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EA doesn’t want to be a greedy corporate beast

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Dennis

For years now, EA have been the bad guys of gaming – carrying the baggage of years and years of what some see as abuse of its consumers. It’s not been helped by the company winning the dubious “Worst Company in America” golden poo award twice running.

They’re a big, bad, greedy corporation – only out to extract as much cash as they can from the people who play their games. They’ve swallowed up companies whole in fruitless acquisitions, spitting out their picked bones with reckless abandon.

EA’s even admitted its history of acquisitions has been “spotty.”

“Our history obviously with acquisitions has been spotty at best, so I would say there is an extra level of caution around that,” CFO Blake Jorgensen said. “We also believe we have the ability to do it ourselves in many cases, or hire people to do it. So we’re careful about acquisitions. But we’re going to continue to look for those opportunities and having a strong base globally allows us to be able to do that.”

They’ve turned beloved franchises in to soulless money-making endeavours (See: Dungeon Keeper), and – according to those who play their games – ripped bits of games out so they can sell them as DLC.

“If you understand the videogame business, EA — the branding is this corporate beast that just wants to take money from them while people play our games,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson, speaking B.C. Tech Summit. “That’s not actually what we’re trying to do.”

I’ve noticed, since Wilson took over, that EA does seem to be better – with EA Access shining as one of the most consumer-friendly gaming services available at the moment. It’s one of the ways EA is trying to shift away from its reputation as a soul-sucking, money-grubbing corporation.

“For the longest time in civilization, we would spend money as human beings, then we would spend time where we spent our money. That’s reversed now” Wilson said, of EA Access. “You come in, and play a bunch of games, and ultimately you invest after that.”

Last Updated: January 21, 2016

No Comments

  1. The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

    January 21, 2016 at 10:05

  2. Mistake Not...

    January 21, 2016 at 10:11

    Star Wars Battlefront.
    Just don’t ruin Mass Effect Andromeda and maybe I’ll consider forgiving EA.

    Reply

    • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

      January 21, 2016 at 10:12

      ^This

      Reply

      • John J McCalister Jr.

        January 24, 2016 at 01:59

        MAN! You ain’t lyin about Battlefront. I paid $54 for Battlefront, after my 10% EA Access member discount and while the gameplay that does exist is fun, I paid full price for half of a game. Its Battlefield with a Star Wars skin and NO CAMPAIGN?!?! WTF?!?!

        Reply

    • Vernon Jonker

      January 21, 2016 at 11:18

      this should be there logo

      Reply

      • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

        January 21, 2016 at 11:20

        *their

        And yes, funny pic, hehehe

        Reply

    • chimera_85

      January 21, 2016 at 16:09

      I have faith in Bioware

      Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    January 21, 2016 at 10:11

    EA won three times?

    Reply

    • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

      January 21, 2016 at 10:12

      In a row, most likely

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 21, 2016 at 10:12

        I thought it was just the two times?

        Reply

        • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

          January 21, 2016 at 10:21

          “Winning” it once is bad enough, twice, pathetic, but if you got it thrice!!!!

          Oh boy

          Reply

    • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

      January 21, 2016 at 10:12

      Sure, you can call it “winning”

      xD

      Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 21, 2016 at 10:13

      I thought it was twice as well. Maybe it’s buy two get one free, but then EA don’t do that either.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 21, 2016 at 10:13

        Maybe the third time was DLC?

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      January 21, 2016 at 11:13

      Yeah, they missed the hat-trick. Apologies – amended.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 21, 2016 at 11:18

        Shucks, my sour cynical soul almost warmed up for a second

        Reply

  4. HvR

    January 21, 2016 at 10:12

    I rather go with EA last 2 decade history of ruining established franchises for a quick buck

    Reply

    • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

      January 21, 2016 at 10:16

      ^This

      Reply

      • HvR

        January 21, 2016 at 10:19

        Lets make a quick list:

        C&C/Red Alert series (actually fired the Tiberian Sun dev team and released unpolished game)
        Ultima turned into MMO
        KOTOR turned into MMO
        Need for Speed
        Dead Space
        Burnout
        Battlefield
        Battlefront
        Sim City “always online”
        .
        .

