EA Achievement Unlocked: Two years of Poo

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

EA gets the turd for worst company in US history. Again. (http://consumerist.com/2013/04/09/ea-makes-worst-company-in-america-history-wins-title-for-second-year-in-a-row/)

One would think winning such a dubious award the first time would've been a wake up call. One would also think that getting it a second time would make for a oh fuck, we done goofed! Time to, y'know, do something about it instead bantering catch phrases and conference room buzzwords!

But it seems that stupidity carries a lot of momentum. Virtual Shackles does a mighty fine job of tearing them a new logic hole (https://virtualshacklesimagestest.appspot.com/serve/EATree.jpg).

[Loyal]

Just gonna drop this here. (http://www.dorkly.com/article/51363/eas-reponse-to-being-named-the-worst-company-in-america)

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Learned nothing and still wearing the shitcap with pride!

stay classy, ea.

[Ramary]

Learned nothing and still wearing the shitcap with pride!

stay classy, ea.

It is fake, yo.

[Locke cole]

Whoever did write that has a real point. How in the world can you call EA the worst company? Worst video game company, probably so. But worst company, period?

[Ramary]

It doesn't really matter, 4chan just raided it (again). People being mad about some other company not getting a poop statue is kinda hilarious though. Admittedly I kinda like that they win, because just how horrible they are is not really mainstream knowledge yet, while everyone knows Bank of America etc are terrible, and again, it is a internet poll with a poop statue, it is gonna matter jack.

The best part is that EA is the only company that ever cared about "winning" this thing.

[Bells]

a few days prior to this they released this actual statement

http://www.ea.com/news/we-can-do-better

Take it for what~s worth. Don't know if they knew of their "win" before hand though.

[POS Industries]

If they'd responded the way they had in the parody letter, it would have actually garnered a little respect from me.

In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

That last one is particularly telling. If that’s what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because we're not caving on that.
http://i.imgur.com/ufJvSqy.gif

[Krylo]

Whoever did write that has a real point. How in the world can you call EA the worst company? Worst video game company, probably so. But worst company, period?

It's less that they're the worst, and more that other companies that are terrible are expected to be terrible. People are resigned to it. Financial institutions that fuck over billions is just a thing that most people can't even get angry about anymore.

Meanwhile, EA produces video games. They're in the business of making people happy. That's, literally, what their job is. Keeping us happy and entertained.

Thus when EA is 'terrible' by fucking up our entertainment, it's not something we're just resigned to. It's something that actually CAN piss us off, because we don't really expect it (though we really should by now).

. . . Or to put it more succinctly, it's an issue of expectations more than objective terribleness. Kinda like if you normally get straight As and get a B or C your parents are pissed at you, while if you get straight Cs, and get a B they're happy as hell.

We expect Ds and Cs out of financial institutions and chemical corporations and. . . well most businesses. Out of Video Game companies we expect a little better, and when we don't get it, it's frustrating.

[Kim]

I don't think they know what the "T" in "LGBT" stands for.

It's funny because literally the only trans-inclusion they've featured in any games were joke characters written primarily by cis men.

And by funny I mean PLEASE KILL ME

[Ramary]

I found it pretty fucking disgusting that EA is using their apparently LGBT good will as a shield for any and all criticism now.

Or rather I would be if I did not call it when they started parading around going LOOK AT US, WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF LGBT IN VIDEO GAMES even though not only they have not done it well, other games did LGBT characters better, and not make it seem like they are just pandering. (yeah, sure the Asari in Mass Effect was made with making good LGBT characters in mind, not just an excuse to be have lesbian sex and be "not-technically gay cause that is how aliens work" or something)

[Aldurin]

I've already mentioned this before, but I await the day EA releases a console so I can watch the whole company finally sink from it.

---------- Post added at 07:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

Bonus points to Satan if the government bails out EA when said console puts them at bankruptcy.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

While it wasn't directly made by EA, the 3DO almost counts as a console they made.

[Ramary]

EA is only gonna crash at this point when the whole industry crashes, which is gonna happen soon if the industry does not change most of the bullshit about it, which I could write a book about.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

EA is only gonna crash at this point when the whole industry crashes, which is gonna happen soon if the industry does not change most of the bullshit about it, which I could write a book about.

Which likely won't happen fast enough.

[synkr0nized]

If they'd responded the way they had in the parody letter, it would have actually garnered a little respect from me.

