Future EA products, what is your choice?

[sendo75]

EA gets voted for "Worse Company in America 2012" on The Consumerist site. While this is debatable whether the award is deserving or unfair, the fact remains that consumer wrath towards EA is significant and increasing with recent release of associated game titles like the well loved franchises of Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

 

EA has shrugged off the award by making a statement, with great humility and denial as usual.

We're sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton are all relieved they weren't nominated this year. We're going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide.

 

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.

 

So I ask thee, sensible gamers of the Nexus Community. How will thou spend thy cash on future EA associated game titles? If the poll is not comprehensive enough, please share thy opinion in detail. And lets try to avoid the tempting but tiresome debate of defending EA unless you are able to present facts. And lets focus on our future choices in light of EA and their practices should this trend continue or worsens. Would you sacrifice playing certain games to protest against such practises?

 

References:

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

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/107568-ea-chosen-as-worst-company-in-america-forbes-editorial.html

Edited April 5, 2012 by sendo75

[RitualBlack]

If the game is good, interests me and is available on steam than I will buy it. The last EA games I picked up were Dead Space 1/2 in a bundle pack. They are not that amazing but it was worth the $10 or so and it can be a pretty fun game (very poor keyboard/mouse support though). Their titles seem to be more quantity than quality now, but like any company they just want to make money. I will not support their origin service but if they want to continue releasing average quality titles with which can be enjoy on steam I will buy some of them, I just wont be paying the release price for them. 75% off sale sounds about right :thumbsup: .

[Iv000]

Depends on how they handle the ME3 ending DLC thingy, if there will be one that is.

 

What I can say now is that I won't buy any of their games at full price. From now on, I'm only buying EA products when they're on sale, with a big fat discount. (10€ is the absolute maximum I will pay).

If the ME3 ending thing ends up being a ripoff, EA can say goodbye to my money.

 

EDIT:

They've just announced the ending DLC, and it's free. Read more in my post here:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/614237-mass-effect-3-ending-spoilers-obviously/page__view__findpost__p__5032766

 

I'll stick to buying EA's games at a massive discount then.

Edited April 5, 2012 by Iv000

[Gracinfields]

Well as far as EA goes it depends on what it is, as of right now there are only two EA produced products in the pipe that I will likely be intrested in. One being the CQC DLC for BF3, and the other being the new Medal of Honor title, both of which are not tied to the issue I have with Bioware atm. As for Bioware games it all depends on how this "extended cut" goes if it goes poorly and doesn't resolve plot holes, and is just polishing a pile of crap which was the ME3 ending then I am pretty much done with Bioware developed products this includes Bioware/Victory games.

[Handofbane]

I am already "boycotting" EA products for the most part, but primarily because of Origin. I have little respect for their business practices of cannibalizing developers and hoarding IPs to prevent competition. I have bought exactly two EA-published titles in the last couple years: DAO and Sims Medieval, neither of which required Origin (thanks to Steam), and nothing else they have published remotely interests me.

[Thor.]

I'm Boycotting the Worse Company of the year, whose with me.

 

http://consumerist.c...a-for-2012.html

 

:biggrin:

 

No joke they are calling it the Golden Poo awards and EA gets top place :teehee:

 

If this doesn't prove it, i don't know what will :teehee: :teehee: Shame on you EA

Edited April 6, 2012 by Thor.

[ziitch]

...Pretty much doing this right now. At this point, EA would have to dismember itself into smaller companies (the Sports department becoming its own entity, for instance) rather than some big-time publisher to regain some of their respect now.

 

But their most recent mistake? Making SimCity 5 require Origin. Um... Not to be rude, but I'm guessing that the average SimCity player is between the 40-50 age range nowadays and would be very weary (or worse, angry) that they have to use an online service for such an aged series, which would render their copy of the game either useless or seldom played. It's not as much as these fans need to keep up with the times, but that EA (or Maxis in this case) needs to be realistic for such a requirement and just understand that no online connection is really the best path if they want to keep such a long-lasting fanbase.

[62firelight]

I answered 'Yes' to all of these questions, EA has been stealing my money and destroying all the great games like Mass Effect 3. You know, I wish Microsoft Game Studios were still publishing the ME games; but then I don't think ME2 and ME3 wouldn't be even be on the PS3.

 

I'm pretty glad that they got voted for "Worst Company in America 2012." The thought of them denying that makes me angry, they should be proud to have that Golden Poo award. :biggrin:

 

What a big shame. :armscrossed:

[brokenergy]

Over reaction considering that there were plenty of other contenders that deserve that title more than EA. I wonder how many people will realise that the whole Origins thing, is pretty much the same thing that happend with Valve in 2004? Or the fact that there are tons of statistical errors when it come to "Worst Company of the Year"? Which is a popularity contest rather than something that is logiclly sound.

 

Also hasn't anyone noticed why Forbes is been hitting hard while other sites (especially major gaming site) haven't been this hard? Could it be that Forbes is actually using you to stay relevent? Because it surely feels that way, considering that they are a major mainstream site for business. There isn't any balanced approch to this reporting and sticks of popularism, just like the "Worst Company of the Year" awards. EA will sail through this, they are in a good position to. This will go away and enerything will be normal in a few years time.

 

If it feels like I'm defending them, then I'm really sorry that you feel that way because I'm not backing down. If you hate EA, then don't buy their games and move on, I'm sure that there are other publishers out there that can make you happy. Also Thor, a boycot has never worked, look at MW2 and ME3's sales, if a boycot has worked, the numbers would be significantly weaker.

 

If you are asking if I will buy their games, the simple answer is that if their games don't suit me anymore, then I'll move to another publisher.

[Acetyl]

EA is good only for rushing developers, diluting artistic vision to make it sell to the masses, and driving interesting franchises into the ground. Mass Effect 2 was a clear indicator of what Mass effect 3 would be like. It was practically painted with blatant signs of rushed development.

 

Part of me was glad when they cancelled Mirror's Edge 2. I couldn't bear to see what they manage to ruin with a sequel. More because of all the undeserved criticism it garnered.

 

I would've continued buying EA published games, had they not made the origin exclusive move. That soured any slight tinge of doubt I had about my other opinions. I hate to bring console gamers into this, but the facts are there, they're a bigger part of why EA is still standing as a company. Same with Activision. The problem goes a lot deeper than people first realize, with a mass of tendrils extruding out and feeding on modern day societal trends and social programming. The result? Its going to get worse.