EA for Sale

[wanderer27]

Maybe things are finally catching up with them:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/374794/20120817/electronic-arts-ea-games-sale.htm


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[thecrecarc]

I think the entire f2p model the industry is headed in is a bad idea. I was extremely excited for Generals 2, for example, until it was recently announced that it would be f2p. Now, I am significantly more worried, and am doubtful that they will be able to create a balanced game when people can spend more money to unlock various parts of the game, thereby creating an unfair and uncompetitive advantage. Instead of making me buy it at release, as a standard model would have done, the f2p model made me unlikely to play the game at all.

 

[Maximilian]

Ill let you guys in on a little secret...

Im currently involved in negotiations with EA to buy them out, they say they will pay me 500k to take ownership of the company, i am holding out for more...

 

[ImpulsE69]

Ill let you guys in on a little secret...

Im currently involved in negotiations with EA to buy them out, they say they will pay me 500k to take ownership of the company, i am holding out for more...

Those bastards! They only offered me $400k, but they promised to give me full ownership and rights to all sports games which I will promptly be taking over and renovating with this theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnsJKj2KVKk

1. Buy EA
2. Make scantally clad men sports games
3. ??
4. Profit!

 

[Craig234]

I think the entire f2p model the industry is headed in is a bad idea. I was extremely excited for Generals 2, for example, until it was recently announced that it would be f2p. Now, I am significantly more worried, and am doubtful that they will be able to create a balanced game when people can spend more money to unlock various parts of the game, thereby creating an unfair and uncompetitive advantage. Instead of making me buy it at release, as a standard model would have done, the f2p model made me unlikely to play the game at all.

Comes down to the market, as gamers come to realize the inherent negatives about F2P, and decide whether to buy retail game or F2P (and how much to spend).

Right now, gamers see F2P and think 'great, I can play without spending if I want'.

That could change to 'another game with built in suckiness to force me to spend - I don't want that again, give me a good retail game designed for me to just have fun'.

But we're not really at that point.

 

[wuliheron]

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win. Just in the last year EA ignored complaints, laughed off being voted the worst corporation of the year, blamed Valve for driving down prices, and now they're looking for someone to bail them out rather than admitting they have problems. Can't wait to see them bite the bullet.

 

[Arkadrel]

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win. Just in the last year EA ignored complaints, laughed off being voted the worst corporation of the year, blamed Valve for driving down prices, and now they're looking for someone to bail them out rather than admitting they have problems. Can't wait to see them bite the bullet.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/04/04/ea-is-the-worst-company-in-america-now-what/

The results of The Consumerist’s “Worst Company in America” bracket are in, and as I predicted, Electronic Arts managed to beat out Bank of America for the title. I won’t spend any more time talking about whether that’s a deserved result. I wrote yesterday that a company whose misdeeds resulted in home foreclosures and loss of income outweigh abusive DLC and DRM practices, but that’s beside the point now.

EA’s “win” here is a clear reflection of just how passionately gamers hate the brand. They flooded the Consumerists polls to ensure that they earned the top spot (over such other despised brands as Comcast, AT&T and Walmart), and you have to wonder what, if anything is going on at EA HQ today.


You might guess that they’d just shrug off the mantle. They’re a huge company, and who cares what some website poll says? They’ve been reading hatred on forums for years now, what’s different with this new round of scorn?


The truth is, hate for EA is approaching a critical mass. I’ve often talked about how far gamers can be pushed when it comes to the medium they love. I speculated that companies like EA are pushing the buttons of gamers on purpose, to see what they will and won’t tolerate. And by tolerate, of course, I don’t mean rant about on forums. I mean what they will pay for.


The most recent example would be the Day One DLC pack for Mass Effect 3. The description implied to players it was “essential content,” and as such, raised the price of the game from $60 to $70 for fans. It was a test, and for how much the pack sold, it was a success.


Then there’s the Mass Effect 3 ending, which I personally believe was meant to be yet another test. It was left cryptic and unclear, and as such, ripe for a DLC expansion. Now, with how angry players have gotten over the ending, they might have to scrap what they were planning. To release a paid DLC pack to “fix” the lackluster ending would turn fan anger into downright fury. But again, it would probably sell. EA continues to push the bounds of what’s acceptable to gamers, and their winning this poll is an indicator they’ve gone too far. But the next marker must be a decrease in sales, or else all the rage is for nothing.


EA’s problems extend far beyond DLC packs however. They were Zynga before Zynga existed, buying up promising companies and gutting them so they were no longer competition, harvesting the best ideas for themselves. The complete list of EA’s acquisitions over the years is massive, and they’ve killed many beloved brands in the process. Recently, Bioware seems to be their latest casualty, as the company now seems more dominated by EA’s influence than ever.


