It's so telling that almost everybody whining and complaining has not worked for EA, and that the person starting this thread is an angry teenager...
Probably the same as most of the members of the 4chan and reddit horde that voted for that poll.
It's a consumerist poll. A poll of consumers. If they worked for EA, they'd be employees and not eligible as consumers.
EA have scored highly not because of some perceived horde of Internet trolls, but because their practices have directly affected a large number of people who have an emotional or otherwise cultural investment with the product they produce. That volume of people has been indicatively larger than those affected by a corporation like Monsanto, who don't offer consumer facing products. Bank of America came a close second - however there's a distinct difference between the two. Whilst BoA is well known for screwing over it's customers, this has only affected a comparatively small number of people, and unlike EA, they're not particularly vocal about how little of a fuck they actually give about them.
It's so telling that almost everybody whining and complaining has not worked for EA, and that the person starting this thread is an angry teenager...
Probably the same as most of the members of the 4chan and reddit horde that voted for that poll.
I despise 4chan and reddit, and no I don't have any huge hate for EA other than their BF3 DLC crap they pulled.
I saw it on Yahoo and it was relevant so I posted it here, problem? You going to pm me about my attitude again lol?
I despise 4chan and reddit, and no I don't have any huge hate for EA other than their BF3 DLC crap they pulled.
I saw it on Yahoo and it was relevant so I posted it here, problem? You going to pm me about my attitude again lol?
Now now, keep personal attacks down gents, we are all civil here aren't we?
This is obviously a biased poll as the consumers were disgruntled by "bad" practices which blatantly are aimed to grab the last few pounds from it's users.
For those who don't agree with it being a big business; The business created by the digital gaming market is estimated that to exceed $74 billion in 2011, up 10.4 per cent from 2010. (McCall, 2011) So for the frontline companies at the top, they have a fairly big share of that cash.
I can personally say i haven't worked for EA, but if offered i would not say no. The decisions which brought this award to them, would hardly affect the production staff. It's a job and from the amount of people who cling to theirs, i'd say its a bloody good one.
It's so telling that almost everybody whining and complaining has not worked for EA, and that the person starting this thread is an angry teenager...
Probably the same as most of the members of the 4chan and reddit horde that voted for that poll.
This.
My friends that work at EA keep telling me stories about them being VERY cautious with overtime, crunch etc. Apparently the EA Spouse scandal made them open their eyes and rethink a lot of practices.
But since it's easier to troll and hate on the internet, we get this...
Don't like what they done with Dead Space? Don't buy it. Don't like their business decisions? Don't be an investor.
There are so many good games out there, I barely have time to keep up with anything, so this kind of attitude baffles me.
I agree with some of what's said in here, not all, but there are areas where I agree. I don't think the games are mediocre, but the business practices leave something to be desired at times. Mostly this just pokes fun at the silliness of this whole poll.
Don't like what they done with Dead Space? Don't buy it. Don't like their business decisions? Don't be an investor.
This argument is kind of broken with the current state of the publisher/consumer relationship (and it isn't just EA). The thing is, pre-order culture is pretty heavy at the moment, and as a result there are a number of things going on that make it very difficult to make an educated decision about a product before it's too late and you find out it's a dud for whatever reason.
Incentivising pre-orders and offering special edition limited print runs would be where the issues start; players are rewarded for putting down their money for the product before it arrives.
The first issue with this is review embargoes and dishonest review practices. Sometimes I can't make an educated opinion before making a pre-order. Reviews are routinely embargoed until it's too late to pre-order, cancel a pre-order, or obtain those special editions (Aliens: Colonial Marines). Some reviewers clearly haven't actually played the game that they scored so highly (Bioshock: Infinite and IGN's exclusive review). In other cases, reviewers are given a build that doesn't represent the shipping product at all (Aliens: Colonial Marines).