Yes.
I kind of would like it better if that was legitimate. I don't think a bunch of Internet posts being angry at a video game company accurately reflects "worst company", and we certainly have far worse.

[Loyal]

EA is only gonna crash at this point when the whole industry crashes, which is gonna happen soon if the industry does not change most of the bullshit about it, which I could write a book about.Read: Companies like EA will cause the impending Second Great Video Game Crash.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

I kinda hope so, wouldn't mind seeing this industry burn to the ground. Maybe then we can start fixing this broken mess.

[Locke cole]

Or it wallows in a safe puddle of mediocrity for another decade or so. Big changes, or a catastrophic crash that forces big changes both sound like wishful thinking.

[Bells]

Sorry fellas but EA is only going away when gamers stop being morons and stop buying their games and buying into their PR campaigns.

And you know what? They know it. They are fully, 100% aware of it. You can call them the bane of the earth and heaves and hell in incarnated form, if by the end of fiscal year their books are in the blue... guess what? They will reply with a "thank you for your kind support" and another round we go.

It is, honestly, as simple as that. Half of anything bad EA does is bad decision making at EA, the other half is players as consumers enabling those practices by putting money down for it.

Actually... you don't even have to stop buying EA games to hurt them. Seriously. You can totally play any EA game you want and STILL hurt them, legitimately and legally.

Just don't pre-order. don't buy on the first week. Don't buy on the first month if you can wait a bit longer... seriously, this is all that it takes. Launch week is a critical part of gaming PR and the the "premiere" of a game is it~s most critical momment... if you dodge it, the game tanks. At least in the board room for the investors, where this will be seen as a sign of distrust by the consumer and that their PR campaings are innefective. THen, the games goes down in price and you can pick it up if you want... after seeing actual gameplay footage, maybe reading a review or two from sites you trust...

This, extremely simple action, is already enough to break every single major company you think has shitty practices. We don't do it. We don't want to do it. They SAY there will be always online DRM, and we still break pre-order records... that's on us. And simply going "ooooh the industry is broken and rotten" is bullshit. Consumers have responsability too. ANd in the end, you get what you payed for. Finance shitty practices and youl'll get shitty practices. Pay for games you know little about, and its the same as gambling $60 for something that may or may not entertain you.

If anybody here wants to change anything at all... you can put your money in other companies and franchises, or at the very least wait a couple of days before buying it.

I know that a LOT of you guys here already do this... but this close to nothing when we bring to account the literal hundred thousands that do not. And that's a much bigger issue. Because EA only does it cause they know they can get away with it. and they can and they do.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

They'll die out/change eventually. Nothing is forever, everything/everyone dies out over time.

[Locke cole]

But at the same time, they won't necessarily die off soon. EA and the rest of the industry could very well longer for years to come before fading out or crashing and burning.

[Bells]

Yeah and that's the problem. We as consumers would rather wait another 10 years for this shit to "die off" instead of changing our own habits and breaking EA's legs this Christmas season by simply buying all their October-to-december games on February at a discount.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Already been doing my part in taking them down for the last decade, I don't by nor play EA crap.

[Bells]

that´s a drop in a bucket. Great for you, less great for the gaming community as a whole.

Remember the whole "Hold the Line" mass effect mess? Look the ripples that caused. And the financial investment there was reduced, because it was an issue related after the game already had been pre-ordered to hell and back and sold hundreds of thousands of copies...


It would actually be almost the same effort to actually make a dent to EA's pocket. And that's something that benefits us all... because other companies see EA's model, and if they are profiting? If it WORKS? They will start doing it too... Capcom already pushes the enveloppe pretty hard with some of the shit they do... mishandling IP's, ignoring customer feedback, seeling already on disc DLC...

here, there is even a catchy call out for this #EADelay . Share it and spread it the EA Delay. Facebook, Twitter, youtube, steam groups... the works... the rules? Very simple.

Every EA title gets an official 30 day purchase delay. After launch, if you are in the EADelay movement, -IF- you choose to buy their titles, it will only happen 30 days after the launch date. Absolutely guarantee to cause harm and some serious trouble in house for the company. No amount of pre-order bonus or discounts can break the delay, from then on, just let it spread to reddit and 4chan and watch the wildfire.

[Loyal]

Except that wouldn't work for the very reason video game boycotts in general don't work - most gamers at the end of the day - especially the loudest complainers of all - just don't have what it takes to keep one up.

