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EA closing in on back to back Worst Company in America title.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:35 pm
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:35 pm
Here is what Peter Moore has to say:
quote:
The tallest trees catch the most wind.
That’s an expression I frequently use when asked to defend EA’s place in the gaming industry. And it comes to mind again this week as we get deeper into the brackets of an annual Web poll to name the “Worst Company in America.”
This is the same poll that last year judged us as worse than companies responsible for the biggest oil spill in history, the mortgage crisis, and bank bailouts that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. The complaints against us last year were our support of SOPA (not true), and that they didn’t like the ending to Mass Effect 3.
This year’s contest started in March with EA outpolling a company which organizers contend is conspiring to corner the world market on mid-priced beer, and (gulp) allegedly waters down its product. That debate takes place in bars – our audience lives on the Internet. So no surprise that we drew more votes there.
Let me cut to the chase: it appears EA is going to “win.” Like the Yankees, Lakers and Manchester United, EA is one of those organizations that is defined by both a legacy of success, and a legion of critics (especially me regarding all three of those teams).
Are we really the “Worst Company in America?” I’ll be the first to admit that we’ve made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn’t meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this.
Some of these complaints are 100 percent legitimate – like all large companies we are not perfect. But others just don’t hold water:
-Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period.
-Some claim there’s no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.
-Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.
-We’ve seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really…
-In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.
That last one is particularly telling. If that’s what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because were not caving on that.
We are committed to fixing our mistakes. Over the last three weeks, 900,000 SimCity players took us up on a free game offer for their troubles. We owed them that. We’re constantly listening to feedback from our players, through our Customer Experience group, Twitter, this blog, or other sites. The feedback is vital, and impacts the decisions we make.
I expect the debate will include a lot of comments under this post. But here’s the truth: each year EA interacts with more than 350 million gamers; Origin is breaking records for revenue and users; The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Real Racing 3 are at the top of the mobile charts; Battlefield 3 and FIFA are stunning achievements with tens of millions of players; and SimCity is being enjoyed by millions of passionate fans all over the world.
Every day, millions of people across globe play and love our games – literally, hundreds of millions more than will vote in this contest.
So here’s my response to this poll: We can do better. We will do better. But I am damn proud of this company, the people around the globe who work at EA, the games we create and the people that play them.
The tallest trees catch the most wind. At EA we remain proud and unbowed.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:42 pm to sbr2
Nothing says "we're sorry" like belittling the people you're trying to sell your product to.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:50 pm to Drewbie
I saw this when I was looking at the page for when they won it last year.
quote:
I work in the games industry, and gamers need to inform themselves a bit. EA won this contest because they are being blamed for the death of smaller game studios and trend of adding paid DLC to a game you already paid for.
However the gamers have no one to blame but themselves for this. They demand so much from video game developers that the cost of making video games has skyrocketed into ridiculous proportions requiring full-blown movie studio levels of production staff and budgets. Watch the credits for any current triple-A game title and see for yourself. Meanwhile the price of games at the store haven’t changed much, and have actually gone down if you adjust for inflation.
Any attempt by the game developer to turn a profit larger than what is needed to recoup their development costs is instantly seen as evil by the game community. Yet then the game community wonders why their favorite developers get eaten up by the companies like EA who is one of the few publishers in the industry capable of bankrolling the development of a brand new game from scratch. Their favorite “not evil” developer may have recouped their costs but has no additional funds to start a new game, thus needs to look to an investor like EA or Activision to pay their bills.
That’s the reality, and while EA may not have the best business practices in the industry, they are pretty much on par with any larger corporation in any other industry. The difference here is that in the games industry you have a community with a much larger proportion of people who don’t quite understand how the world works yet.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:55 pm to sbr2
quote:Very true statement. I understand and accept the gaming market for what it is today. However, EA stooping down to the levels of angry consumers and firing back retorts is just flat out immature and unprofessional. Bungie dealt with and was frequently active in the same retarded internet/gaming community and handled it with a billion times more grace and composure (while also putting out a better product).
