How do you feel about EA games?

[Kevs]

I own FIFA 14, NHL 15, Skate , Skate 3 and Peggle 2 what's your opinion on their games?

 

[Kneedragger]

Probably have the best game launches ever..

 

[SlitheryDee]

I've enjoyed the majority of the EA games I've played. Most of the complaints against them seem to be of the "This game is great but it would be even better if EA didn't [insert complaint here]" variety, so whatever. I'm not one to obsess over niggling details in any case.

 

[Fulle]

I guess I'll take the bait.

EA's disliked for a lot of reasons. Off the top of my head:

Buying game studios, gutting them, and then ruining the IPs
- A good example of this is Westwood

Day One on the disk DLC
Online Pass
DRM
- EA had a history of DRM that was sometimes game breaking for PC players

EA Sports couldn't compete with competitors making superior football games, so they forged an exclusivity deal with the NFL.

Mandatory Origin on certain PC games.
Origin related shenanigans, such as insane TOS conditions

Unfinished games.
- Good example would be Battlefield 4.

Forced online components on single player games + broken online
- Sim City says "hi"

Seriously, though, if you don't hate EA as a gamer, you haven't been paying attention.

 

[smackababy]

I guess I'll take the bait.

EA's disliked for a lot of reasons. Off the top of my head:

Buying game studios, gutting them, and then ruining the IPs
- A good example of this is Westwood Has one good series, and it is debatable if EA had much to do with their demise (like every other studio that sold to them and failed in niche genres)

Day One on the disk DLC
Online Pass Certainly not the first company to do such a model, but evil nonetheless.
DRM
- EA had a history of DRM that was sometimes game breaking for PC players Along with nearly every other PC company. But, of course, EA is evil.

EA Sports couldn't compete with competitors making superior football games, so they forged an exclusivity deal with the NFL. It was the NFL, not EA, that sought an exclusive agreement. Simply because EA offered the most, doesn't make them the bad guys.

Mandatory Origin on certain PC games.
Origin related shenanigans, such as insane TOS conditions Please, enlighten me of these shenanigans. Would that include offering an official digital distribution return policy before Steam (if Steam even does that)? If anything, they are following the status quo and not giving Valve 30% of their profits for nothing.

Unfinished games.
- Good example would be Battlefield 4. Blame Dice (and it isn't like they are the only ones. Again, status quo of gaming for a LONG time. Plenty of games have been released unfinished and broken, long before EA and long after.

Forced online components on single player games + broken online
- Sim City says "hi" Maybe an argument against always online. But, they are only following suit of other companies. Heard of Diablo 3?

Seriously, though, if you don't hate EA as a gamer, you haven't been paying attention.

So, what you should be saying is "if you don't hate EVERY company as a gamer, you aren't a blowhard that gets upset too easily."



As for the OP, what I think about EA games (if you mean games published by EA), is based on the individual game itself.

 

[Fulle]

So, what you should be saying is "if you don't hate EVERY company as a gamer, you aren't a blowhard that gets upset too easily."



As for the OP, what I think about EA games (if you mean games published by EA), is based on the individual game itself.

Most of your rebuttal can be summed up as "EA's not the only one". Which is true. Ubisoft and Activision, both conduct business in a similar fashion to EA.

 

[TeknoBug]

Generally I don't like them anymore. They've killed a handful of good game companies after acquiring them (Maxis and Bioware were perfectly suitable before EA bought them out), and has exclusive license to NFL, Porsche, Star Wars, a handful in FIFA, and whatever else I can't think of right now. And becoming lazy in handling and maintaining games lately- at least they owed up to their issues with SimCity 2013 though.

 

[HitAnyKey]

I am still a bit ticked at them for killing Motor City Online.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'll never forgive them after they killed Thrill Kill.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'll never forgive them after they killed Thrill Kill.

Lol...fun little game that was.

I don't hate EA. They have some good studios, but I refuse to buy their sports games, and will never buy battlefield again. Bioware though...I thought Dragon Age Inquisition was fantastic.

 

[zerocool84]

I love and I mean LOVE Battlefield games. I even loved horribly bug ridden Battlefield 2.

I love some of their games, I hate some of them.

 

[mmntech]

EA has the capacity to toss out some truly original and excellent games. Mirror's Edge and Mass Effect come to mind. They're like any other big entertainment company though, regardless of industry. They play it safe, don't allow for a lot of creativity, and have slight disdain for their own customers.

On the DRM front, I think they're one of the few big boys that ended up paying dearly for it with the 2008 Spore scandal. That was really the first time casual and non-gamers got thrown up against the copy-protection wall, and they revolted. You don't get those customers back.

They tried same shenanigans again with SimCity 5 and it bit them in the backside. At least they did admit their mistakes and fixed them eventually.