        Reply

        • The Grand Admiral Chief Prime

          January 21, 2016 at 10:21

          I feel like I want to cry, but I don’t care anymore

          Reply

          • HvR

            January 21, 2016 at 10:22

            I wouldn’t call it a “spotty history”; dis een lang kak streep

        • HairyEwok

          January 21, 2016 at 10:31

          All I wanted from sim city is the map size of Sim City 4 with the multiplayer feature to play with my friends.

          Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          January 21, 2016 at 10:34

          Hmm. What’s a common factor with almost all those games besides EA……. online. Everything has to be online now.

          Reply

        • BakedBagel

          January 21, 2016 at 10:50

          Fucking RIP Red Alert.

          Possibly one of the only RTS games that could have competed with SC imo :<

          Reply

        • Spy Master Tokashi

          January 21, 2016 at 11:18

          Dungeon Keeper
          Theme Hospital
          Syndicate
          Dragon Age Origin (DA 2 got spawned via EA bullshit)
          Mass Effect (Mass Effect 3 got very close to end with EA bullshit)

          Reply

        • RustedFaith

          January 22, 2016 at 11:55

          Theme Hospital
          Dungeon Keeper
          Syndicate
          Wing Commander
          Strike Commander
          Star Lancer
          Privateer

          Reply

  5. HairyEwok

    January 21, 2016 at 10:15

    EA doesn’t want to be a greedy corporate beast…..
    http://i.imgur.com/LaJ9Kmo.gif?noredirect

    Reply

  6. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 21, 2016 at 10:23

    If you don’t want to be one, don’t be one. It’s really not that difficult, especially in the gaming industry where many gamers will forgive a lot if you just wave some new shiny-shiny in front of them.

    People want value for their money, not shareholder value for their money. Shareholder value is what you want. Just release a game with sufficient content & show some goddamn restraint when pushing DLC & MTs.

    Reply

  7. Hammersteyn

    January 21, 2016 at 10:24

    EA Access may seem like a good idea but it’s their way of providing games as a service just like Netflix does. When is Ubisoft, Activision, Warner Brothers and the like do the same? EA is catching flies with honey at the moment. Cheap subscription prices for a large selection of games, even though most are yearly releases which is basically the same game every year and as soon as they have the numbers they’ll do what Netflix does. Release exclusive games or DLC only available EA Access.

    Reply

  8. Hammersteyn

    January 21, 2016 at 10:30

    They don’t want to be greedy, yet they’ve bought every competing studio they could get their grubby paws on and closed it. They use the gaming series they purchased till it’s a dried out hollow husk, like when Paulie became a partner in that guys restaurant in Goodfellas

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      January 21, 2016 at 10:37

      This^^!!!

      Reply

  9. schitsophrenic-toothbrush

    January 21, 2016 at 10:31

    Is it me or does EA come across like a SA politician? “We know that there is something wrong and we want to correct the problem….but not really….cause we want money…..so FU”

    Reply

  10. BakedBagel

    January 21, 2016 at 10:49

    Oh hey we just aquired 2 handfulls of companies really making ground in gaming, with insane long term vision for their product. What did we do with those companies? Oh just killed them off and fucked up the products that made them great to start with?

    heh. Eat shorts EA

    Reply

  11. Jan Prins

    January 21, 2016 at 10:52

    “Stop whinging like a little girl!” will soon be replaced by “Stop whinging like a video gamer!”

    Reply

  12. Deceased

    January 21, 2016 at 11:20

    That’s like the devil saying she’s not out to acquire your soul – she just wants to be your friend 🙂

    Reply

  13. Ghost In The Rift

    January 21, 2016 at 13:23

    Awaiting that micro-transaction section in Mass Effect Andromeda where you can purchase Shepard related items 0_o

    Reply

  14. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    January 21, 2016 at 14:00

    They’re still more evil than konami, squareenix and activision.

    Reply

  15. chimera_85

    January 21, 2016 at 16:09

    Personally I like EA, they once upon a time actually developed some of the best racing games which I grew up on- I am looking at you NFS Hot Pursuit and the best ever created (haven’t played the new one yet cos waiting for PC version) being Most Wanted (2005 of course) and Underground 2.

    I just wish they would resurrect Westwood studios and give us a damn Command & Conquer with shiney graphics on a new engine.

    Reply

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