Is EA Really As Bad As The Community Thinks?

EA gets a lot of hate, but is it deserved?

[JBSleek]

I don't think so but I don't take this as seriously as other people do. They make games I like so I like them.

[XiNarutoUzumaki]

I could care less about what EA does. I just them to keep investing in good games. Their games are some of the besr, and Bioware is my second Naughty Dog.

[98xpresent]

They make good games

[randomass171]

Actually they publish good games. Their developers like DICE and Bioware make good games. Aside from EA Sports and the studios they own, I don't think EA has any in-house developers.

[Bimkoblerutso]

No one is debating whether or not they have had a hand in some great games (in one form or another). But they are also the forefront of some of the worst industry practices video gaming has ever known, most notably microtransactions, DRM, some iffy studio acquisition noodling, minor monopolization (see: NFL exclusivity), etc.

It's not that I think they should just die a horrible death, but they need to be kept in check just like all mega-corporations need to be. And the only economically organic way for that to happen (without any government finger-poking) is bad press and social backlash.

[DOMination-]

Randomass..

Dice, Bioware, Criterion etc. Are fully owned studios by EA so yeah all those games are "in house".

[joab777]

I agree. Theu r far from the worst company in the US. And they do what they do b/c we continue to buy the stuff.

And ME3's multiplayer wasn't tacked on. It was underrated, really good and could be the foundation of a ME mmo.

[DARK WITNESS]

Eat makes good games....... Lol

No

Once upon a time maybe.

EA in its current state *buys good games.. And then runs them into the ground.

[gamerfan0909]

They absolutely make good games.

[elmaton98]

They make great games actually but they need to give more time to developers to actually make it playable on PC( battlefield 4 anyone)

[s45gr32]

Like the PS2 days with Need for Speed Underground series.

[Blaze929]

i dont think anyone particularly thinks they make bad games. If they did, they wouldn't be in business. But speaking on 'business' - its their business practices that everyone hates. From introducing Online Passes to that NFL license exclusivity.

I would really, really like a return of NFL 2K. But because they have big pockets I'm forced to play that crappy Madden every year? How is that even legal...#MERICA

[TongkatAli]

Never mind wow, there is mad reasons i just read, but whatever i love me some Fifa : p

[3-4-5]

Nobody dislikes their workers.....

It's always the people at the top who screw things up.

The Very people you hired to NOT screw things up, end up ALWAYS being the people who DO screw things up.

Letting " money guys" make "money decisions", is what brings this company down.

IF they know it and still do it, they are scum.

If they don't know it, they are stupid.

I don't dislike their games even, and still play some, but the execs at the top need to be booted, but nobody that high up has the nuggets or foresight to do so.

They are being ran by idiots, but nobody can fire the idiots because the person who could, is also, themselves, an idiot, so they don't know any better.

It's a cycle of never ending buffoonery.

[ifistbrowni]

Pre-Battlefield 4 - I would be on the side of wondering where all the hate stems from. I always thought it was a complete over-reaction

Post - Battlefield 4 - I'll never trust EA again. They took one of my favorite games (Battlefield) and completely ruined the experience.

Outside of NHL, i will never buy an EA game on launch. I'm a sucker for Hockey, and EA has a monopoly on the franchise and my love of the sport will not allow me to go without the newest iteration of the franchise.

One thing that they did to NHL that i cannot stand is Ultimate team. It has potential to be a very addictive game-mode, but with the best card being incredibly rare and expensive (in game pucks), it takes all the fun out of it. If they made it to where a Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, and other top players of the sport were more obtainable, then it would be more fun.

I always feel like a challenge system would be extremely welcomed for the Ultimate team modes. Challenges like- "Win 10 Games" (rewards a Gold Pack). "1000 life time goals" (rewards an ultimate "rare" pack). Lower level challenges reward bronze packs, but the more you play the bigger the reward.

