60°

How Electronic Arts stopped being the worst company in America

Being named the worst company in America two years in a row was a wake-up call for the video game maker. Interviews with current and former executives, employees and partners show how EA changed the way it worked as it tries to redeem itself.

Rimeskeem3249d ago (Edited 3249d ago )

It's quite simple really, another company decided to be worse.

Mega243247d ago

Isn't Ubisoft a french company?

On Topic:

E.A. is still the worst company, one right doesn't fix a decade of wrongs. Never forget.

FarEastOrient3247d ago

Comcast being Comcast is the worst company in America. They haven't done anything to get away from that title.

pompombrum3247d ago

I think in the eyes of the public and world, NSA took over that title if you can even consider it a company.

Still nice to see EA execs pulling some strings to get themselves a nice article on cnet. I particular like this bit ;

"It was a hideous thing," Probst said of finding the company so hated. In that conference room on that cloudy Monday, with the executive team surrounding him, Probst "hit the roof," as one person described it.

So what, EA thought they could milk gamers dry and be loved for it? I always knew their execs probably lived on a different planet to gamers but this is hilarious if they really didn't realize how much they were and still are hated.

rainslacker3247d ago (Edited 3247d ago )

I honestly believe that EA execs believe that the stupid things they've done to draw the ire of gamers is actually a good thing for the gamers. They are completely disassociated with their customer base.

I do think they were unfairly criticized over Mass Effect 3 ending, but all the DRM crap they've done with SimCity, their constant pushing of Origin on everything, their stripping of the Sims to the bare bones, and their inability to fix issues within their sports franchises makes them look like they really only care about the money, all while their execs go on about how they're so into the gaming scene and how much they improve on it.

I will admit that I never expected UbiSoft to overtake them so quickly. I think UbiSoft, in their desire to be better at EA at everything, decided to outdo EA on how bad they could be.

Takwin3247d ago

Yep EA got marginally better.

I'm still pissed about Origin as I just like to have all my games on Steam, PS4, and Wii U. I do NOT want another exclusive platform for PC.

But yeah, UBISOFT IS SO MUCH WORSE. And uPlay is what hell is like. Hell is you trying to get your game to work you got on Steam through uPlay and you have to earn like 100,000 uPlay points to get out of Hell.

crazychris41243249d ago

Can we please stop with EA being the worst company in America. EA is the worst GAMING company in America but the worst company overall could go to almost any major banking or financial company, you can thank them for currency manipulation, recession of '08, and much more that effects almost everyone on this planet, not just gamers.

deadpoolio3163247d ago

Exactly...Im so sick of these basement dwellers that live in fantasyland...There are worse actual companies out there other than video game companies...DLC is nothing compared to the real worst companies practices

showtimefolks3247d ago

Crazy

How you have 2 disagrees is beyond me.

This this 10000000%

003247d ago

They're part of a multi billion dollar industry that services millions of consumers, they reason they were voted worst company in America twice in a row is because their consumers were not happy with their service. which the polls were based off of, customer service.

kraenk123247d ago

Monsanto is more evil than any Bank imho.

Takwin3247d ago

I agree.

Monsanto is the most evil company in the world, by far, not even close.

You are sued by them if their patented GMO seeds goes through the air and into your field via the wind. They can and will take your farm if you fight them.

Takwin3247d ago (Edited 3247d ago )

Monsanto is the most evil company ever.

They OWN life and genes inside of it.

98% of American soy and 96% of corn is GMO and they are in over 90% of all products in a typical American grocery store. It feeds the meat and it is broken down into all the nasty subcomponents of processed food.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3247d ago
hello123249d ago

They got a new young CEO he has changed them for the better. He took over SEP 2013

BitbyDeath3248d ago

They wrestled for a little while with Ubisoft then out of nowhere came Konami to steal the crown!

Pandamobile3247d ago

Konami and Ubisoft are not American companies.

BitbyDeath3247d ago

Don't let truth get in the way of a good story...

gangsta_red3247d ago

How did Konami become the worse company?

BitbyDeath3247d ago (Edited 3247d ago )

The loss of PT/Silent Hills still hurts :(

uth113247d ago

I love how they made the executives try to install the games themselves and listen in on the customer service calls :)

Ghoul3248d ago

im so shocked that ea is meant to be the worst company wich it definatly isnt,

maybe its the worst gaming company, but murica is full of MUCH worse companys, MUCH MUCH worse

Mega243247d ago (Edited 3247d ago )

Bank of America for example or General Motors with their defective cars, which have taken the live of 13 people and injured approximately 54.

