EA is the 'Worst Company In America'

[Fresh Tendrils]

I'm pretty sure we all agree his explanation of any possible political motivation for the poll is pretty ridiculous.

The poll is ludicrous.
His comments are ludicrous.
EA's business/consumer practices? Debatable.

[swiftychampleone]

Listen, I don't like EA either and haven't bought the Madden game since '07. I have my beefs, but to be angry about the online pass is crazy. I'll actually defend them and any other company on that. You bought my game used, I didn't make any money from you and I should allow you to play on my servers? Um...no.

[bucky60]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

First world problems. Don't buy it. Again, there are a lot worse things in life.

I haven't been buying it. Bought M12 and thought that was at least heading in a better direction, even with all it's problems. But you didn't solve my problem of not having an NFL Video game worth buying. "Don't buy it" doesn't solve anything for me.

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

But wasn't that the point of the poll?

I think the point of the article associated with the poll was showing that many EA customers are dissatisfied and also showing EA's attitude toward their customers.

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

The games I didn't enjoy I stopped supporting by not buying further incarnations. Its really not that hard to do.

And I have been very good at doing this. But me not buying/supporting a product doesn't make EA a good company. So I'm not sure what your statement really means in the context of "Is EA a good or bad company". Whether I buy one of their products or not does not make them a good or bad company. So what's your point in the context of the article associated with the poll?

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

Our "feedback" to companies aren't random internet polls, emails, or customer service calls.

Well, seems Peter Moore disagrees with you since he responded to the poll with some pretty arrogant and outrageously blind excuses.

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

Apparently a lot of people still like EA enough to keep buying and supporting their ****.

Some of their products have no competition. Almost like a monopoly. So your choices are very limited to buying something inferior or living without. Not much of a choice for many. I have the will power to not buy, but others do not. And you don't see how this (no competition) drives up the sales numbers?

[bucky60]

Quote: Originally Posted by swiftychampleone

Listen, I don't like EA either and haven't bought the Madden game since '07. I have my beefs, but to be angry about the online pass is crazy. I'll actually defend them and any other company on that. You bought my game used, I didn't make any money from you and I should allow you to play on my servers? Um...no.

Why should someone be forced to use their servers? Why should I be forced to use any servers with a single user franchise sports game mode.

[LionsFanNJ]

You're way too focused on Madden in this situation. Madden is a small drop in the whole EA corporate umbrella.

[tariq071]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I still don't understand why it's apparently okay to single out EA for things like microtransactions, day one DLC, middling customer support, sequel reliance / franchise milking, and aggressive project deadlines leading to day one patches when by-and-large every major video game publishing house (with Valve being effectively the sole exception) is also guilty of the same practices. What's the difference?

I agree with you, whole video gaming industry is pretty much same, shoddy bad business practices geared only towards keeping their shareholders happy, while using every possible legal loophole in global legal system(artistic value, pffft..).

Valve and (somewhat) Paradox are only exceptions that i can think off.

Problem is that long (actually very long time) ago, EA use to be 'people's " company, liked by everyone and then they turned the around completely and openly started talking ways of how to legally rip those same people off.

Their forums , TOS , Origins and everything else is draconian and overly intrusive with complete disregard to customer's rights.Heck.if you try to mod single player game even a bit , you risk getting permaban on Origin(not talking about Simcity).IMHO they deserve same fate that THQ got, but it's unlikely in near future.

But are they worse than Bank of America mortgage ripoffs ? not likely..although they could be second best easily

[bucky60]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I still don't understand why it's apparently okay to single out EA for things like microtransactions, day one DLC, middling customer support, sequel reliance / franchise milking, and aggressive project deadlines leading to day one patches when by-and-large every major video game publishing house (with Valve being effectively the sole exception) is also guilty of the same practices. What's the difference?

Madden is well behind other major sports video games made by other publishers. NBA2k, The Show. Not surprised that a site that is very Madden heavy would take more interest in this poll and article than some other company. I would actually go to a different site to "single out" some other company. And Mr. Moor's comments sure don't help EA's cause for not being singled out.

I have not had the same kinds of problems with other games in any genre that I have with Madden.

[Iceman87GT]

Quote: Originally Posted by bucky60

Why? Once the product is sold, the one who bought the product owns it, not the company that produced it. If you bought a car and sold it used to your neighbor, should the neighbor have to pay a fee to ford because he bought the car from you? You buy a used Ford at a GM dealer, after you pay the GM Dealer, are you sending another check to Ford Motor Company?

A car comparison is not at all valid here, because of price and because the 2 situations are different.

The Online pass is for the ability to access the online servers, not for the ability to play the game. Think of it this way your game is available for $60, Gamestop has it used for $45 which one are you going to buy? If gamestop and other like stores don't exist in that same situation you get $120 for your product whereas in a world where gamestop exists you make $60 because GS gets all of that $45(obviously the comparison isn't perfect becuase EA isn't selling its games to retail for $60).

By adding an online pass you encourage people to buy new, or force them to pay a $10 fee to access online content. Its a way of making money off of used sales, and there is nothing wrong about it, you don't have to like it but it is a solid business tactic and it is only annoying if you buy used. You're trying to get away with not buying their product from them, they counter this by ensuring they still get a small amount.

If you want to do a car analogy that would be like buying a new car and then demanding that the dealership the car's previous owner purchased it from continue to offer you free maintenance (in a situaiton where free maintenance was included).