Though, Ea would never do this because people spend a lot of money on their Ultimate Teams. I was on NHL 14 HUT the other day and they had a $35 pack up for sale. Anyone who spends that kind of money on a virtual card pack is nuts.

[SuperBlur]

its basically the only EA games i buy brand new these days

but so far this year NHL does not impress me at all from all the raw footages i've seen. I can't wait to get my hands on the demo tho , it'll be a make or break it.

I wish they'd something like dota 2 , after each games , there is a change an item drop for both player . A Pack, a Card , a couple of pucks , nothing. i'd extend these rewards in regular versus and otp/club so people have incentive to finish a game rather then quit when loosing by 1 or 2.

[ifistbrowni]

anything that would get the Ultimate Team mode away from the "pay to win" formula would be welcomed by me.

They reward you with pucks in NHL 14 for finishing versus, offline and OTP matches, but its only like 70 pucks.

I'm really set on the idea of Ultimate Team challenges (only obtainable in HUT). It gives you something to work towards. You can have really hard ones like get 3 goals in a game with "x" player or really simple/random ones like hitting someone into the benches. You could also have the cumulative ones related to hits, goals, games played and games won (win 10, win 20, win 30, win 40, etc). But, no matter what, you would get a puck reward and/or pack reward for completing them.

Rewarding people for in-game accomplishments just seems natural. Unlocking challenges and getting a 1k, 10k, 50k, 100k puck bonus along with a bronze, silver, gold, jumbo gold, or ultimate rare packs... That's the Ultimate Team i want to play.

The fact that i can have 0 games played and have a Sidney Crosby, Datsyuk, Malkin, Subban and any other person considered to be the best player in the sport makes no sense. You get very little reward for actually playing the game.

[Heisenburger]

Yeah I'm getting Dragon Age myself. However they have destroyed any fondness my friend and I have shared if Battlefield since Bad Company 2. Bf3 on consoles was a major disappointment. Bf4 on curren-gen was a slap in the face for six straight months and counting.

When it works, it's great. But that's not good enough. I gave them slack at launch for obvious reasons. New hardware, first time 64players on console, ect. I'm not a ridiculous person, but after a month or two I said "never again". Never again will I buy a Battlefield game until it's proven, by my fellow gamers and not reviewers, to be in full working condition. I hate that I have to feel that way, by the way. It's not fun for me to not have a series that I love be treated well.

Six months later, with all these issues, they unveil Battlefield: Payday. That just made it easier for me to leave them.

Now Dragon Age is not an exception to the rule, as I said BF games specifically. The Bioware team that is working on Inquisition has my total confidence after everything I've seen, and heard them discuss. They come across as people that really want to redeem themselves after DA2.

Origins was so spectacular that I am willing to forgive and forget DA2, because they seem to be making(I've said this before) what feels like a true sequel to Dragon Age: Origins.

[JackBNimble]

Even with the NHL series EA's screwing their fans. Every year EA puts out a new version of the same game on the same engine with only a few additions , tweeks and upgrades. What EA sells as a new game every year could be patched in or sold as DLC for a fraction of the price of a full game.

Don't get me wrong here, I love NHL aswell, but I can't justify buying the same game yearly.

[SuperBlur]

At first it was mainly just NHL who was doing it , now EA is on a spree of releasing games for "next gen" that have missing features on the excuse that it is a game on a brand new engine and they had to get key features working . They are basically selling betas at full price. It's kind of disgusting to me personally.

EA UFC was missing core feature like idk from the top of my head "Running at your opponent, very basic ground game etc

Now NHL seem like they took the same game as last year and gave the puck its own physics while removing the bubble around the goalie "BRAND NEW GAME"

Sims 4 doesn't even have toddlers or pool , which has been in the game since i cant remember

[johndoe11211]

No, WORSE!

[CaptainObvious878]

They tried to charge for a demo...

No more need be said.

[gamerfan0909]

Didn't Konami charge people 40 bucks for a MGS demo?