Still E.A. as a company qualifies for the title too, with their lawsuits from unpaid overtime to over 5000 employees, horrendous micro-transaction schemes on full blown $60 games, their mobile platform, which is horrendous to say the least. E.A. is the most greediest of all the gaming companies.

Pandamobile3247d ago

EA is actually a pretty great place to work these days. They've changed a lot in ten years.

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220°

EA Hopes to Use Generative AI to Drive Monetization and Make Development 30% More Efficient

Today Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson provided a look into his ideas for the use of generative AI in the company's development processes.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
thorstein48d ago

I wonder what the next buzz word they'll slap in front of AI to make it sound exciting next? "Generative" as if it's creating its own content. Lol.

Cacabunga47d ago

EA is already dying a painful death..

peppeaccardo47d ago

i have a better idea .. why the whole exec team doesn't get replaced by chat bots ?

just_looken48d ago

Though i agree the ai thing is already in other forms of media there have been ai translations/scripts/voice over and even full ai commercials aired on tv. Ubisoft has created a ai game creator story/vo/music except the building of the game

The new unreal engine has auto terrain creation tools

In the world of greed in which it is winning without any major blow back ai is our future.

everyone want's biden dead on the mic or a criminal instead of a woman and now we are getting ai everything because no one will stop watching/playing ai created media.

GamerRN47d ago

Maybe they should just focus on making good games?

Just a thought...

Kiryu199247d ago

Exactly EA are just pure evil. When they are beating Bank of America to be voted the worst company to work for that’s saying a lot

Good thing I don’t buy their games day one and wait for deep deep sale years after launch (the select few games I am actually interested in)

Gaming is making so much money yet the greed of these companies is never ending

CEO’s and people on board making millions yet cutting jobs to those who are actually making the products

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 47d ago
Knightofelemia48d ago (Edited 48d ago )

EA is still a shady shitty company even with or without the help of Skynet. All they will use AI for is new ways to milk loot boxes and come up with the same sports title with a different year on the label. They are one company I truly do hate with a passion. They single handedly ruined some great franchise with their death touch. ME, Dead Space, Alice Returns, Dante's Inferno.

Stuart575648d ago

EA layoffs followed by 'Generative AI to Drive Monetization'

I knew it. Wonder what AI salary looks like? Nothing.

ChasterMies48d ago

I having a feeling that most of the layoffs in the industry are based on the idea that AI will do the same job for less.

DarXyde47d ago

Very likely, yes.

Made worse by the fact that the execs aren't changing their compensations.

My deepest fear at this point is that we are now in the capitalism endgame.

At this point, we really should just burn AI to the ground. Executives cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
How are those people expected to support families if everything gets automated?

Barlos48d ago (Edited 48d ago )

And take away creativity, and people's jobs as we've been seeing. Got it.

No thanks. I want my games created by people, not AI.

CobraKai48d ago

Exactly. If or when games start becoming more AI than people, im done with gaming. AI and companies like EA can suck donkey d***k.

just_looken48d ago

Though i agree remember this is no ps3/360 era were we got up to 3 games in one generation from on developer like gears/halo/bioware/sony/ms

The people today are pro esg/sweet baby for the most part AAA gaming is imploding right now.

We should be stepping back re evaluate everything as a whole this year xmen 97 written/directed by a woman that is nuts and its also being made by a group reshaping bodies to be less sexual like wtf. A dam famous cartoon from the 90's is being rebuilt with millions spent to be worse in everyway.

Gaming/movies/tv shows made today are worse than what we had 7years ago ai won't change this but that ai is also being made by these groups so either way we are screwed.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Eonjay47d ago

Don't be of afraid of women. Sexy characters in games and movies still exist. Got my Stellar Blade on preorder!!! Everything all the time doesn't need to be sexual...that's stupid, childish and dull.

Chocoburger48d ago (Edited 48d ago )

EA doesn't want to lose their title of worst gaming company ever, always trying their best to remain the champs!
What's sad is that they have so much potential to be a decent publisher.

SSX Tricky / SSX 3
Def Jam Vendetta / Fight for New York
NBA Street
NFL Steet
Mirror's Edge
Bad Company
Burnout 3 / 4 / 5

Remember when EA used to be awesome? It's all over with now. Unpolished, if not out-right broken games these days. Endless monetization and gambling in their sports games, and let's not forget wasting hours of your life trying to unlock characters or equipment using "surprise boxes!"

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80°

EA And Sony Layoffs, Entertainment News And More Skewedcast

Gareth, Justin, and JoeyZ look at Layoff news for EA and Sony and reasons behind the downturn in the industry and more.

