EA named worst company in America by Consumerist

[Khan]

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/ea-named-wo ... st-6370000

"In a statement provided to GameSpot, EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg said, "We're sure that bank presidents, oil, tobacco, and weapons companies are all relieved they weren't on the list this year. We're going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide."

[Bloodreign]

I won't be one of the 300 million EA, and I won't award them any awards.

[xbl0x180]

I blame ea for all that evil s***. When those bankers ragequit an ea game, they go out and rape the US economy for the money they lost

[BulletMagnet]

I'm certainly no fan of EA for the most part, but compared to what some of the other companies in the running have done EA's sins are pretty inconsequential...then again, when something like this is put to an internet vote you know the angry Mass Effect 3 crowds will turn out en masse.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

We're going to continue taking over companies that make award-winning games and services only for us to lay them off a few years later while we're busy making shitty Madden sequels."

fixed

[Ruldra]

then again, when something like this is put to an internet vote you know the angry Mass Effect 3 crowds will turn out en masse.

Pretty much. 4chan, Reddit and GAF all rallied to vote on EA as much as they could, turning the poll into a joke.

This post at GAF sums up best the whole thing:

My family fought a six month battle with Bank of America in order to avoid becoming homeless. We fought them every single day for those six months, and ultimately won out. But a lot of innocent people didn't win, and were put on the streets.

(...)

The people who voted EA in this pole should feel ashamed of themselves for the message they have not only sent to families who were victimized by BoA, but to anybody who was skeptical of of the gaming community to begin with. You haven't stood up to EA, you've damaged our image as gamers. You've made us look like ignorant, petty, selfish children with no concept of what's going on out in the real world. I not only feel offended as a BoA victim, but as a gamer too.

(...)

I hope you feel good knowing that EA essentially laughed in your faces when hearing they made the top spot. This pole was never about inspiring some kind of change. It was to acknowledge the actions of these companies and to stand up for the people who were truly hurt the most.

And then there's this comment from the Consumerist site:

So you vote them the worst company in America. They respond by laughing in your face.

And when they bring out Madden 2013? Well, you'll be right there to buy it.

And hey, since you're there anyway, why not download the away jerseys for your favorite teams as well? They're only $1 each...sure, you hate DLC and think it's killing your industry, but look how nice those jerseys look! Maybe while that DLC downloads you can go post about how you're boycotting EA games. Oh, and pre-order Mass Effect 4 while you're at it.

Congratulations, gamers. You are the Worst Consumers in America.

Nothing more needs to be said.

[Blackbird]

And then there's this comment from the Consumerist site:

So you vote them the worst company in America. They respond by laughing in your face.

And when they bring out Madden 2013? Well, you'll be right there to buy it.

And hey, since you're there anyway, why not download the away jerseys for your favorite teams as well? They're only $1 each...sure, you hate DLC and think it's killing your industry, but look how nice those jerseys look! Maybe while that DLC downloads you can go post about how you're boycotting EA games. Oh, and pre-order Mass Effect 4 while you're at it.

Congratulations, gamers. You are the Worst Consumers in America.

This. I've heard so many gamers gripe about the state of gaming, but they're all whiny pushovers with no backbone or principles (present company excluded, pretty sure most of us shmuppers aren't part of the mainstream gaming circuit =P). Maybe if more gamers actually boycotted instead of purchasing the games they whine about, we'd actually get something done.

Story time: I was a longtime fan of Blizzard entertainment and had purchased every major game of theirs since the original Warcraft in '92(?). When they became Acti-Blizzard, I began a boycott and will presumably never purchase another of their games (barring some major repentance effort). Look up Activision's record to see why =P. So yeah, that hurts pretty bad not being able to play -really- anticipated games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, but I hope some of you will join me in making gaming a better place.

[Paradigm]

Story time: I was a longtime fan of Blizzard entertainment and had purchased every major game of theirs since the original Warcraft in '92(?). When they became Acti-Blizzard, I began a boycott and will presumably never purchase another of their games (barring some major repentance effort). Look up Activision's record to see why =P. So yeah, that hurts pretty bad not being able to play -really- anticipated games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, but I hope some of you will join me in making gaming a better place.

The only person you're affecting by taking that stance is yourself.

Just play the games you want to play instead of worrying about who's making them.

[opt2not]

EA voted the worst over BoA? That makes sense, all the BoA victims don't have Internet access... Sorry bad joke.

[Pharos]

People may love to hate EA, but Bank of America is so evil that they really aren't even comparable

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... stpopular1

[Ed Oscuro]

I won't be one of the 300 million EA, and I won't award them any awards.

Bingo.

It seems really strange to me that Consumerist would choose EA though, it's all fun and games.

Not the oil company in Corpus Christi, Texas that arguably is poisoning the residents of the city?
Not MF Global, the trading arm of a centuries-old group run into the ground by John Corzine, along with billions in customer dollars that by law were not to be used to balance the books?
Not a slaughterhouse employing illegal immigrants who have to eat the raw meat for their lunch breaks, and don't have permission to leave their posts to relieve themselves?
Not one of the non-profit bullhorns for monied interests unleashed by the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign spending?