Will EA change? No. Not if we don’t force it to as consumers. The fact that they’ve been voted “Worst Company in America” indicates a clear PR problem, but PR problems only matter if they directly affect sales. In this case, so far, they have not. Gamers love titles like Battlefield and Mass Effect so much that they’re willing to put up with changes they hate and give money to a company they despise in order to play the games.

Where the final line is drawn, I don’t know. It seems with each new release comes another bold push from EA to pry more money out of gamers’ pockets. But it doesn’t work for consumers to yell “I hate you!” as they hand over their cash. The trade right now seems to be that gamers pay EA a tax in order to access titles they love. The rate keeps going up and up, but what choice do gamers have? Well, they could abandon these franchises and support companies that actually appreciate their players, rather than try to exploit them.

But that’s not realistic in today’s industry. Giant companies like EA and Activision control too much of the market for average gamers to boycott their titles. For every one proud activist who refuses to buy their games out of principle, there are a hundred more who simply don’t care. They’ll buy the titles, pick and choose what DLC they want, be annoyed with DRM and deal with a growing lack of creativity due to corporate interference. But in doing so, the industry gets a little worse with each new title.
I believe EA is a destructive force in the industry as their goal isn’t to make gaming more accessible and respected as a medium. How can you argue that video games are art, when pieces of the story are cleaved out to be sold separately? This is why the titans of the gaming industry like EA are passionately hated, while movie studios and TV networks don’t draw nearly as much ire. 3D price gouging seems downright generous when compared to the tricks companies like EA are using to wring more money out of consumers.

But the players are the only ones who can truly stop EA. If you think they’re going to read The Consumerist today and have a sudden change of heart, you’re kidding yourselves. The practices you hate will remain in place until it’s proven they no longer work.


If you want to topple EA, don’t vote in a poll. Vote with your wallet.

EA are not popular with consumers. Yet people still want some of these titles and buy them "dispite" EA.

 

[Ferzerp]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/04/04/ea-is-the-worst-company-in-america-now-what/

EA are not popular with consumers. Yet people still want some of these titles and buy them "dispite" EA.

*despite

Buy anyway, EA does get a tiny bit of my money, but that's rare, and I'd probably give them 10x what I currently do if they weren't so hostile to their customers. Many games that I've wanted on PC I've skipped due to Origin, or other issues with EA (DRM, etc)

 

[VulgarDisplay]

The majority of games that I actually play are EA. People exaggerate how bad they are.

 

[Siberian]

Oh please let Valve buy them.

 

[Kalmah]

Maybe Dungeon Keeper 3 can wiggle its way out of all this...

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Oh please let Valve buy them.

fingers crossed!!!! That would likey be the end of origin, and hopefully id be able to activate my BF3 in steam!

 

[wuliheron]

*despite

Buy anyway, EA does get a tiny bit of my money, but that's rare, and I'd probably give them 10x what I currently do if they weren't so hostile to their customers. Many games that I've wanted on PC I've skipped due to Origin, or other issues with EA (DRM, etc)

Screw that. EA is on the floor and down for the count. Now is the time to kick them as hard as you can and show them just how pissed off you are. That's the only thing people like this understand.

 

[wuliheron]

Oh please let Valve buy them.

That would be awesome for EA, but I'm not sure how good it would be for Valve. I wouldn't want the slime rubbing off on them.

 

[Maximilian]

Oh please let Valve buy them.

If only...

 

[Arkadrel]

The majority of games that I actually play are EA. People exaggerate how bad they are.

EA dont "nessarly" make bad games.

Its the other stuff...


1) They collect your personal data and sell it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Origin-EULA-PC-Gaming-Glorified-Spyware-DRM,13285.html

End User License Agreement for Origin reveals that it grants EA the right to snoop through desktops and laptops once the user agrees to the terms. If that wasn't invasive enough, the agreement also allows EA to share all that information to third party service providers.

2a) Draconian DRM ( Hardware/Software (OS eg) change -> cant play the game )

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/16/ubisofts-activations-monitor-hardware-changes/

Ubisoft’s Anno 2070 will refuse to reinstall if you just swap out something as simple as a graphics card.

3) Supported SOPA (not something most people like, ones that value freedom/rights)

4) EA’s always online policy

Single player games, cant be played if you have no internet connection OR if EA servers go down (which happends). This hurts legit owners for no reason.

(while pirated games dont suffer, this means pirated game versions offer a better experiance than a game you bought).


List goes on and on... it boils down to:
Its just EA makes legit owners of their games, jump through alot of Hoops, just to play a game.

What is ironic is above this thread, there is one called
It's way too much of a chore to play games these days .

** That talks about a guy frustrated with remembering login/passwords,
not being able to play his game because he upg to windows 8
(and haveing to call support for the game and talk to them, because of windows upgrade) ect.

