Fun with EA: "Micro"-Transactions, Online DRM, CEO Fired

[Ruldra]

EA's response

[hail good sir]

running

[moh]

I want that to be real so bad. Please tell me it's real.

[Ed Oscuro]

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/05/ea-ad ... dden-fans/

lol

[Friendly]

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/05/ea-ad ... dden-fans/

lol

Great!

Actually, our analysis of the reasons for EA’s inclusion in last year’s finale makes no mention of Mass Effect 3 or SOPA. Instead, it looks at EA’s history of buying up smaller, successful developers with the intention of milking — and arguably ruining — the intellectual properties that made these acquired companies so attractive. It also discusses EA’s exclusivity deals on popular sports games, that some say effectively sets the bar for retail prices for the rest of the gaming industry.

In today’s post, Moore contends that microtransactions are okey-dokey because “tens of millions” of people are enjoying EA’s free-to-play games that include microtransactions. We’d counter that just because people are allowing you to nickel-and-dime them it doesn’t mean you should be doing it.

As for more recent accusations, Moore tries to shrug off the always-online requirement for SimCity 5 that not only made the game unplayable (because EA didn’t have the foresight to think people might want to play the game after they bought it), but also pissed off a lot of people who felt that it was an invasive form of digital rights management (DRM) that assumes users are trying to play pirated versions of the game.
“Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme,” writes Moore. “It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period.”
Actually, you could be clearer. Make it optional and maybe people will believe you.

Gaming might be a multibillion-dollar industry that attracts the world’s biggest names in entertainment, music, and sports, but it is nonetheless treated by both the media and the business world with a reductionist shrug. Companies like EA are happy to foster the misinformed perception of your average “gamer” as a whiny, nitpicky loner who will complain about anything, as that image only helps to discredit those who have a valid complaint about a relatively pricey consumer product.

Here’s our question to Peter Moore: If your entire industry is engaged in the production of something so trivial as to not warrant inclusion in a contest that features a poop trophy, why do you even work in it?

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Just got an email from EA about this today. Maybe someone here can get some money out of this.

http://www.easportslitigation.com/

[Udderdude]

They hogged the ball. Ball hoggers.