Trying it with Electronic Arts of all companies, whose primary target demographic lacks any shits to give whatsoever about this sort of thing, is ridiculous if you're expecting success. Far too many of their customers don't care about the state of the industry, or EA's terrible business practices. They want the biggest, shiniest toys available and they want them now.

It's very true that a massive outburst of "voting with your wallet" would force them to reevaluate their business practices. The problem is that, by all rights, it ought to have happened years ago, and if not then, I see no reason to expect it to happen in the near future.

Relevant article. (http://www.vgchartz.com/article/87310/why-game-boycotts-do-not-work/)

[Krylo]

You guys do realize that for the last couple years EA has been earning below projected margins right?

Like it's so bad that their CEO actually quit. http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/ea-ceo-john-riccitiello-steps-down-and-you-should-be-afraid

This is a thing that happened.

They are not doing well financially. This actually is biting them in the wallet. Any other game Dev that looks their way isn't going to see 'this works' unless they are idiots, because it is NOT working.

There's no need to talk about boycotts or be defeatists or claim this or that will never work. Their own actions have already caused people to NOT buy their games in the numbers required to keep up with projected earnings. They will either change or sink.

This is ALREADY happening.

[Sifright]

It is fake, yo.

7qKcJF4fOPs

Ahem.

[Locke cole]

That empty YouTube videro has convinced me.

[Sifright]

That empty YouTube videro has convinced me.

Qw9oX-kZ_9k

What'chu talkin bout willis?

[Krylo]

http://i.imgur.com/XAwYA9X.png
EA: Totally not losing money.

[Osterbaum]

'Voting with your wallet' is a problematic tactic though. There is this tendency to assume we have all the power to influence what companies do by buying/not buying certain products. But that seems to ignore the things these companies do to make us buy their products, to make us want their products and not notice what's wrong with the whole arrangement. We're being told all the time from all sources that we should buy and consume loads of stuff so it's not really surprising then that not doing that can turn out being a bit more difficult than it sounds on paper. Not to mention that if 'voting with your wallet' is still pretty much the only thing we can do, seeing as what corporations do is outside of any kind of democratic control by everyone. Including those who work there or even those that own it or portions of it.

[tacticslion]

'Voting with your wallet' is a problematic tactic though. There is this tendency to assume we have all the power to influence what companies do by buying/not buying certain products. But that seems to ignore the things these companies do to make us buy their products, to make us want their products and not notice what's wrong with the whole arrangement. We're being told all the time from all sources that we should buy and consume loads of stuff so it's not really surprising then that not doing that can turn out being a bit more difficult than it sounds on paper. Not to mention that if 'voting with your wallet' is still pretty much the only thing we can do, seeing as what corporations do is outside of any kind of democratic control by everyone. Including those who work there or even those that own it or portions of it.

Are... are you saying that "voting with your wallet" is problematic because "people are weak and will buy stuff"? Because Krylo pretty much directly showed up above that people are voting with their wallet and the company is suffering for it.

As he said: the company will either change or die. It's not really a question.

I mean, if you're saying "advertising makes stuff look nifty" well, yeah, that's it's job. But the fact is that despite nifty advertising EA looks like they're almost hemorrhaging money from that graph.

If the company changes, it's a probable win (though they could just change into some different form of unpleasant - that's the annoying thing about pesky free will and group-decisions; this will likely end in their destruction, though, so...). If the company dies, it's a partial win (as they won't be making their terrible decisions anymore, but people will be out of a job).

In either case, whether over-all good results or not for the people involved, for the gaming public it's a win/win scenario by doing exactly that: voting with your wallet.

Now, there's no question that it can happen you can "do the right thing" (aka "vote with your wallet" in this case) and others who want whatever you don't will still carry the day anyway, but that doesn't stop you from doing the right thing. (Incidentally, this is true in anything else just as much as it is in terms of gaming companies - or any company really - and their finances.)

Advertising (and incentives) are great, and all, but people are obviously not going with it, in this case, and voting with wallets is a thing that is literally working here like it's supposed to (i.e. not giving them money because we're not pleased with the work they're doing).

[Bells]

Krylo is right that EA took hits from the public in recent years. But it would be wrong to assume that all that damage is just because the public is reacting... some other stuff was happening around from 2008 and 2013 that one might want to bring into account too y'know... which BTW, is a fantastic excuse execs can use to justify their current situation to shareholders.

cause, in the 10 year plan, EA is diving hard. But In the 12 month plan, the company is actually going up in value.