The difference here is that in the games industry you have a community with a much larger proportion of people who don’t quite understand how the world works yet.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:55 pm to sbr2
As long as they keep selling games they won't change.
If I owned a company and got millions of emails complaining. Then released a game and made a billion dollars. I wouldn't change shite either.
If I owned a company and got millions of emails complaining. Then released a game and made a billion dollars. I wouldn't change shite either.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 5:58 pm to Drewbie
I agree, but with Peter Moore I knew this was coming. He's always had a flair for the dramatic (GTA IV tatoo).
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:27 pm to sbr2
How much does ea pay you?
So because we "don't know how the world works" , ea isn't to blame eh?
And ea=Manchester united?
I may not know how the world works. Alas, I know how stock prices work. Check out EAs. Do your investors also not know how the world works, ea?
So because we "don't know how the world works" , ea isn't to blame eh?
And ea=Manchester united?
I may not know how the world works. Alas, I know how stock prices work. Check out EAs. Do your investors also not know how the world works, ea?
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:34 pm to jefforize
ea is so awful they have to compare themselves to British Petroleum and Fannie/freddie to attempt save face
was this terrific retort written before or after their CEO said "frick it, I'm out?"
was this terrific retort written before or after their CEO said "frick it, I'm out?"
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:36 pm to jefforize
quote:
compare themselves to British Petroleum and Fannie/freddie
I think it's more of a statement on the audience that votes them in the same grouping.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:40 pm to sbr2
Well, BP at least helped make most of the gulf coast "spillionaires" with the cash money they doled out to everyone
Ea offered a game for free. A "simulator" game where you can reach population cap in a city with no water, sewage, or electricity
Ea offered a game for free. A "simulator" game where you can reach population cap in a city with no water, sewage, or electricity
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:40 pm to sbr2
People are not going to like the fact that they take so much pride in themselves. While I understand backing your product, not everyone is loaded and a lot of people deep down hate their lives and hate those who talk about having a good one.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 6:50 pm to sbr2
Yeah brah. Haters gonna hate. In business the customer is always right, even when wrong. They should have taken that route. Have a closed meeting and tell your staff hey we are awesome, these people don't understand, but we will suck their dick anyway. Deal with it.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:02 pm to sbr2
quote:
The difference here is that in the games industry you have a community with a much larger proportion of people who don’t quite understand how the world works yet.
man, frick EA. Wonder what happened in June of 2012...? (I know what happened at the end of 08. thanks Obama!!!)
mass effect 3
This post was edited on 4/5/13 at 7:05 pm
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:04 pm to jefforize
quote:
Electronic Arts announced that it will take part in Pride Parades in both Seattle and San Francisco to celebrate global diversity and the LGBT
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:08 pm to sbr2
ah yes, googling "electronic arts june 2012" does yield that as the 5th link.
bravo.
bravo.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:08 pm to jefforize
You asked, so I'm telling you!
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:11 pm to jefforize
quote:
Well, BP at least helped make most of the gulf coast "spillionaires" with the cash money they doled out to everyone
That might have had to do something with having the worst oil spill in history.
Relating the two and defending BP is fricking comical.
EA made a few bad video games that people have a choice to buy...that's fricking terrible
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:13 pm to sbr2
EA looks like bumbling fools a lot, I only buy games that I research and think I will like and most of the time on sale, do this and you would get POS games, ME3 was a great game until the last scene, and they threw everything else out the door but I loved the game up until that point. Don't blindly buy games at release that you are not sure about and you won't have a problem.
Posted on 4/5/13 at 7:14 pm to Mear
gee, ya think?
to keep up with the satire,
"BPs mistake was an accident. EA purposely releases complete shite"
chew on that trollbait
to keep up with the satire,
"BPs mistake was an accident. EA purposely releases complete shite"
chew on that trollbait
This post was edited on 4/5/13 at 7:16 pm
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