turns to shit
Three: Biggest case of sequel-itis in gaming
The latest whiners revolution was caused by the advertising in BF2142. People shouted for a cause they didn't understand, thinking that BF2142 included spyware that monitored your internet usage. In actual fact, the game merely checks your IP address to determine what language advertisements are shown in. Suddenly, EA were a bunch of money hungry, dirty, stinking liars.
To this day, there has not been a single advertisment put into the game. Looks like all those whiners were just wasting their time.
Any other acts of 'atrocity' that EA performed in the past I'm not thinking of?
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
That's a good way to sum up your post.
One: Would you rather pay $10 for an expansion or $50?
The 'micropayments' for the BF2 expansions weren't micropayments at all, but cheaper ways to release expansions for BF2. I'd rather have that then the way The Sims released an expansion every month for full price.
Two: Almost every sports game they've released is great, in my opinion. The Battlefield franchise is also a huge success, and I concur with the masses.
Three: ?
Please explain. What was I misinformed on in my post?
Edit: I read your first post.. so I'll assume that's what you mean. What in your post isn't just massive angry induced bullshit?
Do you know anyone who works in the game industry? Do you know that EA works their employees harder than say, Blizzard? Because if you say yes, you sir are incorrect.
As for being raped as a customer, I don't remember ever paying more for a game than other companies charge... and I don't ever remember being held at gunpoint to purchase Madden 200X, or NHL 0X, or BFX... I loved them all.
Things that are popular are also hated the most. See Wal-mart.
Origin
Westwood
and so on
Aside from that, from which a lot of the dislike was born, is their practice of buying beloved developers whose franchises than become pure shit. This has happened tons of times. However, you cited one easily-defended instance and called all EA critics ignorent. I think that's what Drez meant.
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Well, you stated that people dislike them out of ignorance and because of the ad placement shit. I posted a number of reasons above and didn't even cite the in-game ad placement. I could care less about in-game ad placement; in fact, I think that's a perfectly acceptable economic strategy. They have a history of forcing their workers to work 80+ hour weeks without due compensation, for one thing. And there are many other reasons people hate EA.
And it's not simply because they are a large company, Bedlam. It's because they have a disgusting corporate policy and are ruinous to the market at large.
Yes, exactly. Perfect post.
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Two: I'm talking about when they buy up a franchise. Then it gets ruined. Just wait for System Shock 3, and then you'll really see.
Lets look at...so many to choose from. I'll get back to you on that one.
Well, I did ask for my examples. I was just citing one that I could pull off the top of my head.
About employee pracitces: thing is, because they are a large company is why they get so much negative attention. A friend of mine works for EA Vancouver and he loves it. I also know somone who works for Blizzard and he hates it. So you can get examples one way or the other. I'm not trying to call all EA critics liars, I'm just saying I don't think they are the big evil company that many people make them out to be.
Just like EA, Wal-mart doesn't like paying employees for the time they work (however that's a completely different discussion). Like people have said it wasn't the best place to work, there was a big lawsuit because people weren't getting paid for their 80+hr weeks and every week was crunch time. This was a year or two ago? I can't recall but it may have improved.
Also EA likes to churn out the same old stale crap, they follow the formula. There used to be companies out there that put out good stuff (I want to say Westwood, they were bought out by EA right?), EA hears about it, purchases company and has them make mediocre products with the licensing.
With regard to the product, the Hellgate subscription thing annoyed me but when it's closer I will still be giving it a look. On the other hand, Spore and Crysis are EA, and alot of folks seem stoked for those. They produce alot of mediocre titles too, but mediocre titles that sell.
pushing boundaries on bullshit things like in-game advertising
having a shared login with AOL for so bloody long that I could create an account on their website for years
Yep
I'm not sure why so many people get so vitriolic about EA releasing endless sequels. It's not like you actually have to buy them; there's plenty of other stuff out there. The same goes for all those shitty movie/tv tie-in games EA does; yeah, they suck, so just tell your family to stop giving them to you on holidays and forget about it.
There can be no forgiveness.