The second issue stems from products that don't work or function as intended on launch (SimCity, Aliens: Colonial Marines). A review that comes out before the product may or may not touch on this kind of issue. Some times it's not possible for the reviewers to forsee issues in a real world environment, particularly if their review copy was played within the studio (OnLive). In these cases, in the UK at least, the consumer is legally entitled to a refund, but the retailer won't offer it citing that the publisher's DRM scheme prevents it's return and that the sale is therefore final.
But since it's easier to troll and hate on the internet, we get this...
Don't like what they done with Dead Space? Don't buy it. Don't like their business decisions? Don't be an investor.
There are so many good games out there, I barely have time to keep up with anything, so this kind of attitude baffles me.
A lot of us aren't complaining about the games, so much as the questionable business practices. If all you care about is the end products that you get, than for you the ends justify the means. I'm not happy with that sort of approach. Even if you like the products a company makes, you ought to take them to task if they do unsavory or unwise things to make those products happen.
And of course, we can't look at this issue without also remembering EA's horrendous marketing mistakes over the past few years. These have also been tempered somewhat in recent days, but boy, there were some big ones. The marketing fiasco that was Dante's Inferno? The horrendously tasteless and crass television commercial for Dead Space 2? The taliban controversy in Medal of Honor?
I think it's fairly obvious that as a business, EA has been making a lot of significant mistakes. The fact that they are in an entertainment industry doesn't excuse these mistakes, it just gives them a buffer from societal reprisal.
You can't beat this for a summery of the topic. I bet 95% of those who voted for EA are level 100 in BF3, pre-ordered Medal of Honor so they could get BF4 beta access, and now have BF4 pre-ordered now.
I agree, and it scares me because a lot of the industry seems to be going down the same path. Like after he second halo 3 map pack, I couldn't play the game anymore because I couldn't afford the extra maps.
Seems to me that a lot of people choose not to see the burgeoning hollywood parallels. The movie industry is mostly a business, an entertainment business, and it operates on catering to audiences. I don't know why gamers seem to look to AAA titles as some sort of vehicle for innovation, maybe in regards to tech, but it's the same with big hollywood blockbusters, i.e. Avatar. But I digress...
Seems to me that a lot of people choose not to see the burgeoning hollywood parallels. The movie industry is mostly a business, an entertainment business, and it operates on catering to audiences. I don't know why gamers seem to look to AAA titles as some sort of vehicle for innovation, maybe in regards to tech, but it's the same with big hollywood blockbusters, i.e. Avatar. But I digress...
Not everyone is looking for innovation, many are looking for a game they can play offline, which is polished, doesn't need day 1DLC to unlock a R1 map and which forces you to sign up on a shoddy service for 60$, hardly the most difficult thing in the world.
We should open up a restaurant called DLC EAts. You pay for your meal before hand and when it arrives, you have to pay extra if you want the side dishes. Plus, when you do get your food it's usually half cooked.
We should open up a restaurant called DLC EAts. You pay for your meal before hand and when it arrives, you have to pay extra if you want the side dishes. Plus, when you do get your food it's usually half cooked.
I just realized that Restaurants are pretty much DLC in most countries!
-Pay for food before hand without knowing the taste in a specific place.
-Pay extra for 'good' side dishes that aren't sloppy seconds.
-Pay extra for the ending (dessert).
-Waiters get payed in change (doing the grunt work).
-Few elite Cooks and Manager get the large wad of cash.
-Patrons get majority on how business should be done.
-Limited amount of Parking spaces on a busy day.
Reminds me of this meme that hit FB a week or so ago
In reality the only issues I've had with EA is the dislike of bf3 using a web browser to launch and find games (that was just annoying) and the tons of issues my wifes had with their customer support, (all which got resolved but took forever to do so).
