Why EA Beat Out Bank of America For The Worst Company in America Title

[JamesD]

"

The consumers have spoken. Electronic Arts, better known by its nickname EA, is the Consumerist’s Worst Company in America for 2012, as voted by users

."

 

 

http://www.geekosyst...-worst-company/

Edited April 11, 2012 by JamesD

[onlysublime]

I hate EA. And that says a lot because I haven't hated any company since Commodore.

 

The online passes. The gimping of games we already own by taking away online servers. Forcing us to make an EA account. Swallowing up good companies and breaking them up. Having the worst customer support in existence. So many other reasons. *argh* This thread just reminds me how evil EA is.

[Mord]

*argh* This thread just reminds me how evil EA is.

 

Good.

[krslam]

And they started out so well. Still love playing Archon.

[onlysublime]

Maybe the genesis of my EA hatred started with the Atari/Commodore wars and how EA threw all their eggs in the Amiga basket. If I imagine another image of Trip Hawkins coming out and saying how revolutionary the Amiga was and how it would dominate computing... *argh*. Or how EA tried to prop up the 3DO. But then when the wars ending with both Atari and Commodore dying, EA was okay because they led the charge on the PC, and PC gaming was becoming great. And then they were quietly conquering the world and then exerting their influence, resulting in my fullblown anger against them.

[VW]

I have hated EA since they stopped making games for the Atari 8 bit series of computers before everyone else. Since then, I think their crimes are as follows:

 

1. Buying good studios and ruining them (Origin, Bioware)

2. Online pass nonsense

3. Ignorance of good platforms (they contributed to the Dreamcast's demise and to this day don't even publish many of their games on PC)

4. Shutting down online services for games less than two years after the game came out and not even letting users run their own servers at their own expense. EA is a pioneer towards wanting games to be priced as services rather than as something you own.

5. Ruining online balance of sports games by allowing people to buy statistics boosts with real money.

6. Charging full price for each new year's sports games when the short development time leads to only marginal improvement if not deprovement.

Edited April 11, 2012 by VW

[Ransom]

I had so many warm fuzzies for EA back in my A8 and Apple ][ days. Their philosophy of treating game designers and programmers like the artists they are was just wonderful. And the games! Such revolutionary stuff.

 

But as time went on, they pissed away all the good will I had for them. Now, I wouldn't buy a current EA title if it were the greatest game in the world.

[cimerians]

They are currently killing Bioware in my opinion. The thing with Origin systems and Ultima is unforgivable. I'll never forgive them for that crap.

 

I'm glad they got pooped on as the worst.

[Enig]

Origin, the TORtanic, ME3, it's all just part of their fast decline. Now, to wait for EA to fall and for Valve to buy some of Bioware's IPs...

[Austin]

Like so many big-name companies (*cough* Atari), EA is only a shell of what it once was.

[mister_pal]

After what they did with Westwood and Bullfrog I never had much goodwill left for them.

[Rybags]

I never thought much of them.

 

Most of their good games in the old days were from outside producers anyway.

Archon, Mule, 7 Cities of Gold to name a few.

 

Similar deal with modern games like Crysis.

[moycon]

After the last round of server kills. I don't even like these guys anymore. Burnout Revenge? Seriously? EA sucks.

[Mendon]

While I have nothing but distaste for EA and haven't bought any of their products in a long, long time.... Capcom is quickly moving up into the same category with me as EA. Why? Because within the last year, Capcom has made customer-unfriendly mistake after mistake with title after title.

 

Now comes a Capcom Resident Evil 6 announcement: they are giving away free Mercenary Mode map's for pre-ordering the game. Sounds good until you read the fine print: each retailer will get its own exclusive give away map! Amazon will give away High Sea's Fortress; GameStop will give away The Catacombs; and Best Buy will give away The Rail Yard.

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/resident-evil-6-mercenaries-maps-spread-across-retailers-as-pr/

 

I really hate this "Where oh where will I pre-order my game to get a bonus?" crap.

 

 

Mendon

Edited April 13, 2012 by Mendon

[onlysublime]

Other companies do this. Ubisoft with Just Dance 3 had Katy Perry song exclusives at Best Buy but Target had a couple of other songs.

[+HatNJ]

Other companies do this. Ubisoft with Just Dance 3 had Katy Perry song exclusives at Best Buy but Target had a couple of other songs.

 

Doesn't make it right tho, Wat are we suppose to do Pre-order from every retailer just to get a all the bonus goodies.

 

As for EA Still have a few EA LP cover titles from the C64 days Pinball Construction Set (Still boot it up once in a while) and others

Today since most EA titles are rehashed sports games I buy sports titles every couple years and always a year behind current releases

and most of time used so I'm the gamer EA hates the most

[Mord]

Amazing how people thought EA was turning over a new leaf a few years back when they started being "less evil" for a while. It seems a lot of people gave them a second chance as a result. This is what the company does with that second chance. I recommend people not give it a third chance and let it burn the next time they're fishing for sympathy (money). I wonder if Bioware realized what it was really getting into when they sold out to them given it was during the "lesser evil" years when it looked like EA wanted to turn around.

[xg4bx]

obviously any negative opinions we have are in the minority, otherwise their games wouldn't sell millions. the vast majority of gamers simply don't give a poop.