220°

EA - Continuing to evolve our business and teams

EA CEO Andrew Wilson writes: "In this time of change, we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce. I understand this will create uncertainty and be challenging for many who have worked with such dedication and passion and have made important contributions to our company. While not every team will be impacted, this is the hardest part of these changes, and we have deeply considered every option to try and limit impacts to our teams. Our primary goal is to provide team members with opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition onto other projects. Where that’s not possible, we will support and work with each colleague with the utmost attention, care, and respect. Communicating these impacts has already begun and will be largely completed by early next quarter."

LG_Fox_Brazil55d ago

All the big ones doing the same stuff. Terrible. I just hope that all these people are able to get a new job as soon as possible, God know that it is horrible to be left jobless when you have your kids or your parents depending on your financial help

Jin_Sakai55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

2024 so far.

Feb ’28 Electronic Arts (EA) 670 (5%)
Feb ’24 PlayStation 900 (8%)
Feb ’24 Vice Media Group Several hundred
Feb ’24 Buzzfeed 16%
Feb ’24 NowThis 26 (50%)
Feb ’24 Paramount Global 800 (3%)
Feb ’24 SiriusXM 160 (3%)
Feb ’24 Snapchat 10%
Jan ’24 TechCrunch 8 + subscription product
Jan ’24 U.K.’s Channel 4 200
Jan ’24 Business Insider 8%
Jan ’24 Microsoft Gaming 1,900
Jan ’24 Riot Games 530
Jan ’24 Sports Illustrated Possibly all
Jan ’24 YouTube 100
Jan ’24 Pitchfork (Conde Nast) Undisclosed
Jan ’24 Universal Music Group Hundreds
Jan ’24 Discord 17%
Jan ’24 NBC News 50-100
Jan ’24 Audible 5%
Jan ’24 Google Hundreds
Jan ’24 Amazon Hundreds
Jan ’24 Duolingo 10%
Jan ’24 VideoAmp 20%

DATA AS OF FEB. 28, 2024

outsider162455d ago

Is it possible maybe this whole ai thing is in play?

just_looken55d ago

Another long list that skips over UPS cutting 12,000 jobs those workers as we know work without ac low pay and old box trucks but that company had to cut 12k jobs do too loosing billions of dollars year 2 year.

https://edition.cnn.com/202...

The greed and lack of transparency/oversight is disgusting.

Ups are still making bang but not enough for a golden boat fleet.

Remember we all use ups at some time even stuff in our stores this is going to be a huge issue gong forward i know in my area they removed half the state ups stores northern half least population got some 3rd party running packages now from minivans.

Sonic188155d ago

When I explan this I get called a troll 🤔 like wtf

thorstein55d ago

@just_looken

UPS is a different story altogether.

They are paying the people doing the actual work/ earning the money more and eliminating management.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 55d ago
CrimsonWing6955d ago (Edited 55d ago )

You do realize around this time this happens all throughout many industries (not just the game industry), right? It has to do with taxes for these major companies, like tax subsidies for downsizing. You want to know a little secret? Around May or so you’ll see a spike in hiring…

It blows my mind that people are oblivious to corporate workings.

Andrew33655d ago

So over 25 huge companies cut jobs every year like this and it only got noticed this time?

CrimsonWing6955d ago (Edited 55d ago )

@Andrew336

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Google it up if you’re uninformed of how corporations work. Only gamers seem to live in a bubble and when they see things like crunch, acquisitions, and lay-offs they act like this is the only industry it happens to and how shocked they are about it.

Welcome to the real world, kid.

thorstein55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

EA CEO Wilson's total compensation was 20 million. Let's take away 19 million (I'm sure he can survive on 1 million.... somehow).

1 million is the salary of an in the chair developer @100,000 for 10 years.

He could earn 1 million a year.

And save the jobs of 15 in the chair devs for A DECADE (plus benefits) with ONE YEAR'S compensation.

RhinoGamer8855d ago

No Executive accountability or firings I see...

just_looken55d ago

Do not worry they will take over 40mill say sorry then get hired by playstation or xbox

blackblades54d ago

I heard Japan does it better, they do layoffs like what's happening with companies in the west. The higher ups also being agreeing to to lower there own salary. These MFs like jim and Phil isnt gonna do that they want that $

Sonic188155d ago

Like I said earlier, this is happening all around the gaming industry.

Petebloodyonion55d ago

The point I feel is problematic about all of this is that focusing on Owned Ip means more sequels, remasters and more of what was selling last year.

TheColbertinator55d ago

EA is certainly among the worst,if not the worst

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