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Advertisement in Achievement really enough said

Susanno: Yasaka Megatama their F**** bro.

[Neixus]

While some people over-exaggerate, yes, they are bad.

The downhill started pretty much when we didn't hear the ''EA games, challenge everything'' at the start of a game =D

[skydragoonity]

EA sucks!!

[TransientDreamer]

The gamers have a pariah for every generation. EA is no different. They've made some mistakes, but they've more than made up for it, especially with what they have on the horizon. It's unfortunate people only focus on the negative with this company.

[TheBurger29]

Well with so much crap that they try to pull no wounder! BF4 was a huge fail all because EA wanted to beat CoD. They deserve all the hate that they get.

[killer4fun53]

YES.

[Theyellowflash30]

Yes.

1. Madden Sucks
2. NBA Live Sucks
3. Mass Effect 3 sucked
4. Dragon Age 2 sucked
5. Fuse sucked
6. Army of Two sucked
7. The mobile Dungeon Keeper cash grab piece of sh*t sucked

EA is a shitty company that is freaking worthless.

[Muzikguy]

I completely agree! Add on Dead Space 3 sucked too. They started an awesome series and fucked it up for the sake of "action". Free on PSPlus and I still haven't touched it

I hate how this company has a monopoly over things just so they can keep on messing them up. Sports shouldn't settle for monopolies, but I know they'll keep doing it. Everything EA touches now is ruined IMO. They've got nothing but cheap cash grabs and sleazy tactics in their portfolio now if you ask me.

I like how you didn't say BF4 sucked. In a way I like the game because I like the series. It's definitely not as good as say BF2 was. I played that game for years. 5 months after BF4 and I don't want anything to do with it :/

[Theyellowflash30]

Battlefield 4 is ok, but it was a broken piece of crap at launch. EA sold people a broken game, then patched the hell out of it for the next half year.

Dead Space 3 sucked as well. EA is just trash

[Summons75]

They put out more good games than Activision. So I don't think so, I do t agree with things they do but they do have games I enjoy unlike Activision who does worse things than EA and release copy/pasted crap and they get a pass.

[Menkyo]

Yep they are.

[strangeaeon]

It is more than likely worse.

[Rachel_Alucard]

EA is garbage because of how they handle business. Every game they publish that doesn't get that CoD tier of sales they run into the ground a la dead space. The coming sims 4 where they removed the toddler stage and pools just to sell you them later speaks for itself, not to mention the inevitable Dragon age 2.5

[Sy_Wolf]

They literally distribute malware which is required to play any of their games, that's a pretty shitty move. If you don't think Origin is malware look up the definition.

[MysticStrummer]

Bad for gaming, but nowhere near "Worst Company" level. When EA wins that dubious award it just shows how out of touch gamers are.

[Revengeance]

No they're worse. Remember the Sims launch? They've shown they didn't give a damn about their customers.

Battlefield 4 took forever for bugs to get fixed.

Battlefield Hardline is an add-on that's going to be sold for $60.

They don't desersve all the money they get.

[s45gr32]

I have not bought an EA game since the last days of PS2 not even Mirror Edge. Is a terrible company, greedy, with terrible games.

[uth11]

I haven't had issues with them lately. But then again the only EA game I bought lately is NFS: Rivals.

But I have had serious issues with them in the past. Especially with their PC games

[MidWestMoFo]

As long as they keep making good games, I could care less about what else they do.

[SnakePlissken]

I don't get some of you haters. EA has made some of the best games. Dead Space, Mirrors Edge, Fifa, Mass Effect, Bulletstorm, etc. They have always been the master of sport games too!

I remember playing NHL 94 back in the day, all time classic game and still is highly praised as one of the best sport games of all time!

Nba live back in the day was awesome! EA just makes quality games!

[gazgriff2k12]

hell yeah EA and MS are the bane of the gaming industry