However I really dislike EA, Steam, heck even the ps3's unwillingness to refund purchases of broken or mostly unplayable games or even purchases made by accident like a by a child whilst you're making lunch >_>, thanks kid for the bioshock infinite ps3 purchase I didn't need, controllers now out of the room instead of on a high shelf I don't think you can reach. (Side note on that one, whilst arguing with sony about a refund the exec told me even if my ps3 console was stolen and they racked up thousands and thousands of pounds worth of purchases they wouldn't refund me then either. What a pleasant and customer friendly company =.=)
I just realized that Restaurants are pretty much DLC in most countries!
-Pay for food before hand without knowing the taste in a specific place.
-Pay extra for 'good' side dishes that aren't sloppy seconds.
-Pay extra for the ending (dessert).
-Waiters get payed in change (doing the grunt work).
-Few elite Cooks and Manager get the large wad of cash.
-Patrons get majority on how business should be done.
-Limited amount of Parking spaces on a busy day.
The problem is, who exactly inside the industry to going to critique it and help it improve?
As this thread shows, anyone who is working for EA is going to vouch for them inside and out.
Anyone who 'could' be employed by EA doesn't want to burn bridges as potential worker there.
Anyone that 'has' been employed by EA will keep their distance as fall back.
Hell, even well off people like Cliffy B. who are considered Veterans and could start their own company tomorrow, talked about EA and said that alot of the stuff they do is better then Valve (he used the example of a joke wedding ring Valve put out for a 100$ for a while vs. that of EA's MicroTrans. setups).
We also have the issue of sites like IGN who decided to 'review' EA and 'ask them the hard hitting questions' of why people hate them. Instead of asking the people, on why they don't like EA...they basically asked EA on why people don't like EA.
That's like asking a Peacock why it's a Peacock instead of asking the zookeeper...or the biologists...or the scientists.
So yeah, as much as I agree with you that we shouldn't hold back, and that criticism ca n be a force of good, and nothing will improve without it, who exactly is willing to take that step?
The next best thing we have is polls like these, were trolls just super-charge the Black Knighting for the White Knighting, so it all comes crumbling down and becoming more poisonous then ever.
I dont like EA like everybody else but they are not even close to worst company on that earth.This only shows how stupid and ignorant peoples are and how nobody cares about the real problems on this rock in space that we called Earth.
Firts time was redicilous.Now...well Einstein is right like always "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Btw next time when someone fucked up the world economics or destroys the forest or whatever, the only thing you will need to do is to fucked up the next Mass Effect ending and put microtransactions in Dead Space 4 and no one will ever care about anything else.Here you go real life villains you dont even need cover up stories anymore.Now i expect my big pile of money.
I mean, when EA screws up release of Simcity, it's all over the freakin web. it's hard NOT to read about it. Especially if you are gamer and usually browse around gaming websites....so of course, news like that will hit you right away.
While when some company farther decreases huuuge size of already abused forest in, say, brasil, that can have all sorts of consequences, i usually don't even read about it, but it's hard to find any news about it anywhere.
I mean, there are some news about really bad practices some companies do, but for many, many others, those news kinda skip the gamers.
So from that perspective, i can kinda see how gamers see EA as greater evil, because many for that reason aren't even aware of other, greater "evils" then EA.
Not to mention when you are 15,17, maybe 20, you probably don't care too much about politics and global problems in the first place....
And i think there's also this thing, understanding why its bad for you that EA is doing those bad things are easy...i loose conenction , and i can't play SP game.
But to 15,17 years old to understand some of those global problems, especially economics, it's abit harder for those kids.
So, i'm not sure if this is just about people being stupid, but rather that these kids just much easier understand why is EA evil then why are those other companies evil....
Zockymate if this was about worst gaming company i will vote with both hands and both legs for them but the scope is different.Btw i dont know why EA are even in the nominations.
Ohhh wait i just check where this fars happened and which are some of other nominated companies.In site about consumerism.Now everything make sense.Forget everything that i said.This is even more ridiculous than i thinked.But again Bank of America and EA in one place?Really?
Btw you've made one very very good point.Why EA is all around the web but far worst companies and not only companies are not and almost nobody is even awere of what they are doing?