Funny thing about statistics... you can twist them quite easily to make your case.

that being said... "the problem will fix itself" never sits right with me, but drops in buckets won´t change much stuff either. What bothers me the most is seeing the waves of people complainign non stop about EA and the waves of people pre-ordering EA games and thinking how much those 2 waves actually overlap at some point...

[stefan]

EA: Totally not losing money.


You know, I've been saying for a while now that the AAA gaming model is undeniably on its way out, and its always nice to see solid evidence of the gaming giants falling.

[Krylo]

Bells, their CEO quit citing his own culpability in their poor performance over the last 12 months.

So no, their 12 month is not looking good. EA is in serious trouble. This isn't conjecture or armchair economics.

This is their company currently not having a CEO because their old one jumped out and deployed the golden parachute because it's gotten so bad.

This is not a thing that happens when a company is going strong.

[Aerozord]

It's less that they're the worst, and more that other companies that are terrible are expected to be terrible. People are resigned to it. Financial institutions that fuck over billions is just a thing that most people can't even get angry about anymore.

Meanwhile, EA produces video games. They're in the business of making people happy. That's, literally, what their job is. Keeping us happy and entertained.

Thus when EA is 'terrible' by fucking up our entertainment, it's not something we're just resigned to. It's something that actually CAN piss us off, because we don't really expect it (though we really should by now).

. . . Or to put it more succinctly, it's an issue of expectations more than objective terribleness. Kinda like if you normally get straight As and get a B or C your parents are pissed at you, while if you get straight Cs, and get a B they're happy as hell.

We expect Ds and Cs out of financial institutions and chemical corporations and. . . well most businesses. Out of Video Game companies we expect a little better, and when we don't get it, it's frustrating.
I see the logic here, but still sad that we care more about a company failing to entertain us than one impeding our standard of living, supporting slave labor, violating worker rights, or lessening our planets ability to support life.

I mean if EA personally destroyed the entire video game industry I still couldn't call it the worst company.

[Menarker]

I heard though that EA was guilty of violating some worker rights like mandatory unpaid overtime, so it's not like failure to fairly care about our entertainment was their only or worst flaw.

[Aerozord]

I heard though that EA was guilty of violating some worker rights like mandatory unpaid overtime, so it's not like failure to fairly care about our entertainment was their only or worst flaw.

in which case in the grand scheme EA is far from the worst offender both in how much their rights are violated and in raw number of employees that suffer. Also the sad truth this is common in the industry (http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/working-conditions)

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

I heard though that EA was guilty of violating some worker rights like mandatory unpaid overtime, so it's not like failure to fairly care about our entertainment was their only or worst flaw.

Just the tip of the iceberg at the time (http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/). Things went from eight hour shifts six days a week, relatively tolerable, then ramped up to twelve to 13 hour shifts seven days a week. No overtime, no compensation time, no sick or vacation leave. It's been a while since I thoroughly read it but if I remember correctly their required time for salaried employees was still over the top when outside of crunch time.

Among other things. It's all in there, quite an eye opening read of what was brushed under the rug and hush-hushed.

[Azisien]

There will be no "Great Crash." Only publisher death if they do not adapt. There are too many methods of distribution for games to have a crash. Maybe we would see a dip in "AAA" games if, in some doomsday (extremely awesome) scenario, many large publishers imploded. But are AAA games, as they are labelled, actually better games? The Dark Side of Moore's Law. Our hardware is thousands, or tens of thousands of times more powerful than a few decades ago. Are games as a whole ten thousand times more fun?

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

thing is we are seeing a significant decline in AAA games. off the top of my head i cant think of very many that arent part of some dried up husk of an overly milked series. halo, battlefield, oldman face: the games, etc.

it's fast becoming an indie dev market because they have the creative fluidity at their command that big studio devs lost due to publisher pressure and politics.

[Magus]

Sorry fellas but EA is only going away when gamers stop being morons and stop buying their games and buying into their PR campaigns.

And you know what? They know it. They are fully, 100% aware of it. You can call them the bane of the earth and heaves and hell in incarnated form, if by the end of fiscal year their books are in the blue... guess what? They will reply with a "thank you for your kind support" and another round we go.

It is, honestly, as simple as that. Half of anything bad EA does is bad decision making at EA, the other half is players as consumers enabling those practices by putting money down for it.

Actually... you don't even have to stop buying EA games to hurt them. Seriously. You can totally play any EA game you want and STILL hurt them, legitimately and legally.

