EA named worst company in usa again But do they deserve it ?

richymcdermott

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2013/04/09/ea-named-worst-company-in-america-again

My reacts towards ea this generation has being mixed to say the least. It seemed every good came with a bad that was bad enough to over shadow the good and made alot of people scratch their heads confused as to what reason they done some business strategies thinking they could get away with such things.

But for all the bad they done , for them to be voted worst company in america for the second time in the row is stupid.

At the very start of this gen they were doing things right pumping out games that were excellent like mirrors edge ,bad company 1 and 2, brutal legend ,dead space and publishing alice madness returns and the excellent shadow of the damned.

They even made there sports franchise fifa , for the sports game has excellent amount of content and community features , it raised a new standard for sports games that was not there before for sport simulators.

But then they started to be painted in dark and giving the name the evil coperation when they started to do stupid things like killing off ips like dead space franchise but make a new army of two game which i am sorry but all 3 installments of that series has been awful and i didnt see anyone asking for a new army of two game.

Microtransactions fisaco didnt help much either and there reasoning was beyond stupidity. Drm with sim city , origins reportedly Spying on your hardware, this is a personal gripe for me but removing all dice servers from bf3 and leaving the rent servers for people to buy. What was the point of a online pass if they just removed ea servers entirely.

But with all this i think to be voted the worst company in america is stupid, there are alot worse companies i heard that just a videogame company to be the worst of the worst.

Monty - the one and only

pfft doubt they do deserve it. I'm not saying they're angels either but there are worse companies... and banks in the us

Falthyron

Honestly, who cares about such an award scheme? However, if EA do care I can only hope it will spur them to change their ways.

You also have to consider the type of voting system in place - it was all done online. Now are we more likely to find gamers online for 10+ hours of the day and more likely to spot campaigns designed to bring about such a result, or Bank of America customers? :P

In one sense, as I have already said, this means nothing. But, if EA are concerned with the result I am not against them changing their ways!

Otacon

This proves one thing to me: the video game community is petulant beyond belief.

Gbear

When you've got fossil fuel companies undermining democracy with their lobbying and spreading of misinformation about climate change, companies defrauding people like Enron and a host of other more serious examples it's pretty clear that the majority of the participants are childish, over-entitled, muppets with no sense of perspective.


They're probably not a "good" company, but they don't exist to be good. Their actions aren't so egregious to be worth commenting on all that much when compared to outright criminal actions of other companies.

degrassinoel

and yet people keep buying from them..

Doctor DooM

I'm sure there's companies in this world that have been responsible, quite directly, for deaths.

I'm sure there's companies who've lobbied governments for laws which benefit them over the good of the planet.

Do some of EA's practices suck? No doubt, but you know what? DON'T BUY THE SUCKY STUFF. Do you think EA will micro transaction if no one buys them? Do you think they'll care about Sim City if sales chug along when the shouting stops?

Of course not, they're a business, and they'll maximise profits. If the crappy stuff profits the most, that's what they'll make.

If EA's worst crime is making stuff you don't like but are not forced to buy, well, they're kinda around the same level as Simon Cowell for me

Hercule

The senior chair people at the top of EA are a pack of c u next tuesdays but they aren't criminals. There are more evil companies in the world.

COYVB

Otacon wrote: »

This proves one thing to me: the video game community is petulant pathetic beyond belief.

Fixed for accuracy (and controversy)

Wonderful industry, I absolutely love working in it, but Jesus H. Christ the vocal parts of the user base are among the biggest plebs on the planet at times

COYVB

degrassinoel wrote: »

and yet people keep buying from them..

That'll happen when a company puts out decent games though

degrassinoel

Yeah i know

i'm actually surprised that hammerpoint interactive didn't get that most prestigious of titles tbh.

returnNull

a bit harsh on EA.yeah they're a shower of capitalist swine who'll attempt to make a few quid from optional cr@p or day 1 DLC but what they provide is a voluntary service ie not essential for day to day living.

Dont buy the games or as a poster above pointed out dont buy the day 1 DLC or the microtransactions.

and surely internet polls are laughed at?

krudler

Worst company in America? no Wal-Mart or some big tobacco company no?

johnny_ultimate

EA need to stop releasing games in February and March. Since the people who seemingly vote in these poles have both a) goldfish memory and b) basically no sense of perspective, it would help limit the absurd hyperbole.

nesf

It's more a problem with the poll title, and it is just a poll. The average person voting in those isn't in a terribly good position who is or is not really screwing over people in America they just see whatever their own personal grievances are.

Overheal

krudler wrote: »

Worst company in America? no Wal-Mart or some big tobacco company no?