Well, don't get me wrong, i'm not really saying i agree there with EA being the worst, because i don't (But as you said, i do think it's one of, if not THE worst gaming company)....
I'm just trying to explaining why i think gamers actually decided to vote like that. Of course i can be wrong though.
And...i dunno, maybe those kind of news just don't sell as well?
Again, it's all a biased poll, since as I said, older people or more professional people (school teachers, oil rig workers, bank accountants, etc) aren't exactly going to be sitting on their arse all day long and voting on some digital poll.
They just don't hide the fact that they want your money very well and for stuff that is ready at launch no less aswell. The sooner in app purchase culture disappears the better IMO
Their studios are great, just bad business practices as others have said.
In any case, if peter moore felt the need to call their customers homophobes two years and two victories in a row to look good infront of the shareholders then I say this vote was a win!
Now explain this all you mr.theresalwayssomethingworse, if all these understandably more horrible companies wouldve been voted up on top and no one in the end never cared at all, wouldn't we have made less of a change to the world?
In short: this is the one other thing than money that EA will listen to.
I also love their games BF,ME,Crysis,Mirrors edge,Bullet storm,Alice...I really reaaaly love Bioware and DICE.Last two years they made some things that pissed alot of people but whatever everyone make mistakes from time to time.When i think more and more about it their problem is that they dont have guys like Gabe,Karmack,Levine and so on.People that can represent the company in a good light and openly to talk about stuff.I think their PR is what is actualy bad especially when it comes to problem solving.they've pissed of the people even more ''cough'' SimCity ''cough''...
Can't help but think that a lot of people forget that EA is a business with it's main goal set to a) making a profit and b) keeping the business afloat.
If you consider how large it is and how much it must cost to keep such a large business running. Or even how the games industry is changing and it's harder for any large business in any industry adapt to new changes. It's no excuse that their consumers should suffer for their mistakes, but they do need to find new ways of making money to survive, which also explains why they feel more secure in a creating another game in a franchise rather than taking a risk on something new.
I had an issue with origin, with the purchase of BF4, and the support was flawless. In less than 24 hours i had all solved.
And more than a year ago, with ME3 there was a problem with keys, so at the end as an apology, they gave me a free game of my choice. Steam does not do that, and i have had some big issues with them. The support is very bad, and i always received a polite response full of irony (aka "GTFO, deal with it"). I wish i could rate the operator support like with origin or Dell.
I'm very happy with Origin, with their service and customer support.
It's sad, but nobody seems to remember the 2 first weeks of Diablo 3. So i think all the hate is related to EA's DRM because they can't play some of their games without paying.
The Crusades had little to do with Jesus. The Crusades were all the Pope and Christian nations getting pissed about Christian pilgrims being murdered by militia in large numbers in the Middle East, and the local rulers not giving a damn.
Can't help but think that a lot of people forget that EA is a business with it's main goal set to a) making a profit and b) keeping the business afloat.
If you consider how large it is and how much it must cost to keep such a large business running. Or even how the games industry is changing and it's harder for any large business in any industry adapt to new changes. It's no excuse that their consumers should suffer for their mistakes, but they do need to find new ways of making money to survive, which also explains why they feel more secure in a creating another game in a franchise rather than taking a risk on something new.
That's hardly justifiable, ALL companies are out to make money, not EA only, yet alot of them still have tact, and they're doing a much important job then allowing you bang the blue hot alien girl at the end of the day.
It's sad, but nobody seems to remember the 2 first weeks of Diablo 3. So i think all the hate is related to EA's DRM because they can't play some of their games without paying.
Everyone remembers Diablo 3, the SimCity launch is constantly compared to it, and if Diablo 3 had an expansion pack next year, no one would buy it. There's a reason the Diablo 3 release on consoles has no auction house, local co-op, and offline modes.
