EA is the 'Worst Company In America'

[RaychelSnr]

You've almost certainly heard the news by now, Electronic Arts has been named the worst company in America for the second year in a row by Consumerist. EA managed to 'best' Bank of America, yes that same BAC that helped nearly bring down the entire US economy in 2008, in the championship round.

Consumerist cited three key areas where EA failed to improve in the last year: 1)providing a product people want and like, 2)sell products at a reasonable price and 3)support the products you sell.

EA COO Peter Moore had this to say, "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."

Of course, Moore also had something else to say, "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."

So, apparently, EA is officially the worst company in America, but not because of what they have done to anger customers in the first place, but because people simply are homophobic and want to prove a political point.

Of course, it's also because people just don't like the Madden cover choice, "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," Moore wrote to Consumerist.

As for those pink elephants in the room? Oh don't mind them, they are just there for decoration.

What do you think about EA being named the worst company in America for a second year in a row? Does it 'deserve' the honor over the other companies at the top of the list like Comcast and Bank of America? Sound off!

[Cletus]

Lol. I can't help but laugh at people. Sure, EA makes some bad games, but it's hard for me to believe they are the worst. EA products have never killed anyone, or had side effects that majorly affected your health. I'm still not sure how they got more votes than dog food companies who products kill thousands of dogs then act like nothing happens.

Also, if EA was the worst company in America, how do they sell millions of products? Their products are so bad that they manage to be one of the most successful companies in America?

[Mostoasty]

They ARE a bad company when it comes to consumer satisfaction. The online pass alone is enough to make me hate EA. They do make great sports games though.

[BreaksoftheGame]

EA has continued to fail at satisfying consumers.

I don't understand how the NBA and the NCAA allowed them to purchase a license and not use it. Sure you make the money but how does the contract not state you must produce something to further spread the NBA and NCAA's advertisement.

It really makes the NBA and NCAA look bad if they sell the rights for a game that doesn't get made right?

[Bmore Irish]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cletus

Lol. I can't help but laugh at people. Sure, EA makes some bad games, but it's hard for me to believe they are the worst. EA products have never killed anyone, or had side effects that majorly affected your health. I'm still not sure how they got more votes than dog food companies who products kill thousands of dogs then act like nothing happens. Also, if EA was the worst company in America, how do they sell millions of products? Their products are so bad that they manage to be one of the most successful companies in America?

This is kinda my take. Sure EA can infuriate at times, but I'd say there are companies out there who are much more deserving of the vitriol. I absolutely hold them to a higher standard than they put out, but some of their products are still quite enjoyable. Clearly, though, the leadership at EA is made up of complete *******s.

[ps3veron]

LoL! Well this is a little harsh! Sure they do a bunch of money hungry moves (Online Passes, DLC, In Game purchases etc..) but everyone else is following suit with that.

They sure do have the best servers for online gaming and their sports library is awesome.

Its not like they're dumping toxic waste into rivers, scamming people's savings or causing global warming.

World's worst gaming company? Maybe. World's worst company? Heck no!

[CM Hooe]

1 - incorrect headline, the Consumerist poll only included American companies and was for the award "Worst Company in America".

2 - as I've claimed in the thread in the Madden forum, this poll made no attempt at being an accurate cross-section of the American consumer base; it was a voluntary internet poll run on a web site whose traffic demographics skew heavily to the 18-24 and 25-34 age brackets. Compound this with the observation that video gamers are typically young, incredibly vocal, and possess a pack mentality on any controversial issue, I assert that there's undoubtedly sampling bias in the population of poll respondents, which is enough for me to disregard the poll entirely.

3 - EA's practices are fairly representative of most of the AAA video game industry. I don't see how one could call them the "worst company in America" and not effectively call out every other major video game publisher at the same time. EA is just the flavor of the month once again, this time thanks to the SimCity debacle.

4 - if EA is really so anti-consumer, etc., why do consumers keep buying their products? Surely they keep making things that consumers want, and whatever EA is doing must not be but so bad if consumers are willing to tolerate whatever they do to have access to said products.

5 - why is this poll even worth talking about? Unless EA is going to react to it in any substantial way (remove microtransactions, limit DRM use, end the exclusivity agreement), this poll means nothing. EA will react to their own financial missteps (SWTOR) before they react to this because at the end of the day consumers are still buying FIFA, Madden, SimCity, The Sims, etc. AND their associated DLC, regardless what they are voting in this poll. If consumers are legitimately unhappy with EA, they need to consistently voice their opinion with their wallets, otherwise EA isn't going to change.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Internet polls are probably the most worthless source of information on the internet and considering all the inaccurate "informational" memes I see plastered on my newsfeed that is saying quite a lot.