How do you feel about EA games?

[TeknoBug]

EA just announced that their reboot of NFS will require an internet connection at all times as will Star Wars Battlefront, looks like they haven't learned anything from NFS: World and SimCity 2013.

 

[cmdrdredd]

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.

True but the NFL is probably the single most greedy entity I know of. They only care about money and EA paid more. I read an article that made some good points about how greedy they really are and how the NFL we know today may end up gone at some point because of it. You can see it starting already IMO. Lots of fans are unhappy with certain decisions the NFL makes and lots of rule changes etc.

I don't think Sony has any exclusive rights to the MLB but rather nobody tries to make a competing game.

As for the milking of micro transactions. The worst is the ultimate team stuff. Build a team out of trading cards and getting the better cards is sometimes like winning the lottery (you have almost no chance) but hey you can buy them or packs of them for real money.

 

[smackababy]

True but the NFL is probably the single most greedy entity I know of. They only care about money and EA paid more. I read an article that made some good points about how greedy they really are and how the NFL we know today may end up gone at some point because of it. You can see it starting already IMO. Lots of fans are unhappy with certain decisions the NFL makes and lots of rule changes etc.

I don't think Sony has any exclusive rights to the MLB but rather nobody tries to make a competing game.

As for the milking of micro transactions. The worst is the ultimate team stuff. Build a team out of trading cards and getting the better cards is sometimes like winning the lottery (you have almost no chance) but hey you can buy them or packs of them for real money.

You can't buy the players for real money unless you buy coins outside of EA (coin sellers). And FIFA has done a lot to clean that up. If they really were greedy, they'd release a special Cristiano Ronaldo card every week and sell it for FIFA points (their microtransaction currency).

 

[cmdrdredd]

You can't buy the players for real money unless you buy coins outside of EA (coin sellers). And FIFA has done a lot to clean that up. If they really were greedy, they'd release a special Cristiano Ronaldo card every week and sell it for FIFA points (their microtransaction currency).

No, you buy fifa points from the in-game store and open packs of cards. See what EA really did by cracking down on the coin trade and the market is to keep the money with them(so you have to keep buying points and opening packs that will never have good players). EA really is that greedy.

That's the micro transactions I was talking about. They sell packs for points and you can buy points with real money. They also regulated the price of players. So a good player cannot be purchased from someone for cheap and you can't sell a bad card to your friend so he can help you out with some coins he has built up.

 

[artemicion]

No, you buy fifa points from the in-game store and open packs of cards. See what EA really did by cracking down on the coin trade and the market is to keep the money with them(so you have to keep buying points and opening packs that will never have good players). EA really is that greedy.

That's the micro transactions I was talking about. They sell packs for points and you can buy points with real money. They also regulated the price of players. So a good player cannot be purchased from someone for cheap and you can't sell a bad card to your friend so he can help you out with some coins he has built up.

I think smackababy is referring to purchasing individual players--I think you're both right.

You can buy packs of random players with real money. You cannot buy a specific, individual player with real money.

 

[smackababy]

No, you buy fifa points from the in-game store and open packs of cards. See what EA really did by cracking down on the coin trade and the market is to keep the money with them(so you have to keep buying points and opening packs that will never have good players). EA really is that greedy.

That's the micro transactions I was talking about. They sell packs for points and you can buy points with real money. They also regulated the price of players. So a good player cannot be purchased from someone for cheap and you can't sell a bad card to your friend so he can help you out with some coins he has built up.

I play Fifa every day. I know how it works. Them regulating the price of players didn't hurt the community. It helped. Nobody was going to get 15 million coins from playing to buy Pele. The over inflated prices simply made all the half decent players unobtainable. Nobody is grinding 100+ matches just to buy John Terry.

The crying about FUT working like every other trading card game is silly. Yes, it makes EA money, but Magic makes Wizards of the Coast money just the same.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I play Fifa every day. I know how it works. Them regulating the price of players didn't hurt the community. It helped. Nobody was going to get 15 million coins from playing to buy Pele. The over inflated prices simply made all the half decent players unobtainable. Nobody is grinding 100+ matches just to buy John Terry.

The crying about FUT working like every other trading card game is silly. Yes, it makes EA money, but Magic makes Wizards of the Coast money just the same.

If you want to think that be my guest. The chance of getting good players is way too low. They outright encourage you to pay them to open packs while removing the other alternatives (or severely hindering it). If you think it's a good thing then whatever.

To quote someone from another forum.

The worse part is that, they did not increase the coins you win per game, or the prize for winning a Division title???.. You idiots think this is a good thing???.. Well guess what.. EA fixed players prices, you can't buy coins AND Ronaldo is still 9.3M.. How the (redacted) are you gonna get 9.3M by just playing?... They didn't do this to be "fair" with other players, they just want to make sure all the money goes to them. You have no choice but to buy FIFA points which still cost the same.

