EA wins "Worse Company of America"

[Magemaer]

"EA has been voted the "worst company in America" by readers of customer watchdog site The Consumerist."

"EA and Bank America had beaten a number of other contenders - including Ticketmaster, Apple, GameStop, WalMart, Sony and PayPal - to reach the final round, which the games publisher won with 64.03 per cent of the public vote. Over 250,000 votes were counted throughout the contest."

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/congr...-for-2012.html

"There have even been numerous accusations that EA and its ilk deliberately hold back game content with the sole intent of charging a fee for it at a later date. It's one thing to support a game with new content that is worth the price. It's another to put out an inferior — and occasionally broken — product with the mindset of 'ah, we'll fix it later and make some money for doing so.'"

"New, independent game companies do pop up all the time, but the cost of entering the market has historically been too expensive, making these indie innovators prime targets for acquisition by mega-publishers like EA. Our hope is that the growth of app-based gaming and downloadable games will continue to make it easier for developers to get their products out without the backing of companies that don't care a lick about the people who fork over their cash."

"Oh well, Worst Company In America 2012 is officially in the books. All that's left to do is send off the Golden Poo to EA. Traditionally, the Poo has been delivered on its little red pillow. But this year, we'll give EA three different color options for its pillow, though in the end it's still the same old Poo."
-The Consumerist

[Venziir]

Seems reasonable.

[Archimand]

ye ... no chance ill buy game from ea origin is disaster and dlc is shit

[Windry]

I don't need a poll to tell me how to think about a company. A story, an article, or just personal experience buying their game all have much more weight.

And BTW... this poll shows just how retarded the general public is. I can understand people hating EA for holding back content, or trying to make money on DLC's... but to hate them more than a bank that had a major hand in the collapse of our economy, taking huge bailouts that everyone in America has to pay for? How can that not be the worse company in America?

[Tuvok]

These companies are a blight on the industry and have turned what used to be a beautiful and honest medium of entertainment into yet another "Charge as much for as little as you can get away with" enterprise.

As someone who started gaming in the early 90s, and as someone who used to buy games when they were actually sold in their completed form, I cannot welcome the boom of the gaming industry if it means that the dignity and soul of the industry is compromised by shareholders who have commercialised it to the extent that the industry teeters on the edge of complete and utter soullessness.

It's heart breaking to see what has happened to my most beloved of pasttimes.

[Shynra]

I don't need a poll to tell me how to think about a company. A story, an article, or just personal experience buying their game all have much more weight.

And BTW... this poll shows just how retarded the general public is. I can understand people hating EA for holding back content, or trying to make money on DLC's... but to hate them more than a bank that had a major hand in the collapse of our economy, taking huge bailouts that everyone in America has to pay for? How can that not be the worse company in America?

The point of a poll is not to tell you how to think about anything. It only serves to generate a statistic.

[Dazzy]

"EA has been voted the "worst company in America" by readers of customer watchdog site The Consumerist."

"EA and Bank America had beaten a number of other contenders - including Ticketmaster, Apple, GameStop, WalMart, Sony and PayPal - to reach the final round, which the games publisher won with 64.03 per cent of the public vote. Over 250,000 votes were counted throughout the contest."

http://consumerist.com/2012/04/congr...-for-2012.html

"There have even been numerous accusations that EA and its ilk deliberately hold back game content with the sole intent of charging a fee for it at a later date. It's one thing to support a game with new content that is worth the price. It's another to put out an inferior — and occasionally broken — product with the mindset of 'ah, we'll fix it later and make some money for doing so.'"

"New, independent game companies do pop up all the time, but the cost of entering the market has historically been too expensive, making these indie innovators prime targets for acquisition by mega-publishers like EA. Our hope is that the growth of app-based gaming and downloadable games will continue to make it easier for developers to get their products out without the backing of companies that don't care a lick about the people who fork over their cash."

"Oh well, Worst Company In America 2012 is officially in the books. All that's left to do is send off the Golden Poo to EA. Traditionally, the Poo has been delivered on its little red pillow. But this year, we'll give EA three different color options for its pillow, though in the end it's still the same old Poo."
-The Consumerist

I wouldn't take stock in a poll conducted by a website most people have never heard of. Especially one that most of the voters were clearly very young video game players.

Put that poll on a major site that adults visit and a video game company wouldn't even be in the top 50. EA is the least evil of any of those listed, proof you say? When ME3 alternate endings are released as DLC, they will be bought up like hotcakes. Which is a glaring problem with our society, everybody will cry and whine and complain about a company yet they still throw money at them hand over fist...When you do that, you're right to complain ceases to exist.