Just don't pre-order. don't buy on the first week. Don't buy on the first month if you can wait a bit longer... seriously, this is all that it takes. Launch week is a critical part of gaming PR and the the "premiere" of a game is it~s most critical momment... if you dodge it, the game tanks. At least in the board room for the investors, where this will be seen as a sign of distrust by the consumer and that their PR campaings are innefective. THen, the games goes down in price and you can pick it up if you want... after seeing actual gameplay footage, maybe reading a review or two from sites you trust...

This, extremely simple action, is already enough to break every single major company you think has shitty practices. We don't do it. We don't want to do it. They SAY there will be always online DRM, and we still break pre-order records... that's on us. And simply going "ooooh the industry is broken and rotten" is bullshit. Consumers have responsability too. ANd in the end, you get what you payed for. Finance shitty practices and youl'll get shitty practices. Pay for games you know little about, and its the same as gambling $60 for something that may or may not entertain you.

If anybody here wants to change anything at all... you can put your money in other companies and franchises, or at the very least wait a couple of days before buying it.

I know that a LOT of you guys here already do this... but this close to nothing when we bring to account the literal hundred thousands that do not. And that's a much bigger issue. Because EA only does it cause they know they can get away with it. and they can and they do.

*looks at game collection*

Hey, somehow, in 20 years of buying games, I actually don't own any EA games! It wasn't hard, apparently. What the heck do they make besides Madden, anyway? Some racing games, right? Uh, The Sims? Right?

[Kyanbu The Legend]

The only EA games I own is Sims 3 and Madden for Android. And those were freebies that came with the Xperia Play 3G when I got it along with 3 other titles back in Summer 2011.

[Magus]

They do apparently have their fingers in some popular things like Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. Those are in my wheelhouse though I haven't actually played them yet.

[RobinStarwing]

My only comment is this...

Electronic Arts sucks. End of story.

They used to be a good fun company (Starflight I and Starflight II come to mind) and made quirky games for the Sega Genesis as far as I know.

They started going downhill when they shut the doors on Westwood Studios not long after acquiring them. After they got the C&C series...they gave us the clusterfucks that were Command & Conquer 4 and Red Alert 3. Both of which could be named as the games that killed their respective series (intentionally maybe?) and earn fan rage (I amongst them...seriously Jenny McCarthy as Tanya?) for these abominations.

[tacticslion]

We have a few EA Games, though neither I nor my wife have ever pre-ordered anything ever, to the best of my knowledge from any company, and all our games were purchased after the "price drop" on them were a thing (or were purchased for us for Christmas, so maybe those, though I don't think so).

I don't know that we've ever owned any of their triple-A titles (though, suddenly, I'm unsure of the exact metric one uses to determine "AAA" status), and certainly never intentionally.

The Sims... and that might be it, actually. We may have a few very low-budget off-games, but I'm really not sure if they published those, and I can't actually find them right now. I kind of thought since ME, KotR, and DA were part of EA, that Neverwinter Nights would be too (as I thought they used the same basic engine?), but apparently not, from wikipedia.

In any event, I haven't actually done that much with them. And really, I'm quite satisfied with our gaming experience (at least for the most part: I really want more time to finish some of the games we have for the Wii, which I haven't had of late due mostly to my phenomenally-awesome-but-time-consuming son).

Did they do Red Alert 2 or only 3+? 'Cause I really enjoyed Red Alerts 1 and 2.

Anyway, I do think that they're killing themselves pretty heavily. Market and general financial problems may tie into it, as Bells suggested, but really it seems more like they're just not doing well. People aren't buying their stuff, they're spending way too much money on it, and they're just not making profits. So, as Krylo said, they either need to change, a lot, or die.

It's mostly win-win from the customer point of view.

(Incidentally: no, they don't deserve the "worst company ever" award, despite being apparently pretty bad, but given the nature of the Internet, EA or similar companies are about the only ones that will ever receive such things.)

[RobinStarwing]

Westwood did Red Alert 2...I would know seeing as I had it included amongst a package of C&C games I got a few years ago and that was after the Global Warfare Package. :)

[Magus]

Is Westwood a publisher, though? Or a developer? I've never heard of Westwood so I'm guessing the latter.

[Aerozord]

Is Westwood a publisher, though? Or a developer? I've never heard of Westwood so I'm guessing the latter.

EA was the publisher, Westwood was the developer.