Calling EA the worst company - yes, I've been wary of them for a long time. But I don't see their practices as being too far ahead of other game companies. While I hate what they're doing to gaming and to their employees, they are a reflection of the hyper-competitive game industry's new reality, and they aren't operating in a vacuum.

Story time: I was a longtime fan of Blizzard entertainment and had purchased every major game of theirs since the original Warcraft in '92(?). When they became Acti-Blizzard, I began a boycott and will presumably never purchase another of their games (barring some major repentance effort). Look up Activision's record to see why =P. So yeah, that hurts pretty bad not being able to play -really- anticipated games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, but I hope some of you will join me in making gaming a better place.

Don't feel bad. I've read that Diablo 3 (and I think this was true of SC2) will be a client-server game entirely, meaning assets won't be on your computer - your ability to play the game will depend entirely on Blizzard's whims.

I haven't been able to jump on board any corporate worship for a long, long time. Thankfully Konami got me ahead of the curve with their inept millennial releases and mishandling of so many franchises. It just burns that Capcom has suddenly tanked in the last year or so (maybe some people will say it was a long time coming, and RE4's PS2 release was the canary in the coal mine - that was just business, to me).

[Moniker]

When they became Acti-Blizzard, I began a boycott and will presumably never purchase another of their games (barring some major repentance effort).

Blizzard will have to club a whole shitload of baby seals to keep me away from Diablo 3. Possibly invade Poland.


Anyway, I agree the furor over EA is more than a little ridiculous when carried into a world where things actually matter. The internet is a strangely stratified place.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Internet polls aren't a good thing to use as a tool when polling people objectively anyways, since the votes are easily swayed by spamming hundreds of votes on multiple IPs or people simply vote out of popularity rather than merit (or in this case, unpopularity).

[Blackbird]

The only person you're affecting by taking that stance is yourself.

Just play the games you want to play instead of worrying about who's making them.

Blizzard will have to club a whole shitload of baby seals to keep me away from Diablo 3. Possibly invade Poland.

This right here is -exactly- what I'm talking about. "I can't affect anything, so why even bother?" "The game is too good. My principles aren't important enough." This is why we can't have nice things. Keep shrugging those shoulders, people -_-.

Seriously, do you even need an extra incentive to avoid Diablo 3? They turned the game into bucking ebay, for shmup's sake.

[brentsg]

Perhaps most of the people who lost their homes in the BoA BS weren't able to hop online and vote.

My financial advisor has a local client that got foreclosed in error due to a BoA mistake, without ever being late with any mortgage payments.

[Moniker]

The only person you're affecting by taking that stance is yourself.

Just play the games you want to play instead of worrying about who's making them.

Blizzard will have to club a whole shitload of baby seals to keep me away from Diablo 3. Possibly invade Poland.

This right here is -exactly- what I'm talking about. "I can't affect anything, so why even bother?" "The game is too good. My principles aren't important enough." This is why we can't have nice things. Keep shrugging those shoulders, people -_-.

Seriously, do you even need an extra incentive to avoid Diablo 3? They turned the game into bucking ebay, for shmup's sake.

Hyperbole aside, Diablo 1&2 have been the best money I've spent on gaming by an insane margin. And I've bought each of them more than twice because of switching computers and losing the discs. I can't say I'm excited about a lot of Diablo 3's reported features, but hell. I'll take the risk. It's not even a question.

As far as gaming boycotts go, it's not that I have a "one vote won't matter" kind of attitude, it's just that I balance things that piss me off against expected enjoyment. I didn't buy SFxT on account of that. DLC & DRM gaffes don't really fall under "things that fundamentally violate my principles," so I just do cost-benefit analyses. The whole Team Bondi thing put me off LA Noire, I guess. Never seen anything that would make me refrain from a gaming company's entire output.

[Blackbird]

Man, that BoA article is unbelievable. I literally cannot believe my eyes. How can they even get away with this? It's absolutely insane.

Ok, so if the bank fails, the American economy is damaged, fine. But if they are allowed to continue on as they have, they will only cause more damage. You cannot build a house on a faulty foundation, it will collapse sooner or later. Anyone knows that. They just keep letting them build that house higher and higher, so when the foundation eventually crumbles, it will cause even more damage than if it collapsed now. They should just let it fall. It's just not worth it.

I honestly feel like we should let the collapse of the banks destroy the economy at this point. If people's lives are directly destroyed, and everyone understands that it is because the banks and the government that supported them have defrauded them, then perhaps that will finally galvanize the public into the state of furor and watchfulness necessary to effect meaningful change.

The house we built is hopelessly corrupt now, the foundation is collapsing. The only hope is to rebuild from the ground up, with a better foundation this time.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm certainly no fan of EA for the most part, but compared to what some of the other companies in the running have done EA's sins are pretty inconsequential...then again, when something like this is put to an internet vote you know the angry Mass Effect 3 crowds will turn out en masse.

Agreed. Their games suck for the most part and I could care less, but I think the statement was pretty fucking good.

EA voted the worst over BoA? That makes sense, all the BoA victims don't have Internet access... Sorry bad joke.

