Are EA the worst games company in the world??

[Stagpump]

So I get my Beta key for BF3 (Yes 3 not 4, bear with me) and it turns out to be a laggy, glitchy piece of st. OK it's the Beta and testing is the point but it was all but unplayable. The launch day rolls round and what do I find ?? The same piece of crap as before just on more maps.
Then comes the DLC farce and the overpriced Premium crap and the money grabbing continues.

Then to top it off they start asking for pre order money the same day that, as a PC user, I get access to buy the last DLC for BF3.

Compare to this...

Roll forward 5 months and I pre purchase PAYDAY 2 getting access to the beta.

The overkill team assign a liaison to the testers who keeps in constant contact with the players. 4 patches are released to improve the beta and when the game comes out it is awesome. Yes there is a problem for some in starting for the first time (the issue was with steam not the game)and within an hour a solution is presented.

To top it all off all the people who pre-ordered are going to get the first of 5 planned DLC's for free as a thank you.

EA suck balls and honestly believe that they can keep pedaling crap and we're too dumb or desperate to say no.

[Mister V]

Pffffffff. Hating on EA. That's so 2008. All the cool kids are hating on Microsoft now.

On a serious note though, none of the things you describe are unique to EA, and while they are not the best company in the world the amount of flack they get is unwarranted.

[Stagpump]

Mister V said:

Pffffffff. Hating on EA. That's so 2008. All the cool kids are hating on Microsoft now.

On a serious note though, none of the things you describe are unique to EA, and while they are not the best company in the world the amount of flack they get is unwarranted.

Fair point, not that I agree but after my recent, excellent experience with Overkill it just highlighted how bad EA really are.

EA are a shining example of a company screwing the people who keep them going while shouting "what ya gonna do???"

[Stagpump]

Wow!! I didn't expect to have it all one sided but the first two responses to be basically defending EA??

Did not see that coming.

[130R]

You won't get any argument from me, awful company. If I am on the fence about buying a game and see it is developed or distributed by EA I won't buy it. Generally I manage to avoid all their games but BioWare make some of the best RPGs (or they did before EA got hold of them)

[MattyB_]

Mandown46 said:

Depends what side of the fence you're on.
As a company, that exsist to make money, and produce AAA games, theres not many that can compete.

As a company that exist solely to keep and develop a very close relationship with a fan base, there's not many worse.

I agree with this - to an extent:

Mandown46 said:

They DO produce fantastic games, or at least fund other companies to do so.
Battlefield, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, are 3 of my most played games, ever.

But therein lies the problem. DA1 and Mass Effect 1 (and 2, to a certain extent) were done in Bioware's hay-day, before EA took full control. Since EA's control, they spewed out DA2 (which was very, very poor in comparison) and Mass Effect 3 (again, poor in comparison).

EA are "disliked" because they take over popular companies and make them 'mainstream' and run them purely by the numbers; that is to say, they broaden the appeal to sell the most boxes, regardless of the impact it has on the franchise.

You only have to look at how DA2 and ME3 were marketed to see it - DA2 had the whole "press this button, and something awesome happens" with OTT blood and arcade-like combat. In ME3, they gave Shepard some arm-sword and chucked out video's that made the game look more like Gears of War than Mass Effect.

They are slowly - slowly - starting to realise, after winning back-to-back "Worst Company in America" awards where they are going wrong. They're talking-the-talk, but I'll wait and see if there going to walk-the-walk.

[HowMuchLonger]

Are they the ones that ruined scrabble for us, if so then they are definitely the worst.

[Oakey]

Having put in numerous hours on BF3 with Foobes, arsecakes, etc I'm not sure why you're finding the game 'laggy' or 'glitchy'. Maybe your internet is just crap?

O/T: Are you related to Phil Laing, Stagpump?

[LukeSi]

https://www.humblebundle.com/

[GG89]

They are a joke. FIFA 13 was literally unplayable online for the first 3 months it was released before they got their arse in gear and ironed out the terrible bugs.

[Johna]

Not sure about the company but their servers are amongst the worst.

[Daston]

The problem with them is they buy out developers and then gain access to their ip. With this they just spew the same old st and charge stupid money. Plus they force you to use origin which is an awful bit of software.