 

[HeXen]

It's a tough, die hard and competitive business. The correct perception would be to put yourself in the shoes of a gaming company where often just 1 release is enough to send developers into bankruptcy and happens a lot....like a lot. if EA did not buy Westwood they would be gone anyway. Most devs sell out to large companies for a very good reason ya know...usually for the owners own benefit and often times their employees as well, just not always for the benefit of gamers. Synthetic Reality is a small example of a company that made a game or two perhaps and ended up having to get out of gaming to save their ass because no one would buy them. At least not 10+ yrs ago anyway...so much of gamers beloved developers were gone before their last game even released, like Looking Glass for example.

Now look what happened to publishers such as god games..etc. Where are they.....oh yeah, that's right, they are gone now. Ubisoft, 2k..etc has all done their share of shady deeds to stay alive or keep from being bought out themselves. We may miss franchises, but the business side of reality has little to do with a good IP, in that it's only as good as the profits it makes.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's a tough, die hard and competitive business. The correct perception would be to put yourself in the shoes of a gaming company where often just 1 release is enough to send developers into bankruptcy and happens a lot....like a lot. if EA did not buy Westwood they would be gone anyway. Most devs sell out to large companies for a very good reason ya know...usually for the owners own benefit and often times their employees as well, just not always for the benefit of gamers. Synthetic Reality is a small example of a company that made a game or two perhaps and ended up having to get out of gaming to save their ass because no one would buy them. At least not 10+ yrs ago anyway...so much of gamers beloved developers were gone before their last game even released, like Looking Glass for example.

Now look what happened to publishers such as god games..etc. Where are they.....oh yeah, that's right, they are gone now. Ubisoft, 2k..etc has all done their share of shady deeds to stay alive or keep from being bought out themselves. We may miss franchises, but the business side of reality has little to do with a good IP, in that it's only as good as the profits it makes.

Rather see them die than see someone buy them and keep the name going with bad games.

 

[smackababy]

If you want to think that be my guest. The chance of getting good players is way too low. They outright encourage you to pay them to open packs while removing the other alternatives (or severely hindering it). If you think it's a good thing then whatever.

To quote someone from another forum.

The encourage you to buy packs. Of course they do. That is the entire point of a trading card game, which is exactly what this is. It has an additional component of having the matches played out in a soccer game. If they just gave everyone the best players, most people wouldn't play it. The joy of packing record breaking Ronaldo at ST is amazing. The amount of people that have this card make it even more of a joy.

The issue isn't that the market is already screwed in Fifa 15. In Fifa 16, there (hopefully) won't be big mobile market coin exploits and the prices will be fixed. The only reason people have such coins in the market is because of the exploit. There won't be the huge over inflation occurring in the future.

 

[TeknoBug]

FUT was definitely in bad shape for a while, I hear that the market got shaped up. NHL's HUT is still in a crappy state though, and MUT's market is almost non-existent.

I dumped FIFA 15 and went with PES 15 this year, so much better.

 

[smackababy]

FUT was definitely in bad shape for a while, I hear that the market got shaped up. NHL's HUT is still in a crappy state though, and MUT's market is almost non-existent.

I dumped FIFA 15 and went with PES 15 this year, so much better.

The Xbox Live Market is much better, but still not completely fixed. Some of the bigger cards are still super expensive (ToTY Ronaldo / Messi and such), but most regular players have dropped down to respectively decent prices. Suarez and Bale, for instance, are under 200k.

 

[Wingznut]

What do I think of EA? Nothing. They are a corporation, nothing to be passionate about, neither negative nor positive.

The games vary greatly. Some examples:
* Battlefield 4 was a disaster.
* Madden 15 is an awesome game.
* NHL 15 is a disappointment.
* Peggle 2 is a blast.
* PvZ: Garden Warfare is surprisingly fun.

It's all about the games.™

 

[cmdrdredd]

The encourage you to buy packs. Of course they do. That is the entire point of a trading card game, which is exactly what this is. It has an additional component of having the matches played out in a soccer game. If they just gave everyone the best players, most people wouldn't play it. The joy of packing record breaking Ronaldo at ST is amazing. The amount of people that have this card make it even more of a joy.

The issue isn't that the market is already screwed in Fifa 15. In Fifa 16, there (hopefully) won't be big mobile market coin exploits and the prices will be fixed. The only reason people have such coins in the market is because of the exploit. There won't be the huge over inflation occurring in the future.

My problem is the trading card aspect is a monetary scheme by EA and not a free market, player driven idea. Like IRL certain trading cards are rare and valuable, the price set by the market. Tops, Fleer, and upper Deck don't tell you "this card is only worth X and no more or less". So if you are doing trades among friends you can help them complete their team collection by selling them a card cheap. Or if someone really wants a card you have that is kind of hard to find, you can haggle a decent price for it. EA removed that. For better or worse. I happen to feel worse, since now the only real way to get anywhere is to pay EA.