That's hardly justifiable, ALL companies are out to make money, not EA only, yet alot of them still have tact, and they're doing a much important job then allowing you bang the blue hot alien girl at the end of the day.
No it's not quite, but EA most likely will or have learned from past mistakes, although I guess I should wait and see what the monetization options will be like for Generals 2 before making such a statement.
And are you really that annoyed about sex in videogames? It's awkward as hell to watch and I disapprove of it as much as the next person, but EA aren't the only publisher to do it.
No it's not quite, but EA most likely will or have learned from past mistakes, although I guess I should wait and see what the monetization options will be like for Generals 2 before making such a statement.
In the case of the CnC franchise, EA haven't learnt from a single mistake since Red Alert 2... and it was a downhill spiral from there. Let's face it, Command and Conquer was dead before CnC 4 (Call of Duty style unlockable units, wtf?), and noone has even played the latest iteration because it's moneterised browser based shit.
Replies
Probably the same as most of the members of the 4chan and reddit horde that voted for that poll.
EA have scored highly not because of some perceived horde of Internet trolls, but because their practices have directly affected a large number of people who have an emotional or otherwise cultural investment with the product they produce. That volume of people has been indicatively larger than those affected by a corporation like Monsanto, who don't offer consumer facing products. Bank of America came a close second - however there's a distinct difference between the two. Whilst BoA is well known for screwing over it's customers, this has only affected a comparatively small number of people, and unlike EA, they're not particularly vocal about how little of a fuck they actually give about them.
I despise 4chan and reddit, and no I don't have any huge hate for EA other than their BF3 DLC crap they pulled.
I saw it on Yahoo and it was relevant so I posted it here, problem? You going to pm me about my attitude again lol?
Now now, keep personal attacks down gents, we are all civil here aren't we?
This is obviously a biased poll as the consumers were disgruntled by "bad" practices which blatantly are aimed to grab the last few pounds from it's users.
For those who don't agree with it being a big business; The business created by the digital gaming market is estimated that to exceed $74 billion in 2011, up 10.4 per cent from 2010. (McCall, 2011) So for the frontline companies at the top, they have a fairly big share of that cash.
I can personally say i haven't worked for EA, but if offered i would not say no. The decisions which brought this award to them, would hardly affect the production staff. It's a job and from the amount of people who cling to theirs, i'd say its a bloody good one.
Really not much else to it.
This.
My friends that work at EA keep telling me stories about them being VERY cautious with overtime, crunch etc. Apparently the EA Spouse scandal made them open their eyes and rethink a lot of practices.
http://www.gamefront.com/ea-spouse-ea-doesnt-get-enough-credit
But since it's easier to troll and hate on the internet, we get this...
Don't like what they done with Dead Space? Don't buy it. Don't like their business decisions? Don't be an investor.
There are so many good games out there, I barely have time to keep up with anything, so this kind of attitude baffles me.
I agree with some of what's said in here, not all, but there are areas where I agree. I don't think the games are mediocre, but the business practices leave something to be desired at times. Mostly this just pokes fun at the silliness of this whole poll.
This argument is kind of broken with the current state of the publisher/consumer relationship (and it isn't just EA). The thing is, pre-order culture is pretty heavy at the moment, and as a result there are a number of things going on that make it very difficult to make an educated decision about a product before it's too late and you find out it's a dud for whatever reason.
Incentivising pre-orders and offering special edition limited print runs would be where the issues start; players are rewarded for putting down their money for the product before it arrives.
The first issue with this is review embargoes and dishonest review practices. Sometimes I can't make an educated opinion before making a pre-order. Reviews are routinely embargoed until it's too late to pre-order, cancel a pre-order, or obtain those special editions (Aliens: Colonial Marines). Some reviewers clearly haven't actually played the game that they scored so highly (Bioshock: Infinite and IGN's exclusive review). In other cases, reviewers are given a build that doesn't represent the shipping product at all (Aliens: Colonial Marines).