Walmart was in the bracket but they lost to Bank of America



Truthfully I don't think they are the worst company but as long as they've been in the bracket the last couple years, they're among the few companies that seems to give a rats ass about it, in that they are kinda offended by it. BofA doesn't give a ****. Carnival doesn't give a ****. Neither does ****ing Sallie Mae. Are you joking?

I'm glad the golden poo went to a company that got its feelings hurt. Even before the winner was picked though they came out with a letter that basically amounted to "we blame the homophobes".

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/05/ea-admits-it-can-do-better-but-blames-worst-company-success-on-homophobes-and-whiny-madden-fans/

In addition EA is definitely the worst in the games industry. Milking IPs for cash, nickel and diming for microtransactions, the always online DRM, and the complete lack of regard for customer service which has been going on for years and years. Its also got a lot to do with keeping game prices inflated and on the sports fanchises its the exclusivity deals that prevent competition from really being present. Theres a lot not to like.

But if BofA were taking this seriously I'd say sure why not. Personally I'm not hard done by BofA as one of their customers but you hear about botched foreclosures all the time with them. But the occupy movement barely phased them, what odds does a plastic poo have? Either way, they still got a silver poo

Kiith

It just seems like everyone hates EA when they **** up, and forget about Activision. Then Activision ****s up, and everyone forgets about EA. And over and over again.

It's a vicious cycle :pac:

Overheal

Well at least Activision-Blizzard is capable of giving a rats ass. EA doesn't have the same regard. Not by a long shot.

Varik

They're not even close for worst in the game industry, Hammerpoint Interactive for one.

There's a lot of incredibly dodgy games companies out there, EA is just a regular for profit company.

nesf

Interesting: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/04/09/ea-voted-worst-company-in-america-again/

Overheal

Varik wrote: »

They're not even close for worst in the game industry, Hammerpoint Interactive for one.

You have to lend weight to the gravity that EA has in the industry. WarZ was just one title. If Notch had taken everyone's minecraft money, would Mojang be the worst company in the industry, or would it be a company that can fcuk things up on a much larger scale?

Monty - the one and only

I wouldnt even say they are the worst in the games industry... I firmly believe that title belongs to ubisoft.

muppetkiller

No mention of Sega/Gearbox ? :P

gizmo

Overheal wrote: »

You have to lend weight to the gravity that EA has in the industry. WarZ was just one title. If Notch had taken everyone's minecraft money, would Mojang be the worst company in the industry, or would it be a company that can fcuk things up on a much larger scale?

Likewise, you need to lend weight to the fact that EA release a bunch of damn fine games too, something that a lot of people seem to forget when tearing stripes out of them left, right and center.

Peter Moore's response was pretty much on the ball to be honest, they've done a lot of ****ty things and better is most certainly expected from them but in no way does that make them the worst games company, nevermind the worst company, in America.

degrassinoel

i watched this episode last night, had to post this part

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yxUHDZTq0

Sabre0001

What did Ticketmaster do to rub people up the wrong way?

Anyways, award isn't justified - it's an overreaction and the fact that EA beat banks, etc just shows the demographics of people contributing to the poll (and the oh-so-tragic issues that affect them). Sure, EA has done a lot of wrong in the pursuit of profit, but it has released some great games too and attempted to protect itself from threats such as second hand sales (not always a bad thing if you ask me when companies see Gamestop making 50-75% of its yearly revenue stream from second hand games).

VinLieger

Sabre0001 wrote: »

What did Ticketmaster do to rub people up the wrong way?

I think when they changed over to printable tickets they were still charging the same delivery price

Sycopat

I don't know if it's an overreaction so much as the poll is inaccurately titled.

The poll is not measuring which company is the worst in america, it's which company is worst on the internet.

For which EA were almost inevitably going to win because of their long history of pissing off internet denizens and refusing to shoulder the blame for the things they do wrong. And the internets core demographic being angry video game players.

So I do think EA should be in contention to top this poll, but this poll is definitely not a valid measure of which company is actually worst, and I'm not convinced they'd win if they weren't pretty much the only company included which internet folk are likely to give a rats about

jaykhunter

Sycopat wrote: »

The poll is not measuring which company is the worst in america, it's which company is worst on the internet.

This is 100% right. The poll is skewed towards the interests/hobbies of those on the internet voting. There are far worse companies, but I'm glad they can at least get a PR knock for their poor handling of a good few things. How they could beat out banks, cable and facebook even on this poll is crazy. EA probably dismiss it as the whinings of, as Otacon said, the petulant video game community.

richymcdermott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwP7XpBeEdA

i agree with alot of adam says here

callaway92

krudler wrote: »

Worst company in America? no Wal-Mart or some big tobacco company no?

Wal-Mart is one of the best if not THE BEST companies in regards to their Corporate Social Responsibility.