I don't think EA deserves its reputation as the "worst company in America".

If you want to talk about the big boys, Ubisoft is guiltier of far more crimes against gaming. Particularly their rather open disdain towards PC gamers. Even that pales in comparison to what Capcom and Konami have been up to.

 

[Newell Steamer]

They are more business than game business. If an IP doesn't meet their financial goals - it's dead.

So, I can't really follow them, especially for day one releases. They don't release a game because it's ready, they release a game because they know it will make money for them to meet a financial goal, such as the Call of Duty IP. Once they identify a cash cow, they milk it.

I wait for an EA game to hit a sale before I buy it. Buying an EA game at launch is basically paying them to test their game for them. No thank you. If you're OK with paying $60 to beta test a game, more power to you.

I don't think there is any game publisher/developer that is not devoid of stupidity:
- Nintendo's online infrastructure is still craptacular
- Capcom/Konami nixing IPs and then similar IPs then blow up on kickstarter (Megaman/Mighty No 9 and Castlevania/Bloodstained)

 

[smackababy]

They are more business than game business. If an IP doesn't meet their financial goals - it's dead.

This argument against EA makes zero sense. Why would ANY developer or publisher continue to put resources toward an IP that makes them little to know money? Why would any business continue that? Complaining that EA gets rid of IPs that don't do well is like crying that Walmart occasionally removes products that don't sell from their shelves. The idea that EA should, for the good of the gamers or some other BS, continue to use resources for things that simply don't sell is beyond stupid.

 

[TeknoBug]

This argument against EA makes zero sense. Why would ANY developer or publisher continue to put resources toward an IP that makes them little to know money? Why would any business continue that? Complaining that EA gets rid of IPs that don't do well is like crying that Walmart occasionally removes products that don't sell from their shelves. The idea that EA should, for the good of the gamers or some other BS, continue to use resources for things that simply don't sell is beyond stupid.

NCSoft with Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault and City of Heroes comes to mind, City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa were still popular and TR was actually gaining ground but they canned it because Richard Garriot was in space on vacation and they didn't give a rat's ass about his investment. Not to mention, TRYING to push users of existing games to move to Guild Wars 2.

EA canned Command and Conquer, a fairly popular series and they messed up SimCity which will probably lead to never releasing another one again following their destruction of Maxis. Meanwhile they continued to try and put effort into Medal of Honor and will probably try again eventually. At least they realized what a waste of time FIFA World has been and canned that.

EA's handling of "dead" games is entirely different than what you described, NCSoft comes close to how EA has been doing it.

 

[smackababy]

NCSoft with Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault and City of Heroes comes to mind, City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa were still popular and TR was actually gaining ground but they canned it because Richard Garriot was in space on vacation and they didn't give a rat's ass about his investment. Not to mention, TRYING to push users of existing games to move to Guild Wars 2.

EA canned Command and Conquer, a fairly popular series and they messed up SimCity which will probably lead to never releasing another one again following their destruction of Maxis. Meanwhile they continued to try and put effort into Medal of Honor and will probably try again eventually. At least they realized what a waste of time FIFA World has been and canned that.

EA's handling of "dead" games is entirely different than what you described, NCSoft comes close to how EA has been doing it.

EA didn't can C&C. In fact, they are seeking a developer to continue the series (Generals 2), regardless, it won't sell well and then be canned. A mediocre game whose last mediocre entry was in 2003 isn't going to be magical or a good business move.

The Medal of Honor (2010) reboot sold decently, but they completely fumbled the next iteration, effectively killing the series. I doubt we'll get another. EA has moved on to BF.

 

[Fulle]

EA didn't can C&C. In fact, they are seeking a developer to continue the series (Generals 2), regardless, it won't sell well and then be canned. A mediocre game whose last mediocre entry was in 2003 isn't going to be magical or a good business move.

The Medal of Honor (2010) reboot sold decently, but they completely fumbled the next iteration, effectively killing the series. I doubt we'll get another. EA has moved on to BF.

Picture a game you like. The dev studio that makes it is bought by a big publisher, who guts the studio and then closes it. They then, years later, have a new crew of devs make a game using the name of the series they killed. Should that count as a continuation of the series?

We've used Westwood as an example, but EA's also killed Maxis, Bullfrog, Origin, Phenomic, Pandemic, PlayFish, NuFx, DreamWorks Interactive, and probably others I'm not thinking of right now... effectively firing dev talent behind Command and Conquer, Sim City, Medal of Honor, Dungeon Keeper, and many others.

I suppose something to feel hopeful about, though, is the recent trend of devs being able to self publish their work, or use one of the smaller less abusive publishers available, so that they don't have to have Ubi, EA, or Activision ruin their project. We don't necessarily need a new "Wing Commander", after-all. We just want another game made by Chris Roberts.