BoA Japan laid me off on December 23rd during a recession year. True story. I made out like a banshee due to Japanese laws against laying off local hires, but still. A lot of my friends were out of work for ages. I did okay, even though I fully recognize what a bunch of cock tards they are. Fun fact: My mother still banks with them.

[Kaiser]

I won't be one of the 300 million EA, and I won't award them any awards.

+1, I'm done with EA myself since last year's mega-dissapointment Battlefield 3 which was a surprise considering the previous game, Bad Company 2 was well-designed. Plus nothing can top Mirror's Edge from their offerings. Anywho people, if you don't want to support a developer, buy games used, there problem solved. Or just wait until a promotion/major price drop so you won't feel ripped off when buying the product but you have to aware of one thing, you should know what cat in a bag you are buying. There is internet for that, look for reviews, opinions, trailers then you can easily decide if the game is worth your time. Back in 90s we didn't have it this easy, we had only magazines like GamePro.

EDIT: As awful EA is, Bank of America deserves this position far more, if this was a world-wide competition, I would vote for it's european brother, Golden-Sachs which MANIPULATED the european market to raise the value of PLN (Polish money value) as whole, to score more money while fucking over the entire country.

[Friendly]

I bought at least 2 EA games in recent years (both for PS3), Dead Space and Dead Space 2 LE with Dead Space Extraction HD. But I have never purchased any DLC from them, because that is what I hate. I certainly wouldn't buy any of their games where chunks of single-player content are missing and held for ransom. If others hate DLC as much as I do, why don't they just stop buying it?

Anyway, worst company in America, lol. Ever heard of Monsanto (of Agent Orange fame) and their genetically engineered seeds and how they are abusing their market position? Monsanto has an actual influence on the daily lives of millions. And that's just one example. What about big tobacco? Selling a product they know makes the buyers addicted and kills them? Etc.

[Elixir]

My heart goes out to the Americans who voted for Bank of America.

Only for them to be mortified by the fact that the mass majority of other Americans prioritize VIDEO GAME COMPANY PRACTICE over domestically far more important matters.

[Friendly]

Yeah.

Also an interesting reminder that the internet =/= the people, that the results of internet polls don't represent majority opinions, and that internet votes are relatively worthless because they can easily be skewed (eg. by angry crowds).

[Skykid]

Their games suck for the most part and I could care less

You mean you couldn't care less.

[CIT]

So why do Mass Effect fans hate EA? Somebody wanna fill me in?

[Friendly]

So why do Mass Effect fans hate EA? Somebody wanna fill me in?

Mass Effect 3: Day-1 DLC that was apparently cut from the game (containing an important storyline and character), and the ending of ME3 seems to be disliked very much. I don't know what this is about, as I haven't played it. No spoilers by those who have, please.

[Ed Oscuro]

I won't be one of the 300 million EA, and I won't award them any awards.

+1, I'm done with EA myself since last year's mega-dissapointment Battlefield 3

I knew there would be something wrong with it, and just stayed away. Besides, my mouse won't let me play online; it's for the best.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Ed Oscuro

you really think that RE4 signalled the end of Capcom? That's one of my favorite games.

Take it back.

(fine it's not very "resident evilish", but it still kicks ass)

[BIL]

Pretty sure Ed's referring to the PS2 getting an RE4 conversion after its supposed GC exclusivity, not the game itself.

[BryanM]

Blizzard

Actually bought this here computer almost entirely just to play SC2 and D3.

Then they announced "macro mechanics" for SC2. The draconian DRM is just icing on top of the stupid.

It also helps that their launches blew out about 8 months past the top of their hype curve. Not giving a shit about D3 this year is a lot easier than it would have been last year. P'eh, bigger swords enhancing your magic damage. What the hell is the point, when itemization is now identical across the board, which I guess is super for their RMT. (BryanM even supports RMT on an ethical level, so take that.)

It makes me feel kind of nice that their profit margins for Starcraft 2, at least, are in the toilet compared to its predecessor. Gazillions of dollars spent for a remix of an old game fewer people can play due to hardware requirements; it's no wonder indie developers get more respect.

Fun fact: My mother still banks with them.

Get that poor woman into a good credit union, stat.

MoveHerMoney.com.

[Blackbird]

So why do Mass Effect fans hate EA? Somebody wanna fill me in?

Fans who recently completed Mass Effect 3 were extremely disappointed by the ending(s). This was especially disappointing, I gather, because the rest of the series right up until the end was really good. Just search "Mass Effect 3 Ending" on youtube and you'll get pages and pages of nerd rage.

Fans also hated the Day-1 DLC, which intentionally cut an extremely plot-important character from the game so that this content could be sold separately. You know, typical DLC bullshit. There were several other ways EA attempted to monetize the game even more, with varying levels of offensiveness.

Basically, fans were pissed because EA was nickle-and-diming the game to death, often in ways gamers found unethical.

Amusingly, EA has announced that it will release an improved ending to the game as DLC. I wonder if they will charge players for the luxury of getting a better ending, just to throw oil on the fire .

I have a feeling the timing had a great deal of influence on the outcome of the poll - it's a hot topic right now since Mass Effect 3 was released only recently.