 

[smackababy]

My problem is the trading card aspect is a monetary scheme by EA and not a free market, player driven idea. Like IRL certain trading cards are rare and valuable, the price set by the market. Tops, Fleer, and upper Deck don't tell you "this card is only worth X and no more or less". So if you are doing trades among friends you can help them complete their team collection by selling them a card cheap. Or if someone really wants a card you have that is kind of hard to find, you can haggle a decent price for it. EA removed that. For better or worse. I happen to feel worse, since now the only real way to get anywhere is to pay EA.

EA didn't remove that. The market is just regulated. The price ranges still fluctuate based on the how the market responds. The only difference is that now players don't have to buy coins just to get a top tier player. There is an additional issue of these measures being put in so late after the billions of coins were entered the market illicitly, players already have a perceived value, but it is incredibly over inflated.

And, yes, ultimately it is a money making scheme. But, that is just like every other collecting game. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. They never advertised it as anything else. You can play it 100% for free OR you can spend money to advance to your "ultimate team" happens to be.

 

[clok1966]

It's a tough, die hard and competitive business. The correct perception would be to put yourself in the shoes of a gaming company where often just 1 release is enough to send developers into bankruptcy and happens a lot....like a lot. if EA did not buy Westwood they would be gone anyway.

Uh... At the time EA bought Westwood it held about 6% of the total PC market (EA held 11%), Westwood was doing fine (better then fine at the time) but was Part of Virgin (distributor), which was not doing so fine. Virgin wanted to sell all its games (marketing rights) and was getting no real bites. SO it decided to sell um off piece meal, and EA jumped on it. Now I couldn't say that Westwood would not have tanked, but it wasn't not going away when EA bought it. Forcing a few unpolished C&C games out.. now that did kill it, not to mention the RTS market was saturated at that time, so anything sub par stuck out. The real sad part, read up on any of these companies they bought. All of them say the same thing, they keep the guys who ran the companies and "let them run it they way they always have", and a year or two later they leave the company citing differences. ALL OF THEM.

Now to really point it out, EA themselves said they blew it with Westwood, Bullfrog, and Origin (game brand not Digital download service) way back in 2008 (google it). And same guy even said SW-online before it was released, was going to tank and was a waste of company resources.. What kind of company trash talks its own product before release? EA does!

 

[jasonstevens584]

I've enjoyed most of their games on the consoles. PC on the other hand...

 

[Bman123]

I can't wait for rory mcilroy golf to come out. I love the EA golf games, they are great for playing with friends over but the online play has sucked ass in the past

 

[Lil Frier]

I'm still unhappy about that. I was excited for a 6/30 release, then I found out a couple of days ago that it's now a 7/14 release. It's basically the only thing I want until the fall, so I'm super disappointed that I have to wait 2 more weeks to have something to play. The Golf Club is fun in stretches, but it's without any polish, and that's somewhat bothersome at times. No customization, no progression, horrid graphics, bad voiceovers, awesome control scheme.

 

[Bman123]

I'm still unhappy about that. I was excited for a 6/30 release, then I found out a couple of days ago that it's now a 7/14 release. It's basically the only thing I want until the fall, so I'm super disappointed that I have to wait 2 more weeks to have something to play. The Golf Club is fun in stretches, but it's without any polish, and that's somewhat bothersome at times. No customization, no progression, horrid graphics, bad voiceovers, awesome control scheme.

I watched quite a few people stream the golf club on ps4 and the mechanics looked great but that was about it.

I've been waiting on a EA golf game since I got my Ps4, and it's almost that time finally.

What system are you getting it for?

 

[Graze]

EA...they're terrible!

 

[wilds]

I played a lot of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II and some of the Command & Conquer games with friends over Xbox Live and had a lot of fun; the controls were actually really good! Both of those servers were shut down far too early and basically made our games worthless. EA is the only publisher of games I've played who shut down their servers to a point of removing all multiplayer capabilities.

The only other time I experienced something like this was when Halo 2 announced their servers end, with og Xbox live being shut down.

Still no proper C&C 3/Kane's Wrath successor. Still no sequel to LOTR BFME 2.

EA isn't the only publisher who makes bad decisions. I can't think of any major publisher who hasn't gotten distracted with short-term net profit.

 

[Lil Frier]

I watched quite a few people stream the golf club on ps4 and the mechanics looked great but that was about it.

I've been waiting on a EA golf game since I got my Ps4, and it's almost that time finally.

What system are you getting it for?

Xbox One

 

[kristaok]

You can't spell steal without EA.

 

[Lil Frier]

You can't spell steal without EA.

You can't spell "pear," "each," "bear," or "hear," without "EA." What's your point?