[zito]

All companys do some form of "we will fix it later release it now."

EA was just too obvious about it.

[Gracin]

I'm amazed they beat out Ticketbastard. Seriously, $15 ticket with a $25 service fee/wtfever else they wanna tack on.

[Skelington]

A rather fitting award for EA.

[nixcookies]

No surprises there then, they are a pretty rubbish company.

[Deleted]

they worked hard for it. really hard. over a loong time.

yes, i dont like EA. bad support and updates(if any) and stuff, coupled with lots of rushed games ...

[Deleted]

Well sure, Bank of America took muh house, but Mass Effect 3's ending didn't reflect my choices!

Shamelessly stolen from Kotaku.

I mean, I understand if EA is a horrible company but for crying out loud people, is EA really that much worse than Bank of America? Be honest.

[Zenko]

These companies are a blight on the industry and have turned what used to be a beautiful and honest medium of entertainment into yet another "Charge as much for as little as you can get away with" enterprise.

As someone who started gaming in the early 90s, and as someone who used to buy games when they were actually sold in their completed form, I cannot welcome the boom of the gaming industry if it means that the dignity and soul of the industry is compromised by shareholders who have commercialised it to the extent that the industry teeters on the edge of complete and utter soullessness.

It's heart breaking to see what has happened to my most beloved of pasttimes.

That... that was beautiful, yet so sad and an alarming reality.

[volar]

Seriously, Apple should have won that one,
atleast EA doesn't abuse it's personel like that shitty company does.
At least EA is not a religion calling its shopkeepers "geniuses" overpricing their products by 500% or more.

[CanthonyDB]

ye ... no chance ill buy game from ea origin is disaster and dlc is shit

Funny you say that, I have yet to have problems with Origin and I have constant problems with other programs like Steam. CwutIdidthur?

In seriousness, sure you can cry about the program, but you're crying about something that is not a constant for everyone. I drive a Nissan Maxima and I love it, but I have people who have had problems with Maximas.

---------- Post added 2012-04-04 at 05:16 PM ----------

they worked hard for it. really hard. over a loong time.

yes, i dont like EA. bad support and updates(if any) and stuff, coupled with lots of rushed games ...

Rushed games just came with the times, no matter what company. Did you not read the Asura's Wrath having the dlc that shows the TRUE ending to the game or having to buy the ending for Final Fantasy XIII-2? Those two games aren't published by EA.

[Kneegaplz]

I feel sorry for all of you that actually believe EA is the worst company. You really have no idea how much some of these companies have fucked up people's lives.

[llDemonll]

I agree with what CanthonyDB says, but the big companies like EA aren't helping anything. Even if MW3 had been released a number of months after BF3, it still would have done just as well. Even if ME3 had been released a few months after when it was so they could put real ending in the game, it would have done just as well.

GT5 is the biggest flop I remember...that game was delayed for so long because they were "making it perfect" and about 60% of the car models were reused from GT4 (literally exact copies, no polygon updates or anything), the menu system sucked, etc., etc.

Seems like companies now-days go for looks and not brains *insert bad blonde joke here* because they know people will eat up sequels regardless of it they're good or not

[Magruun]

Yeah, EA does hold back on content to sell it later on but it HAS to do this.
making games is extremely expensive these days, over 10 million to make the game and that plus promotion and distribution is more common now... and with €60,00 for a game they have to sell a huge amount of copies to break even.
Battlefield 3 or FIFA 12 might be capable of that but they also have many franchises that will never sell that much.
so what they do is sell extra content to make that little bit of extra money.

despite trying to make this money from DLC EA did lose $340 Million in 2011.
the gaming industry is facing a financial crisis at the moment after all.

[Magemaer]

I mean, I understand if EA is a horrible company but for crying out loud people, is EA really that much worse than Bank of America? Be honest.

It's not worse. It was a poll tho, and for some reasons voters elected EA games. As Silvator said, they work really hard for a long time for this.

I mean ofc BA is worse, but that only makes it more shameful for EA. It somehow represents the level of hate and despise the general public developed for EA over the years.

the gaming industry is facing a financial crisis at the moment after all.

Many industries are facing a financial crisis at the moment, but
1-EA has been like this for a long time, way before the crisis.
2-One thing is a financial crisis. Another thing is an ethical crisis. They don't necessarily come together.