EA: 'We've made plenty of mistakes'

Electronic Arts is again in the running for The Consumerist's "Worst company in America" title for 2013, and while COO Peter Moore thinks EA will "win" this title, he has spoken out to defend his company. In a blog entry titled "We Can Do Better," Moore quoted the famous quip: The tallest trees catch the most wind to defend EA's place in the industry.

[NYC_Gamer]

EA will keep making these mistakes long as the company remains out of touch with gamers

[Yi-Long]

... they only care about being in touch with our wallets.

[HammadTheBeast]

EA: We've made lots of mistakes....

LIKE NOT THINKING OF ALL THIS S*** SOONER!!!

[aCasualGamer]

To gamers:

We've made plenty of mistakes.

..

Behind closed doors to each other:

We've made plenty of money.

[Donnieboi]

@NYC_Gamer:

Absolutely. Pay-to-Win Micro-Exortions (aka Micro-Transactions) for a game I already paid a full $60 for, is gonna be the biggest mistake EA will ever make. Mark my words.

[Aaroncls7]

Mr. Moore: "EA remains proud and unbowed"

Proud of what Peter? of the constantly negative effect the community clearly emotes when you release almost every single title? or perhaps proud of ruining every good development studio you EA fellas sink your teeth on?
Maybe you do find pride on how to water down and mainstream to sh*t the few good IPs you have not shelved yet.

"Unbowed?" haha, your CEO resigned!

Saving face at this point won't be that simple after all the atrocities EA has willingly committed.

Man!

[lnvisibleMan]

Do some basic Market Research:
Seriously listen to your install base prior to launching a product or service. If the install base is criticizing a specific action there is generally a good reason behind it.

[sjaakiejj]

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford

Blindly following the demands of your customers is not always smart. The problem is that even the customers don't know what they want - a very common problem in Software Engineering.

[lnvisibleMan]

Agree bubble up
Blindly following the demands of customers isn't a smart move as leads to lack of inovation but EA blindly following their own vision without factoring in what the consumers want is an equally bad move. Need to find level ground between the two

[isarai]

While it is true you shouldn't do exactly what consumers want(if that were the case SotC would have online and Journey would have cars) you should still listen to what they want and try to provide what the majority of them ask for. Sleeping dogs was the perfect example of this, i was on those forums from day one and seen the game change and mold into something that pleased a shitload of people. things changed/added from announcement to release that gamers asked for were:

-Several recommended/requested artists(like flying lotus)
-Including the function of pressing the jump button before a landing for a smooth/faster recovery
-able to holster pistol
-ability to turn music down/up
-custom track support on PS3
-the entire Zodiac Tournament DLC idea was taken straight from the demand of forum members after seeing the bruce lee "game of death" outfit
-many of the outfits that reference films
-Unlocking the golden gun at your apartment
-optional contextual help
-Optional aim assist
-HD texture pack for PC
-Get guns out of squad car trunks
-Several different fighting styles through DLC(monkey king with staff, Muay thai from zodiac outfit, drunken style)
-and paint jobs for cars
-even a more cop activity focused story through the latest Year of the Snake DLC where just about everything people requested was added, from the always equipped collapsible police baton, to the outfits, squad cars, being able to arrest people, using your badge to get peoples cars, and riot activities.

All of these were products of listening to the audience and did nothing but make the game better

[dcbronco]

I think the middle ground and the key to customer happiness is to not follow the money. If they would pay for enough servers for the launch of their games, they would have fewer problems. If they hire the right writers and not rush games out the door to sell more copies they would probably sell more copies.

Not religious, but love of money is the root of all evil.

[sjaakiejj]

Yes, I too would say a balance between the two is appropriate. But a lot of people appear to be saying EA should listen to everything the customer says, which to me just implies a lack of creative freedom in favour of higher profits - which in turn is exactly what a lot of companies seem to be doing.

[BitbyDeath]

Mistake #1, closing down Bullfrog.

[Jek_Porkins]

They certainly aren't the worst company in America, but they do tend to ruin a lot of the things they touch. I wont hate because of micro-transactions because they are a business and that is optional, but they have messed up quite a bit.

[pissed999]

Crytek use to be good. Bullfrog use to be good. Bioware use to be good e.t.c...

Nice work EA. You are the "target" of games lol.

[sjaakiejj]

As companies become more succesfull they also become more corporate. That's what happened to Bioware and Crytek, and what would've happened to them regardless of whether EA was there or not.

Bullfrog failed to make a profit, so it would've been a bad decision to keep it open. If you want to blame anyone for that, blame gamers for not buying their games.

[Axonometri]

Here I thought EA current mindset was more of a " we are perfect and know everything."

[delboy]

I'm not interested in EA, but I'm interested in new P. Moore tattoos.

[sitharrefus]

Ya they made lots of mistakes that i lost interest in them....

[Eyeco]

So basically their the best and they can do whatever they want, that's the vibe I got from this article, what a self indulgent crap I just read.

[Ashlen]

So I read the article and basically all he does is defend what they have done. No were going to change, no were sorry people are unhappy.

I laughed when he thought the reason people voted for EA as worst company was the ending of Mass Effect. I got news for you EA. I stopped buying your products when you started the online pass, and started closing down servers only a year old to force people to buy your newest versions of games.

And as far as Mass Effect goes I was WAY more pissed that you cut the Prothean out of the game and sold it as DLC than anything to do with the ending.

Personally, my money is on EA being the reason the next Xbox is always online. And that they are going to have a timed exclusivity deal with MS. (quote me)

[Summons75]

At least they are admitting it.....where is Activision, oh right they're hiding behind their money.

[jagstar44]

it sucks that the people in these companies don't know shit about games, we need more companies like valve

[Many-hat5]

Worst company in America? Of course not. Just the worst gaming/publisher company in the world!! I think would be more accurate. Just read the privacy policy linked to Origin accounts. Jeez, makes north Korea seem like an open and attractive democracy. EA will only survive while they have the software that forces people to follow them. I'm convinced that situation will change. And when it does. Well.... enough said. And for those who think micro transactions aren't a big deal. well, for now may be not. But just wait until they are fully entrenched in the gaming psyche. Then we'll start seeing games that will simply be too difficult for gamers to complete without the aid of these 'optional' transactions.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Acknowledging a mistake is one thing, actually learning from it and doing something about it is another ballgame.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I am at a weird place with EA. I have been getting great games developed and published by them. Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Need for Speed HP, Mirrors Edge, Mass Effect and Battlefield are a few titles I have enjoyed, but for every game I like EA seems to drop the ball in other departments (micro transactions, online passes, unwanted features, originlololol). I just get a really inconsistent vibe from them.

I would really respect EA if they took a more ethical approach to us gamers. Their games are some of the best this generation. It is a shame, really.

[secretcode]

It's easy to be on top of the worst companies in America list when /v/ is rigging the vote each time. :\

[Hydralysk]

It's becoming impossible for me to read anything from Peter Moore these days with thinking of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[isarai]

It's not just the scamming, their games have become these bland boring games that try so hard to appeal to everyone that they lose their soul in the process and hove nothing that makes them stand out. Just bland as fuck and predictable as ever, i haven't enjoyed a game from EA since The Saboteur

[Number-Nine]

Too bad they never learn from them.

[BlueEye]

No shit!

[nigelp520]

1. Buying Bioware
2. No Mirrors Edge 2
3. Nfl Monopoly License
4. Closing game servers
5. Def Jam Icon
6. SimCity Launch
7. Screw up medal of honor

[secretcode]

1. Where
2. Is
3. My
4. God
5. Damn
6. New
7. Burnout
8. Game