 

[DigDog]

i do not purchase EA products because of a long list of things they did that i disapprove of.

 

[zerocool84]

NCSoft with Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault and City of Heroes comes to mind, City of Heroes and Tabula Rasa were still popular and TR was actually gaining ground but they canned it because Richard Garriot was in space on vacation and they didn't give a rat's ass about his investment. Not to mention, TRYING to push users of existing games to move to Guild Wars 2.

EA canned Command and Conquer, a fairly popular series and they messed up SimCity which will probably lead to never releasing another one again following their destruction of Maxis. Meanwhile they continued to try and put effort into Medal of Honor and will probably try again eventually. At least they realized what a waste of time FIFA World has been and canned that.

EA's handling of "dead" games is entirely different than what you described, NCSoft comes close to how EA has been doing it.

No decently smart company would kill something that makes them money. Obviously with how large EA is, they are a pretty smart company.

 

[Wingznut]

EA Sports couldn't compete with competitors making superior football games, so they forged an exclusivity deal with the NFL.

Actually, it was the NFL who went shopping with their exclusivity. If EA didn't bid, then someone else would have exclusive rights.

Do you hate Sony for having (mostly) exclusive rights to MLB?

 

[NikolaeVarius]

EA didn't can C&C. In fact, they are seeking a developer to continue the series (Generals 2), regardless, it won't sell well and then be canned. A mediocre game whose last mediocre entry was in 2003 isn't going to be magical or a good business move.

The Medal of Honor (2010) reboot sold decently, but they completely fumbled the next iteration, effectively killing the series. I doubt we'll get another. EA has moved on to BF.

Generals 2 was cancelled.

 

[smackababy]

Generals 2 was cancelled.

They've canceled their development, but are looking (actively or otherwise) for another studio to develop it. The game is on effectively just on hiatus.

 

[TheSlamma]

I don't really even bother getting into the politics or any of that. I just care about GOOD games and EA TBH just doesn't do much for me at all.

The only games from them I have played in the last 5 years is Battlefield 3 and 4 and honestly it's just cause my clan is a bunch of fun older guys that just enjoying playing something like this together. That aside BF is the most bugtastic, lag central lousy hit detection never fixed rags out there and there was no real dif between 3 and 4. Same old run and gun no inspiration game. Titanfall with it's small human player limit actually had decent hit detection but wow.. from 0 to boring in 45 minutes.

Indy titles right now are releasing with 10X the quality control than what many EA games are doing right now and also.. many of them are FUN

 

[artemicion]

Picture a game you like. The dev studio that makes it is bought by a big publisher, who guts the studio and then closes it. They then, years later, have a new crew of devs make a game using the name of the series they killed. Should that count as a continuation of the series?

We've used Westwood as an example, but EA's also killed Maxis, Bullfrog, Origin, Phenomic, Pandemic, PlayFish, NuFx, DreamWorks Interactive, and probably others I'm not thinking of right now... effectively firing dev talent behind Command and Conquer, Sim City, Medal of Honor, Dungeon Keeper, and many others.

I suppose something to feel hopeful about, though, is the recent trend of devs being able to self publish their work, or use one of the smaller less abusive publishers available, so that they don't have to have Ubi, EA, or Activision ruin their project. We don't necessarily need a new "Wing Commander", after-all. We just want another game made by Chris Roberts.

To be fair, it takes two to tango. All the companies you mentioned are equally at fault for "killing" their franchises. They sold out. Obviously they cared more about collecting a fat paycheck from EA instead of retaining control over their IP.

Responding to the OP, I don't have any personal qualms with EA or their business strategy, but they have a history of releasing some pretty mediocre games. Their profit strategy seems to be focused more on acquiring popular IP and less on acquiring development talent. Kind of like developers who make games based on popular movies. No need to worry about making a good game because the IP alone is enough to make a profit.

 

[Fulle]

Actually, it was the NFL who went shopping with their exclusivity. If EA didn't bid, then someone else would have exclusive rights.

Do you hate Sony for having (mostly) exclusive rights to MLB?

I was listing things that I was aware people disliked about EA. I don't necessarily have strong feelings about every particular bullet point.... I don't typically buy a lot of sports games, so I don't feel that passionately about the subject.

That said, the NFL license agreement had slightly irritated me, since I feel like 2K Sports generally produced superior football games. It was a mistake on the NFL's part, to make a deal with EA, since it basically made Madden the only game for Football fans, and Madden hasn't been good for a very long time (IMO).

On the subject of EA Sports, there's a definite strategy of pushing microtransactions, which I dislike. EA's target for microtransactions and DLC was a BILLION dollars this year, and bleeding sports games like FIFA and Madden, is a big part of that strategy.