The second issue stems from products that don't work or function as intended on launch (SimCity, Aliens: Colonial Marines). A review that comes out before the product may or may not touch on this kind of issue. Some times it's not possible for the reviewers to forsee issues in a real world environment, particularly if their review copy was played within the studio (OnLive). In these cases, in the UK at least, the consumer is legally entitled to a refund, but the retailer won't offer it citing that the publisher's DRM scheme prevents it's return and that the sale is therefore final.
A lot of us aren't complaining about the games, so much as the questionable business practices. If all you care about is the end products that you get, than for you the ends justify the means. I'm not happy with that sort of approach. Even if you like the products a company makes, you ought to take them to task if they do unsavory or unwise things to make those products happen.
And of course, we can't look at this issue without also remembering EA's horrendous marketing mistakes over the past few years. These have also been tempered somewhat in recent days, but boy, there were some big ones. The marketing fiasco that was Dante's Inferno? The horrendously tasteless and crass television commercial for Dead Space 2? The taliban controversy in Medal of Honor?
I think it's fairly obvious that as a business, EA has been making a lot of significant mistakes. The fact that they are in an entertainment industry doesn't excuse these mistakes, it just gives them a buffer from societal reprisal.
You can't beat this for a summery of the topic. I bet 95% of those who voted for EA are level 100 in BF3, pre-ordered Medal of Honor so they could get BF4 beta access, and now have BF4 pre-ordered now.
http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2012-releases
It's also interesting that Activision did not even release an original IP last year.
-Pay for food before hand without knowing the taste in a specific place.
-Pay extra for 'good' side dishes that aren't sloppy seconds.
-Pay extra for the ending (dessert).
-Waiters get payed in change (doing the grunt work).
-Few elite Cooks and Manager get the large wad of cash.
-Patrons get majority on how business should be done.
-Limited amount of Parking spaces on a busy day.
We were being DLC'ed ALL ALONG! #OCCUPYRESTAURANTS2013 #DLCSTAURNTS
In reality the only issues I've had with EA is the dislike of bf3 using a web browser to launch and find games (that was just annoying) and the tons of issues my wifes had with their customer support, (all which got resolved but took forever to do so).
However I really dislike EA, Steam, heck even the ps3's unwillingness to refund purchases of broken or mostly unplayable games or even purchases made by accident like a by a child whilst you're making lunch >_>, thanks kid for the bioshock infinite ps3 purchase I didn't need, controllers now out of the room instead of on a high shelf I don't think you can reach. (Side note on that one, whilst arguing with sony about a refund the exec told me even if my ps3 console was stolen and they racked up thousands and thousands of pounds worth of purchases they wouldn't refund me then either. What a pleasant and customer friendly company =.=)
Haha exactly, not a great analogy there Velvet! :P
Anything that ever troubles yourself or anything one ever does will be firstworldproblems compared to what goes on in the rest of the world.
This is our industry and if something is poisoning it we shouldn't just ignore it because "there is always something worse"
As this thread shows, anyone who is working for EA is going to vouch for them inside and out.
Anyone who 'could' be employed by EA doesn't want to burn bridges as potential worker there.
Anyone that 'has' been employed by EA will keep their distance as fall back.
Hell, even well off people like Cliffy B. who are considered Veterans and could start their own company tomorrow, talked about EA and said that alot of the stuff they do is better then Valve (he used the example of a joke wedding ring Valve put out for a 100$ for a while vs. that of EA's MicroTrans. setups).
We also have the issue of sites like IGN who decided to 'review' EA and 'ask them the hard hitting questions' of why people hate them. Instead of asking the people, on why they don't like EA...they basically asked EA on why people don't like EA.
That's like asking a Peacock why it's a Peacock instead of asking the zookeeper...or the biologists...or the scientists.
So yeah, as much as I agree with you that we shouldn't hold back, and that criticism ca n be a force of good, and nothing will improve without it, who exactly is willing to take that step?
