News - EA Games wins Golden Poo Award

[kalniel]

Look at the names on that list that are gone. Bought out to be shut down so as not to be competition.

That's largely nonsense to be honest. Just look at the number of studios that have closed down outside of EA - its just as many, if not many times more. The games business is not a kind one - players tastes can and do vary over time and as a for profit business EA are acting ethically by closing down studios if they don't think the market is there for them - to do otherwise would be being dishonest/incompetent with their investors' money.

[Jimbo75]

I bought star wars the old republic which was a piece of crap. I really should have known better but you still hope that Bioware has enough integrity at least to not release such a pathetic excuse for a game. They don't because they have been infected by EA's practices. Everything EA touches turns to ****.

I bought ME1 and ME2 but I will not be buying ME3 until it hits rock bottom pricing where it deserves to be. I for one am completely sick of this company and I'm definitely not the only one. That's why their share price is in freefall (lost 40% in the last 6 months) - people ARE boycotting their games and "awards" like this should help them to reconsider what the reasons for that are.

Do you think they'll change or do you think they'll try to squeeze even more out of who is left? I believe they'll choose the latter. What will make you stop buying? DLC guns in BF4?

[kalniel]

Do you think they'll change or do you think they'll try to squeeze even more out of who is left? I believe they'll choose the latter. What will make you stop buying? DLC guns in BF4?

I haven't played a single BF game - not my kind of thing. On the other hand I'm pleased they are investing in new studios and new IP - I'm enjoying Kingdoms of Amalur, and Popcap make great casual games. I really enjoyed the Mass Effect series too.

But each to their own. I doubt I'd ever play SW:TOR.

[jim]

I can't say I liked EA much before ME3, and I still haven't played ME3 yet so I can't comment on that. In fact, the reason I haven't played ME3 yet is because of Origin, but that's a whole different story again. Point is, I think blaming it all on ME3 is way over the top.

As for the criticism of the award, agreed, they aren't really the worst company in the USA, but does anybody genuinely think they are? It's a backlash against EA from angry consumers, and a massive one at that.

The big story is A) How many people are upset, and B) How nonchalant EA are about it.

Sure, they'll carry on, and sure, they'll probably keep hold of their success despite the award. The MW2 boycott shows how powerful the gaming protest movement is (that was sarcastic, people of the internet).

I am surprised though at how little they are pretending to care. It would be very easy for them to put out an announcement saying that they are sorry to have attracted so much ire and will be working with consumers to improve the relationship, even if they proceeded to do nothing of the sort. To just stand there and say "Well, they're all wrong" isn't exactly progressive.

It just shows how irrelevant popular opinion is in the gaming industry at the moment, and I guess I reluctantly agree with them.

[HalloweenJack]

and EA`s reply? `its because they are anti-gay`.... srsly....

[crossy]

Actually, I've always found EA's support to be pretty good on the whole - I particularly remember having an email exchange over the course of two weeks about MoH: PA crashing badly. And yes, support did actually manage to get it running.

Activision, on the hand, was "read the FAQ's you effing moron" and Ubisoft's who's was "well it works for us". The last being particularly galling because I was actually trying to buy something from their store - although their incompetence did save me from picking up a copy of HAWX2, so maybe I should be grateful?

Chris Morran, Deputy Editor of The Consumerist, said: “Some may look down their noses at the idea of voters picking a video game publisher as the Worst Company In America, but that is the exact kind of attitude that has allowed EA and its ilk to nickel and dime devoted customers for a decade.” He continued: “This is not just a few people complaining about bad games - this vote represents a large group of consumers who have grown sick and tired of being ignored and taken advantage of.”

EA has responded to its 'winning' of the Golden Poo: “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.”

Translation of EA's statement being "f--- you a--holes!" presumably?

Don't know about other folks but I'm getting pretty disheartened by games publishers - so much so that the way things are going they're going to be lucky if I buy as many as 6 games for XBox and PC this year. I guess others are the same - otherwise why are EA apparently pushing into "mobile" gaming so hard?

PS EA's mobile games (for Android at least) seem to be truly awful - some incredibly bad ratings!

[Tunnah]

I love how everybody is blaming EA for mass effect 3 ending but nobody is blaming the guys who wrote it

[Hoonigan]

I really hope that these games companies start to listen to their customers.

BF3 is just beyond a joke now. They get your money then they're not bothered.

And they wonder why folk pirate games...