Maybe just paying their legal team more? I don't know. I'm just saying that because there is a wiki post and a lawsuit, doesn't mean there is a blanket of crap covering the entire company. I'm sure it's not in the company policy to treat employees like shit... at least I hope not.
Spore is Will Wright, I don't think EA deserves much of the credit for that one. Crysis isn't an EA dev team though right? Or did EA buy them too?
Workers successfully sued EA for the reasons previously stated. You can go ahead and think them peachy little pinatas if you want, but I'd say you have very low moral standards.
Look, I'm not saying you have to hate EA along with the rest of us. I'm just telling you why we hate them. It's not out of ignorance. Much the opposite, it is out of experience and knowledge about what they've done. The only ignorant viewpoint here, so far, is yours. Also, don't take offense to the word "ignorant." It does have a negative connotation, but it literally means that you just don't know, that you aren't informed. Apparently you aren't. Anyway, above are the reasons why so many people hate EA...and hating them is an entirely valid point of view.
Ex Trauma Studio members formed Kaos Studio and are now working on Frontlines: Fuel of War. I will be buying that instead of whatever EA tries to pass off as the next Battlefield game.
Most people agree that the Madden series really stagnated in the past few years. Meanwhile, VC was turning its 2K sports line into a bad motherfucker, and NFL2KX in particular was on its way to becoming the premier football franchise on the market.
EA needed to act. Did they redesign their rapidly tiring game so as to create brilliant innovations and reestablish their dominance? No, they bought a 10 year exclusive license to the NFL, thus forcing VC to abandon their series.
This, in a nutshell, is the EA philosophy. Why innovate when you can just bust out your pocketbook and buy market dominance?
Also, yes, I'm in the game industry. Yes, I have spoken to people who have worked for EA. Yes, it's pretty horrible, judging by everything I've heard. Also, my company worked on a project with EA while I was around. As a result of them being cocks and generally retarded and unorganized, our company lost money on the deal.
So yes, fuck EA.
Electronic Arts doesnt see its own product as art
it handles all the games as commodities no different from lumber or staples or pleather
its a big jerk corporation that doesnt really have an image or personality outside of "lets make as much fucking profit as possible"
Nintendo and Ubi are massive publishers too, but you dont get that same "god, what a dick" feeling from them as you do EA
what a great company :roll:
PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
I'm entirely clear on the definition of the word 'ignorant,' but I don't consider reading a few wiki posts and forum threads about an EA lawsuit as being more informed than me.
I'd just rather base my opinion of a company on the products I purchase and my actual experience with them. If the entire world went aroud judging based on heresay and word of mouth, this would be a nasty place to live.
The NFL offered it to EA. What was EA supposed to do, say no?
I agree that Madden has stagnated a bit and I wish the 2K series was still around. Competition is good.
Some of my favorite franchises of all time seem to consistently get shitcanned by EA, never to hear from them again.
In the 80's they had a commitment to treating games as art and took a lot of risks. In the 90's they turned into a megacorporate monstrosity and never looked back. Now they are the very definition of everything that is banal and commercial about gaming.
The fact that they don't treat their employees well is diarrhea icing on the turd cake.
I doubt Nintendo would get that way, they've had enough time to go that direction of they chose to, but I'm still wary of Ubisoft. They're churning out Tom Clancy branded games at a near EA level.
I dont' believe this. Is that why EA bought exclusive rights to ESPN and Arena football too? they just came up and offered to EA?
all this just screams trying to shut out VC.
PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
That was an option, yes. The fact that the NFL told EA, "Here, you can pay as an obscene amount of money to be the only ones allowed to make NFL games, meaning your games can be crap and still sell like hotcakes," does not make EA obligated to bite.
EA had two options, here. They could blow money on an exclusive license, or they could take that money and use it to make a better product. They opted for the license.
You probably don't agree, but I tend to see the SSX games as one of the few exceptions to that. I mean sure, I don't doubt every song on the soundtrack and every character archetype in the cast was selected to maximise the target demographic, etc., etc., but IMO it's about the only EA xtreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem franchise I hugely enjoy and find fairly artistically pleasing.
I think they deserve the hate, sure. Can't say it often enough, despite what some people might have you believe. :P But it's not like they've never done anything of worth in the past five years or so.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)