News

EA voted "worst company in America" by The Consumerist readership
Posted: 05.04.2012 01:36 by JonahFalcon Comments: 16
Electronic Arts won the "Worst Company in America" reader voting brackets in The Consumerist, receiving more than 250,000 votes. The company even beat the Bank of America.

EA dismissed the vote, while EA's John Reseburg joked, "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."

The Consumerist explained the results by writing, "Readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA, which is supposed to be making the world a more fun place, is worse than Bank of America's avarice, which some would argue is the entire point of operating a bank."

"To those who might sneer at something as 'non-essential' as a video game company winning the Worst Company In America vote: It's that exact kind of attitude that allows people to ignore the complaints as companies like EA to nickel and dime consumers to death."

Forbes mocked the poll, stating, "The plights of the gaming industry simply don't compare with BofA's actions resulting in people literally losing their homes and savings... EA is widely loathed, and they've brought that reputation down on their own heads, but they're loathed for reasons that pale in comparison to basically any of the big mortgage companies and banks involved in the housing crisis and financial collapse."

The Consumerist bracket voting started on the 13th March.

Comments

By djole381 (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
djole381
I 100% agree.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
JonahFalcon
With what? What did EA do?
By novapaddy (SI Member) on Apr 05, 2012
novapaddy
Wow! 250,000 customers! I wonder what they did to deserve this?
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
SirRoderick
Can I just say that that First comment by Reseburg pretty much sums it up. That infuriating attitude of theirs. They don't deserve to win the worst slot obviously, because they're just an entertainment company, but they sure as hell are the worst in their field.

Just look at the all the titles they ruined in pursuit of profit, which will only have the opposite long-term effect. I mean who here is still going to put in a pe-order for DA3? Then there's the wallet squeezing DLC, most of them stuff that should have been in the original game by any reasonable standard. Add some dodgy custumer service to the mix and I completely understand people's frustration with the company.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
nocutius
I agree, an overreaction but they definitely are one of the worst companies in their own business.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
FoolWolf
While I understand why EA is there - you guys have summed it up pretty well IMO. Yes EA is a douchebag company, there are far worse companies - and while people moan about them being sooo evil and nasty - people still pre-order their games.... What gives?

People that give them money - especially ahead of release - give them the power to be worthy of the golden poo - for a gaming company...
By Kres (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
Kres
It's a business company, not a charity institution. What do people expect. They're making quite good sales so they will continue with this trend. Why change business policy when it's working. Don't think that I'm biased and defending EA. I'm just trying to point out to a reality check. I do _hate_ them for not giving me BF3 that I can play. Spent an hour yesterday with their online support (surprisingly responsive and friendly) trying to fix it. No luck though, had to go to sleep. Will resume molesting today.
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
Chosen_One
I like the logo in this :) it's accurately represent em :)
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
SirRoderick
You know, considering their reaction to this, I'm really thinking they're not at all worried about their public image. While this thing surely proves people just do not like them. I don't care how well they're doing, it's just not a good move to ignore things like this in the long term.

that's actually a sort of theme with EA in my view. They do everything with the short term gain in mind, but in doing so neglect the long term. DA2 was a financial success by any standard, but it ruined the game's good standing among most of the fans of the original. the DLC brings in money, but I can't imagine anyone misses how that's blatant moneygrubbing. I really think they need to get their act together on this front.

Bottom line is, when I were to be presented with two products that I'm equally interested in and one of those was by EA, I would go with the other company simply due to the image they've built up with me....unless it was Ubisoft, in which case it's like deciding which foot to shoot myself in. :/
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Apr 05, 2012
herodotus
EA have great game franchises and Developers that co-exist with their brand and that is how they are preceived by gamers. Consumers, on the other hand (that is gamers who are purchasing) will not see them this way particularly "down under". Prices are significantly higher than for any other company (AUD $80 for a new PC title) for both full release and digital downloadable content. It is just unreasonable and driven by pure greed and nothing more.
On the flipside I'd rate EA Customer Support as Number 1. As long as you aren't seeking support for "BF3" they are second to none in assisitng gamers - "BF3" they really do drop the ball at every turn.
So I disagree with this poll.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
JonahFalcon
Last I saw, EA wasn't damaging the US economy.
By Kres (SI Elite) on Apr 05, 2012
Kres
It is just BF3 support that is working? I clicked that online chat support help after ChosenOne suggested it, and laughed at myself for trying it. Shockingly, after a few minutes I get a guy that wanted to fix my game more then I did perhaps. I almost apologized to him for us not being able to fix the damn problem, after an hour.

I agree their greed sucks. But don't give good characteristics to a huge business company. When they have their board of directors meetings (however that is called), I doubt that the first question is "Who can we help today". Or the last. Or anywhere in between. It's just how can we get more money, of course. That's just how that ball rolls as we all know it. So hate em or love em. I'm just interested in their games. Those that bloody work!!

And they're feeding a lot of families! Damn it I just realized I'm an EA supporter! Gonna sound bad coming from me since... yes. But I don't mind. We have non-existent marketing relations with them. So to me, they're only worth for my personal gaming.
By Kres (SI Elite) on Apr 07, 2012
Kres
No, *crew EA! Just spent 3rd session with their support and BF3 still doesn't work! I'm not going to buy another EA game or so help me God! Spending all my free time trying to fix their $50 (or what the price was) product. And NO LUCK. Stupid EA devs....
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Apr 08, 2012
herodotus
I'm afraid where "BF3" is concerned, EA Support fails badly. Every other experience with Online Chat Support has been above excellent, and this goes back to the days of telephone support with "Strike Commander". Why "BF3" seems to be the exception I'd say has a lot more to do with "BF3"'s inherent problems being what is essentially a browser-based launch system, and that Dice really do not know what they are doing where their own product is concerned. I fear for "MoH 2".
By Kres (SI Elite) on Apr 08, 2012
Kres
I uninstalled BF3. Stupid crashes.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Apr 10, 2012
FoolWolf
I'm more afraid of people playing games and the entire route the gaming community is going. For several years we have creased over flaws and stupid consumer unfriendly decisions with "it's just games" - but the just games have turned out to be the largest and most rapid growing entertainment business.
people no longer recognizes quality if it so came knocking in bright light handing out business cards and performed demonstrations and have a monkey playing an accordion...

While we accepts flaws, bugs, DRM and sollutions that water out things for the mass audiences and no longer keep some part niched - we are watering it down.
It is like MP3 is for music- Neil Young made a wonderful comment regarding that, that MP3's was the today's radio and nothing to fear - he wanted HD audio formats and better sounding quality than CD's since he was afraid that his profession and contribution would be lost for ever. After starting to listening more careful to music and decided to take up paedophilia as a hobby on an amateur level - listening to music in proper setups and with slightly more expensive yet much more professional and mostly better quality - you are listening to something entirely different.

Music can largely be compared to gaming, the Vinyl audiophiles are becomming more and more frequent again and as such - the market is slowly accepting that there are those prepared to pay - if you deliver.
I think that gaming slowly will be more segmented again. Kickstarting and indie development are now more interesting and also have cornered themselves by releasing one-shooter-fits-all approach and can dare much more in the game development.
Time to stop rambling - but EA stands for the general, the watered down with a lot of shine - sometimes but rarely they do touch you with something really great - but I'm still waiting...