[Blademrk]

Not sure it's just Mass Effect, it's probably more down to a combination of things:

EA killing all servers for slightly older games (such as Burnout: Revenge and last years EA Sports title) instead of releasing code to allow user-run servers (or even updates to use the standard P2P "server" on the 360/PS3);

Removal of games from Steam (even if it's more Steam's fault for saying that they won't sell them unless it gets an equal footing with EA's digital platform for updates/expansions - most gamer's won't make the distinction on that one, just that they can no longer get EA games on Steam);

Day 1 DLC for games (more often than not included on the disc);

Project $10 DLC for used games;

The "EA"ification of games, such as adding unnecessary multi-player content into previously single player games (Looking at Mass Effect here);

EA are seen to have killed off (or caused a steep decline in quality in) a number of fan favourite games after buying out the developer (including refusal to patch games that have game breaking bugs in them);

and probably a few more points that I can't remember...

[Fraz]

Gotta say, I try and avoid EA where possible nowadays. It used to be pretty difficult, but it's got a lot easier since the Origin/Steam shenanigans started up

Still - the worst company award clearly should not be for EA. As Kalniel said, it's pretty ridiculous considering it's a "luxury item" company.

[Loyal]

Browsing and saw another example (if its real) that made me laugh
http://i.imgur.com/sURQd.jpg

Great company

Mike & Nick from North Korea.. realistic.

[Saracen]

....

A shining example of what people should be doing is Saracen, he doesn't buy a LOT of games for reasons like this & I applaud that, I certainly don't have the willpower to avoid a game I think I'll love, if even half of the folk who act outraged did that then EA would sit up and take notice, a piddly little 'worst company' award that will blow over soon enough is not going to bother them while people are still buying their games in droves

Crikey.

I've been called .... erm .... a few things on forums, over the years, but I think that's a first.

But I think I'd characterise my stance more as a cross of pig-headedness and laziness. Oh sure, I do object to what they do, and I will not sign up either for Steam or Origin, just to play a game. But at least in part, my not buying almost any games any more is because I'm too lazy to work out which ones require what. I've spent too much time deciding what games I'm interested in, and prepared to pay for, only to find that they require Steam, or Origin, or even a permanent net connection. In the end, I'm spending too much time just trying to wade through the "gotcha's" to be bothered any more.

I'm also under no illusions that many people, even when they agree with me about Steam or Origin (and especially the former does have a significant upside, but not one that appeals to me), agree to the point of denying themselves the game entirely. I think it's a growing number of people, but growing from vanishingly minuscule to just incredibly tiny. Until or unless it gets to be significant proportion, it'll make no difference to EAs policy, and I'm not holding my breath.

So ..... in an ideal world, yeah, people should boycott if they aren't happy about it. But people can be very unhappy about it but still want the game .... in which case, that kind of public vote does send EA a message. The question is .... are they listening and do they care? My guess is "no" to both.

[Lee H]

Are people so selfish now that they're more concerned about the fictional ending of a completely non-essential luxury item than actions which affect the well-being of other people in the world? What a sad world we inhabit

Thank god someone else who thought the same as I did!

[kalniel]

I am surprised though at how little they are pretending to care. It would be very easy for them to put out an announcement saying that they are sorry to have attracted so much ire and will be working with consumers to improve the relationship, even if they proceeded to do nothing of the sort. To just stand there and say "Well, they're all wrong" isn't exactly progressive.

That's a good point. The fact that they aren't doing that almost suggests they have taken notice of it and it's irked them.

and EA`s reply? `its because they are anti-gay`.... srsly....

I think that's relating to a different matter, namely the huge amount of abuse some individuals at EA and Bioware are getting from certain fringe groups because they include same sex relationships in their games.

[Splash]

BF3 is just beyond a joke now. They get your money then they're not bothered.

And they wonder why folk pirate games...

I've been waiting for a comment like this. If the games are of such low quality why pirate them? Or is it because we're rapidly evolving into a society whereby people feel that they're entitled to anything that they want?

[Malphas]

Are people so selfish now that they're more concerned about the fictional ending of a completely non-essential luxury item than actions which affect the well-being of other people in the world? What a sad world we inhabit

Sigh, it's a shame there's so many dense people with that sentiment over this. Maybe if you stopped to think for a second you'd realise the Golden Poo Award isn't intended for things like multinational arms/oil/tobacco/finance corporations, obviously. It's a tongue in cheek bit of insolence intended to humorously make fun of a company for it's anti-consumer practices, that would be utterly inappropriate for something that has serious implications like weapons dealing.

Not only that, but it would be completely pointless; the kind of interests you're talking about are already receiving a much higher deal of serious criticism from recognised groups, like charities and governments, which they continuously brush off - a "Golden Poo" isn't even going to register on their radar. EA on the other hand are clearly affected to some extent by this, as evidenced from their butthurt comment.