The next best thing we have is polls like these, were trolls just super-charge the Black Knighting for the White Knighting, so it all comes crumbling down and becoming more poisonous then ever.
Firts time was redicilous.Now...well Einstein is right like always "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Btw next time when someone fucked up the world economics or destroys the forest or whatever, the only thing you will need to do is to fucked up the next Mass Effect ending and put microtransactions in Dead Space 4 and no one will ever care about anything else.Here you go real life villains you dont even need cover up stories anymore.Now i expect my big pile of money.
I mean, when EA screws up release of Simcity, it's all over the freakin web. it's hard NOT to read about it. Especially if you are gamer and usually browse around gaming websites....so of course, news like that will hit you right away.
While when some company farther decreases huuuge size of already abused forest in, say, brasil, that can have all sorts of consequences, i usually don't even read about it, but it's hard to find any news about it anywhere.
I mean, there are some news about really bad practices some companies do, but for many, many others, those news kinda skip the gamers.
So from that perspective, i can kinda see how gamers see EA as greater evil, because many for that reason aren't even aware of other, greater "evils" then EA.
Not to mention when you are 15,17, maybe 20, you probably don't care too much about politics and global problems in the first place....
And i think there's also this thing, understanding why its bad for you that EA is doing those bad things are easy...i loose conenction , and i can't play SP game.
But to 15,17 years old to understand some of those global problems, especially economics, it's abit harder for those kids.
So, i'm not sure if this is just about people being stupid, but rather that these kids just much easier understand why is EA evil then why are those other companies evil....
Ohhh wait i just check where this fars happened and which are some of other nominated companies.In site about consumerism.Now everything make sense.Forget everything that i said.This is even more ridiculous than i thinked.But again Bank of America and EA in one place?Really?
Btw you've made one very very good point.Why EA is all around the web but far worst companies and not only companies are not and almost nobody is even awere of what they are doing?
I'm just trying to explaining why i think gamers actually decided to vote like that. Of course i can be wrong though.
And...i dunno, maybe those kind of news just don't sell as well?
EDIT: i have to admit this logo i kinda clever hehe
Their studios are great, just bad business practices as others have said.
Now explain this all you mr.theresalwayssomethingworse, if all these understandably more horrible companies wouldve been voted up on top and no one in the end never cared at all, wouldn't we have made less of a change to the world?
In short: this is the one other thing than money that EA will listen to.
I already bought the digital deluxe edition of BF4.
If you consider how large it is and how much it must cost to keep such a large business running. Or even how the games industry is changing and it's harder for any large business in any industry adapt to new changes. It's no excuse that their consumers should suffer for their mistakes, but they do need to find new ways of making money to survive, which also explains why they feel more secure in a creating another game in a franchise rather than taking a risk on something new.
[ame="
And more than a year ago, with ME3 there was a problem with keys, so at the end as an apology, they gave me a free game of my choice. Steam does not do that, and i have had some big issues with them. The support is very bad, and i always received a polite response full of irony (aka "GTFO, deal with it"). I wish i could rate the operator support like with origin or Dell.
I'm very happy with Origin, with their service and customer support.
It's sad, but nobody seems to remember the 2 first weeks of Diablo 3. So i think all the hate is related to EA's DRM because they can't play some of their games without paying.
Everyone remembers Diablo 3, the SimCity launch is constantly compared to it, and if Diablo 3 had an expansion pack next year, no one would buy it. There's a reason the Diablo 3 release on consoles has no auction house, local co-op, and offline modes.
And are you really that annoyed about sex in videogames? It's awkward as hell to watch and I disapprove of it as much as the next person, but EA aren't the only publisher to do it.
In the case of the CnC franchise, EA haven't learnt from a single mistake since Red Alert 2... and it was a downhill spiral from there. Let's face it, Command and Conquer was dead before CnC 4 (Call of Duty style unlockable units, wtf?), and noone has even played the latest iteration because it's moneterised browser based shit.