When all he wanted to do, was get home from work, and play a single player game.
Instead now he has to call "support" to unlock his game they froze after he upgraded windows ect.

Its gotten to the point where people go "fu** it" its too much hassel, and just throw the game out when they upg PC or windows OS. Which is total fu**ing bullsh**, when you buy a game it should be yours to play even after a reinstall of windows or a change of hardware like a new GPU.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

EA dont "nessarly" make bad games.

Its the other stuff...


1) They collect your personal data and sell it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Origin-EULA-PC-Gaming-Glorified-Spyware-DRM,13285.html


2a) Draconian DRM ( Hardware/Software (OS eg) change -> cant play the game )

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/16/ubisofts-activations-monitor-hardware-changes/


3) Supported SOPA (not something most people like, ones that value freedom/rights)

4) EA’s always online policy

Single player games, cant be played if you have no internet connection OR if EA servers go down (which happends). This hurts legit owners for no reason.

(while pirated games dont suffer, this means pirated game versions offer a better experiance than a game you bought).


List goes on and on... it boils down to:
Its just EA makes legit owners of their games, jump through alot of Hoops, just to play a game.

What is ironic is above this thread, there is one called
It's way too much of a chore to play games these days .

** That talks about a guy frustrated with remembering login/passwords,
not being able to play his game because he upg to windows 8
(and haveing to call support for the game and talk to them, because of windows upgrade) ect.

When all he wanted to do, was get home from work, and play a single player game.
Instead now he has to call "support" to unlock his game they froze after he upgraded windows ect.

Its gotten to the point where people go "fu** it" its too much hassel, and just throw the game out when they upg PC or windows OS. Which is total fu**ing bullsh**, when you buy a game it should be yours to play even after a reinstall of windows or a change of hardware like a new GPU.

I for one am one of the people who hates EA for almost everything non-game related, but I have to admit they have some of the best titles under their name. (BF3, dead space, medal of honor, crysis, sim city/sims, mass effect, need for speed, dragon age, plants vs zombies, and a few really good sports games, NHL in particular)

You could make a case that games by EA are the best around, but are ruined by EA's reputation, and then stupid bullshit that they do. Do a swap of valves and EA's games, and youd probably hear the same complaints from gamers. "I dont care if half life 3 is awesome, ill never give EA another dollar."

My only hope is that a company who knows what theyre doing buys EA. Best case scenario is Valve buys EA, and gets rid of goddamn origin for good. Maybe they eveb delay a few upcoming titles that arent finished products, or just suck, and redo them to something that people will buy and enjoy, as opposed to buy and complain how bad or how rushed dead space 3 is, or how they just put out some game to make money.

 

[LeviathanPT]

I hope they die far.. and they arnt a good developer just a distributor so even if they parish (and i hope so) the developers have other ways to distribute their games in a cheaper and less intrusive way than using EA.

Look at Slighty Mad Studios for example, after finishing Need for Speed Shift 2 Unleashed they thought, lets do what we wanted to in the first place without limitations from external companies. So they did it and created World Of Mass Development, they started their own project called "Project CARS" and use a system alike Kickstarter, so far they have gathered almost 2.9 Million euros and have an amazing game beyond anything released so far in any platorm.

I placed some pics to show here in the forums: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33850340&postcount=5

Project Homepage: http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/

 

[Texashiker]

I lol'ed

Like other video game publishers and software developers of its stature, EA has struggled in recent years as the global financial crisis and the industry's turn toward mobile and social gaming decreased demand for its products.

Talk about not taking blame for your failures.

Give the consumer what they want, and the company will make money. EA has failed to give the consumer anything new or innovative.

 

[LeviathanPT]

Thats true and one of the reasons why i believe in projects like Kickstarter and World of Mass Development where the community participates and help create a project that has a begining, mid section and a ending. No more rushed out games just to make quick money but quality and well supported games. Just like in the old days.

 

[exdeath]

Hopefully Activision is right behind them.

Maybe EA + Activision will merge. Anyone up for Call of Madden Special Edition 2015?

 

[BD231]

I don't care about EA, they put out decent games (before they ruin them via sequels of course). My gripe is with Rodger Goodell and the goddamn NFL contract he gave them.

 

[LeviathanPT]

I don't care about EA, they put out decent games (before they ruin them via sequels of course). My gripe is with Rodger Goodell and the goddamn NFL contract he gave them.

The developers they hire put out decent games, then EA ruins by putting their hands on it.

 

[DeadFred]

I understand the hate towards EA.......... but I dont understand all the love for Valve's Steam. IMO, it sucks just as bad or maybe even a tad worse than Origin.

 

[BD231]

The developers they hire put out decent games, then EA ruins by putting their hands on it.

I prefer quality control and proper funding in the games I play but showing you're willing to oppress a billions strong gaming community to one NFL title via contract is just wrong. Their upper ranks are infested with slime.