A Letter to EA and to all the community sites

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by JerseySuave4

i do agree with what is said in the letter but as others have mentioned it does come across as whiny and entitled.

Agreed. I agree with the overall points of it. But there's definitely some venom there mixed in with the 50 cent words that can on first glance cause the reader to take it less serious as they begin to sound like every other ranter.

Points for the most part are well taken, I agree with most of it, but it's poorly written, and thusly loses some credibility.

[boxboy99]

I feel the letter was brillant and you guys should get more credit for being writers. The letter basically stuck to the facts of the matter. Calling an article whiney in general is not a constructive critique of the letter. That is just hating on some people who wrote a good letter for no reason.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by uclabruins4ever

Couple things: 1 - Easy to say "don't like it, don't buy it" with many products, but when it's for something that you CANNOT get a refund for after you've opened it at 90% of retailers, it's a bit of a different story. 2 - The letter and the community whining should be considered fair warning by EA Sports that their exclusivity agreement is going to end up costing them in the long term if it continues to result in inferior products. I'm not talking just drop in sales (which I'm betting they see next year) but they are easily opening themselves up to class action litigation by PO'd customers who feel ripped off. It isn't hard to make the anti-competitive argument when they are the only game in town. Instead of putting their head in the sand and putting out press releases patting themselves on the back for the sake of shareholders, they should heed the warning signs. In business, the bottom line is all that matters but developing a bad reputation can start to have serious consequences on that bottom line that are very difficult to recover from. They need to be wary when the voices are getting as loud as they are.

What warning signs? I'd kill for exclusivity to end however, people keep saying it's going to hurt them in the end. Didn't I just read how NCAA sales were significantly up this year?

People have been banging the exclusivity will be the downfall of EA games drum for years, but from what I have read their sales are now getting stronger.

Please ignore any typos I am on the iPad.

[1WEiRDguy]

I would also like to see some examples of being whiny...i think the feedback has been terrific, but if someone could offer up some suggestions, im sure that would be appreciated

[wepr3]

I don't see venom in the letter, just a lot of frustration. I think they did an admirable job listing the complaints that some of us have.

Kudos to the OS staff for choosing to allow this thread to continue. IMO, the longer this thread is alive (meaning having civil and mature discussions), the more attention it has the chance to garner.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by wepr3

I don't see venom in the letter, just a lot of frustration. I think they did an admirable job listing the complaints that some of us have. Kudos to the OS staff for choosing to allow this thread to continue. IMO, the longer this thread is alive (meaning having civil and mature discussions), the more attention it has the chance to garner.

The venom is pretty obvious. I understand the frustration because I share a lot of it, but if you want to be taken seriously, it has to be tempered.

[boxboy99]

Yeah, the problem EA isn't going to hurt from the exclusive deal unless people take action with wallets. People want to play football so that is a hard action to take. EA did a great job with adding features the community wanted this year but in the end they didn't get a fully functional product out the door. I think the introduction of some awaited features, along with the increased time before the release of Madden, help drive increased sales this year. I guess we will see if people will remember this time next year. I want to purchase Madden and/or NHL but after this fiasco I decided to hold on to my money. I hope more people that are unhappy do the same. I have a bunch of friends that have made me laugh. They complained about NCAA and then went and bought Madden hoping for something better. I said, why would you reward EA for making a subpar NCAA game by purchasing Madden which is made by the same company. If they go to a resturant and get bad service and food, they don't go back. Isn't it the same thing? That is the definition of insanity!

[boxboy99]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

The venom is pretty obvious. I understand the frustration because I share a lot of it, but if you want to be taken seriously, it has to be tempered.

I somewhat see your point, but this is a letter to a company by a group of people who are not happy with a product. I am sure in their heads they tempered this back quite a bit. If they tempered back much more this letter doesn't pack any punch as a call to action. It is a tough line to walk, but for the reasons I mentioned I think the letter does an excellent job.