 

i'm finding it impossible to be upset at capcom for what they do. maybe charging money for palate swaps of a character is silly but caring about a palate swap of a character is just as silly. if you buy that stuff thats on you. it should be bombing and never be done again....but obviously its not. somebody is buying them. the retailer map bonus is silly but i understand why they're doing it. its a bonus mode that has almost nothing to do with the main game, its not worth losing sleep over. however the bs that ea pulls with removing entire story sections in order to sell them for dlc is inexcusable. capcom, for all their shenanigans, haven't done that.

 

like i said blame the people buying it. companies only do what they think they can get away with and if the vast majority of slackjaws weren't buying this dlc it would disappear.

 

overall though, they're friggin video games. i think the 'worst company in america' award should go to shit that matters like companies dumping lead in the water or something. whoever voted in that poll needs to put the controller down and get some goddamn perspective.

Edited April 14, 2012 by xg4bx

[onlysublime]

to reduce EA's inexcusable behavior to "these are just games" is overly simplistic. EA fiscal income is billions. They employ about 8000 people. They've been sued by their own employees over things like having 80+ hour work weeks without just compensation. In a single day, they laid off over 1500 employees. This was after they had just laid off 1100 employees just a few months prior. That's 2600 families affected. Are you going to reduce these people down to numbers and games as well? EA's been known to acquire companies and then scuttle them for their valued assets.

 

We talk about games and how our gaming was affected because it's lighthearted and because we buy games for fun. But we shouldn't ever forget that these companies exist in reality and go far beyond just games.

 

There are companies probably worse than EA. But that doesn't diminish the collateral damage that EA has done.

[SoulBlazer]

Bottom line is, I'm too much of a football addict not to buy the new Madden and NCAA when they come out each year. Are you going to sue me also?

[onlysublime]

Bottom line is, I'm too much of a football addict not to buy the new Madden and NCAA when they come out each year. Are you going to sue me also?

 

if you had money! or maybe if you had a complete Atari collection.

[cimerians]

While I have nothing but distaste for EA and haven't bought any of their products in a long, long time.... Capcom is quickly moving up into the same category with me as EA. Why? Because within the last year, Capcom has made customer-unfriendly mistake after mistake with title after title. Now comes a Capcom Resident Evil 6 announcement: they are giving away free Mercenary Mode map's for pre-ordering the game. Sounds good until you read the fine print: each retailer will get its own exclusive give away map! Amazon will give away High Sea's Fortress; GameStop will give away The Catacombs; and Best Buy will give away The Rail Yard. http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/12/resident-evil-6-mercenaries-maps-spread-across-retailers-as-pr/ I really hate this "Where oh where will I pre-order my game to get a bonus?" crap. Mendon

 

Yup count me in that crowd as well.

 

Capcom has been on my turd list for a little while now with their endless milking of DLC or as I call it ODC (on disc content). Not to mention with playing around with DRM on Sony's PS3.

 

Is it me or is straight up lies on the game boxes these days?

 

I will from now on also not trust what they say on the box.

 

Devil May Cry HD collection is not remastered in HD. It's PARTIALLY re-mastered. In other words the in game action is remastered but all menus, CG and everything else is not.

It also says on the box that previously unavailable content is in the game. Nope.

 

Also, Mass Effect 3 had a lie on the box saying that players choices determine the outcome.

 

 

 

http://www.destructoid.com/better-business-bureau-says-ea-lied-about-mass-effect-3-225725.phtml

 

"

A few weeks back, when the backlash over Mass Effect 3 was at its height, a complaint had been filed with the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. The complaints alleged that Electronic Arts lied about Mass Effect 3 when it said player choices would affect the outcome. Well ... the Better Business Bureau agrees.

In a blog post, BBB's Marjorie Stephens agrees that BioWare and EA lied in its advertising. She points to claims on the game's site that players can "completely" shape their destiny, which she says is an absolute statement -- one that's false.

"The lesson to be learned here is companies should give careful consideration to how they word their advertisements," she explained. "Otherwise, there could be detrimental effects, especially in the era of social media and online forums."

I sometimes almost feel sorry for Electronic Arts, considering the kicking it's been getting lately. Then I remember that it's EA."

 

 

If they are going to act like like little turds then I will too.

I'm so willing to let things just pass but they keep pushing it.

 

They drew first blood!!!

 

Edited April 16, 2012 by cimerians

[Rex Dart]

The Real Reason:

[Crazy Climber]

Yup, been an EA hater for a long time. Glad to see others still do as well and many new people are joining the fight.

For me the final nail in the coffin was the exclusive NFL rights Bullshit back in 2005 or so that basically FORCES you to play Madden if you want to play a football game with real/current NFL players....but what if I don't like Madden? Too bad, you have to because EA paid a ton of money to the NFL so they could have exclusive rights. Well, that was it.... I did slip up once in a moment of weakness and bought mercenaries 2 for the PS3 but all it did was remind me how shitty EA was. what a terrible sequel.

 

EA SUCKS!

[+HatNJ]

Have to agree with Crazy Climber on the NFL License issue

I thought the 2K5 series was great and on it's way to beeing a true competitor to Madden But EA Locked the deal and down went a dream of NFL 2k6 and beyond

That's why as I said in an earlier post I buy Madden games Used/NIB if on Ebay or a games store and a year behind the current one then EA doesn't see sh*t