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  1. #501
    Quote Originally Posted by Sy View Post
    then closing the studios or dismissing a good part of the team once they've been milked.
    When you think about this, it's absurd. If a franchise does well, then surely you keep the studio and milk it even more?

    What actually happens is that the profit margin is incredibly thin, as games get more expensive to produce, yet still bring in a fixed amount of money. The board of directors don't like this, so the developers become the scape goat, and the studio gets shut down to try and recoup costs. Reasons for the massive costs of games is due to shareholders and big wigs trying to be game developers, causing incredibly expensive U turns (which are not easy and very costly especially in a game where its architecture has already been defined), trying to add more features into a frame work doesn't support it etc.
    RETH

  2. #502
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sy View Post
    while calling EA, or any simple entertainment company really, the worst company of america is certainly absolute shullbit, a big reason why many people (or me personally at least) dislike them is their policy regarding employees in development studios.
    EA has quite the history of buying teams, pushing out as many games in their franchises with as little effort/money as possible, and then closing the studios or dismissing a good part of the team once they've been milked.

    another reason is their terrible customer support. i seriously had to explain what a flashpoint is to some poor indian guy who was supposed to help me with a bug in swtor (that's like explaining what a dungeon is to a wow gamemaster, for anyone who hasn't played swtor). like... wtf?

    there are certainly more and better reasons to dislike EA than just not liking their 'features' or the way they handle dlc.
    That's what you get when you contract your customer support out to a business in India because they don't want to pay full price for North American workers.

  3. #503
    Quote Originally Posted by Rennadrel View Post
    Bioware has only ruined themselves though with Dragon Age 2, SWTOR and Mass Effect 3, EA's hands aren't that are in the pockets of the decision makers, they can't have too much say in what goes on with the development of a game, however it is their decision if they choose to publish games that are incomplete or have problems.
    You might want to go have a look at when BW was acquired by EA...

  4. #504
    Quote Originally Posted by Rennadrel View Post
    That's what you get when you contract your customer support out to a business in India because they don't want to pay full price for North American workers.
    Last I remember, a big chunk of their customer support is actually in Ireland. So...yeah.

  5. #505
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    Quote Originally Posted by edgecrusher View Post
    Last I remember, a big chunk of their customer support is actually in Ireland. So...yeah.
    Must be drunk enough to sound like Indians?

  6. #506
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dundebuns View Post
    When you think about this, it's absurd. If a franchise does well, then surely you keep the studio and milk it even more?
    you can only produce low(er) quality stuff in a popular franchise without new innovations for so long, before the franchise itself suffers and former fans start losing faith and interest in related products.
    What actually happens is that the profit margin is incredibly thin, as games get more expensive to produce, yet still bring in a fixed amount of money. The board of directors don't like this, so the developers become the scape goat, and the studio gets shut down to try and recoup costs. Reasons for the massive costs of games is due to shareholders and big wigs trying to be game developers, causing incredibly expensive U turns (which are not easy and very costly especially in a game where its architecture has already been defined), trying to add more features into a frame work doesn't support it etc.
    of course, what i described is only one reason, simplyfied, and certainly not the only one.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rennadrel View Post
    That's what you get when you contract your customer support out to a business in India because they don't want to pay full price for North American workers.
    that was pretty much my point, yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by edgecrusher View Post
    Last I remember, a big chunk of their customer support is actually in Ireland. So...yeah.
    i don't think those are the ones responsible for swtor though, or at least not the only ones. i've opened two tickets in the short time i've played swtor, and both 'gamemasters' very obviously had difficulty with the english language.
    besides, as long as they provide proper service, i don't really care where they are, or even how good their english is. but when it's apparent that EA uses people who have no clue about the game they should provide support for, that's just terribly cheap.

    also: "More jobs are reportedly being cut at EA's customer service center in Galway, Ireland." (Apr 11th 2013) although someone else reported that those were probably less than 10% of the existing ones.

  7. #507
    Quote Originally Posted by Sy View Post
    i don't think those are the ones responsible for swtor though, or at least not the only ones. i've opened two tickets in the short time i've played swtor, and both 'gamemasters' very obviously had difficulty with the english language.
    besides, as long as they provide proper service, i don't really care where they are, or even how good their english is. but when it's apparent that EA uses people who have no clue about the game they should provide support for, that's just terribly cheap.

    also: "More jobs are reportedly being cut at EA's customer service center in Galway, Ireland." (Apr 11th 2013) although someone else reported that those were probably less than 10% of the existing ones.
    Nah, they are irish. I've had many dealings with the swtor support team. The main issue is that they don't actually play or understand the game. If you write something like, "I fell through dromand kass and I can't /stuck and there's no way to kill myself" they would be like "wtf is dromand kass? wtf is /stuck? why is this guy trying to kill himself? Should I be calling 911? Am I a mandated reporter?"
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  8. #508
    Let's try those f*^&ers for war crimes and see if they still sound like arrogant teenagers....
    VOTE TRUMP! Make America Great Again!

  9. #509
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    So has Pete taken the top spot yet? Figured it was a gimme, and that he would be a natural fit to fill Johnny's slimy shoes.
    Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
    Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
    Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
    And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  10. #510
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    Quote Originally Posted by hk-51 View Post
    Nah, they are irish. I've had many dealings with the swtor support team. The main issue is that they don't actually play or understand the game. If you write something like, "I fell through dromand kass and I can't /stuck and there's no way to kill myself" they would be like "wtf is dromand kass? wtf is /stuck? why is this guy trying to kill himself? Should I be calling 911? Am I a mandated reporter?"
    i digress but you got me curious. How do you tell where people are from with only written messages? can you tell where's i'm from?

  11. #511
    Quote Originally Posted by Vankrys View Post
    i digress but you got me curious. How do you tell where people are from with only written messages? can you tell where's i'm from?
    I asked about half of them and got "Irish" each time. When I talk to CS I treat them like people, not lost loot vendors.
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  12. #512
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    Quote Originally Posted by hk-51 View Post
    I asked about half of them and got "Irish" each time. When I talk to CS I treat them like people, not lost loot vendors.
    i know the irish customer support center was opened for swtor specifically (at least originally, they partly changed that later) but i honestly doubt the two i've 'talked' to were from ireland. their english was very, very bad.

    but again, neither of that really matters (to me) as long as they can provide good support, which they very clearly couldn't.

  13. #513
    Quote Originally Posted by Sy View Post
    i know the irish customer support center was opened for swtor specifically (at least originally, they partly changed that later) but i honestly doubt the two i've 'talked' to were from ireland. their english was very, very bad.

    but again, neither of that really matters (to me) as long as they can provide good support, which they very clearly couldn't.
    Maybe for you.
    I usually got my ticket responded to in under 5 minutes and they were proficient in english... just not video games lol
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  14. #514
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    I don't know that I'd say their the worst .. Pretty much all game companies these days do incredibly sleazy things including Valve. Valve's refusal to fix issues on their end with GFWL titles and Windows 8 users is both sleazy and annoying. (Several months after the launch of Windows 8, Valve continues to package Win8 incompatible versions of GFWL with GFWL titles on the platform despite all other merchants that offer downloaded GFWL titles fixing that issue months ago.)

    That said I do think that EA is pretty horrible for pressuring BioWare to release DA2 before they were ready, and for all the issues/drama with SimCity. Also most of their really popular titles are crap while their really good and less popular titles get the axe. Their DRM is slightly less sleazy than UbiSoft's and they're very very slightly less greedy than Activision.

    As gamers, we're kind of screwed.

  15. #515
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoKPaNda View Post
    As gamers, we're kind of screwed.
    indies ftw!

    granted, there are indie developers that are just as bad, but most seem to genuinely try to make good games with good support and stuff.

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