A lot of the big developers are going indi so they can actually make a living again and have free regin on their developments.

[MissChief]

Stagpump said:

So I get my Beta key for BF3 (Yes 3 not 4, bear with me) and it turns out to be a laggy, glitchy piece of st. OK it's the Beta and testing is the point but it was all but unplayable. The launch day rolls round and what do I find ?? The same piece of crap as before just on more maps. No one forced you to buy it or pre-order?
Then comes the DLC farce and the overpriced Premium crap I paid £22? and the money grabbing continues. BF3 suffered with the same development schedule and patch schedule across all platforms so even if a PC Patch was ready they wouldn't release it until the PS3 and Xbox patches had cleared certification. Which costs EA money. Did they have to do this? No, but it would have meant things would have got incredibly complex with different platforms at different stages.

Then to top it off they start asking for pre order money the same day that, as a PC user, I get access to buy the last DLC for BF3. No real surprise. Several games companies do this. Activision were looking for Pre-orders for CoD Ghosts and the last CoD MW3 DLC was only just released last month I believe?

Compare to this...

Roll forward 5 months and I pre purchase PAYDAY 2 getting access to the beta. Pre-orders for BF4 get beta access? As do Premium members and those who bought MoH Warfighter?

The overkill team assign a liaison to the testers who keeps in constant contact with the players. 4 patches are released to improve the beta and when the game comes out it is awesome. Yes there is a problem for some in starting for the first time (the issue was with steam not the game)and within an hour a solution is presented. A statistical impossibility considering the MILLIONS of people likely to be playing Beta of BF4 compared to the few hundred/thousand playing Payday 2.

To top it all off all the people who pre-ordered are going to get the first of 5 planned DLC's for free as a thank you. EA are offering China Rising to all those that pre-order, the first of 4 or 5 (not 100% sure) DLC's planned? EXACTLY the same deal as this company?

EA suck balls and honestly believe that they can keep pedaling crap and we're too dumb or desperate to say no.

Also don't forget that EA have put forward over $200 of games as part of the Humble Bundle AND where a game is available on Steam and Origin you get a key for BOTH. So far this has meant $8,770,227.40 to charity AND over 1.8 million purchases AT THE TIME OF WRITING. If these games were purchased at RRP you're talking over $100 million dollars that EA has 'given away'. And I find Origin is up and running far more often than Steam certainly used to be. Rarely a week goes by without Steam suddenly saying I'm offline or someone else is offline. Sitting chatting to my mates on TS while Steam says it's lost contact with the Steam servers and doesn;t come back on for hours. I remember when half Life 2 came out and everyone was FORCED to use Steam. Everyone was raging and cussing and swearing. 6 years later everyone thinks the Sun shines out of Gabe's arse. Origin has issues (100 friend limit? WTF EA?) but so does Steam.

EA the worst company in the world? NO, Sorry, definitely not. Quite how they were voted worse than Bank of America who were found to be paying BONUSES to staff that forclosed on customers mortgages and homes is so far beyond my I can't even comprehend how a GAMES Company can be voted worse than a company like that. But then again Internet Keyboard Warriors willg et upset over a gun in BF3 being balanced or a bug they were taking advantage of being fixed compared to a family who were skating so close to the bone little Jimmy wouldn't even have a computer or Internet access to Vote BoA worse than EA for forclosing on his family home.

FFS get some perspective man!!!!!

Edited by MissChief on Saturday 24th August 00:40

Edited by MissChief on Saturday 24th August 01:57

[Stagpump]

Oakey said:

Having put in numerous hours on BF3 with Foobes, arsecakes, etc I'm not sure why you're finding the game 'laggy' or 'glitchy'. Maybe your internet is just crap?

O/T: Are you related to Phil Laing, Stagpump?

A)The "laggy" and "glitchy" I was referring to was at launch 2 years ago. It is much improved. My point was that they had a LOT of beta testers complain during Beta that this was the case and still released the game with these problems.

B) Not to my knowledge.

[Stagpump]

MissChief said:

Stagpump said:

So I get my Beta key for BF3 (Yes 3 not 4, bear with me) and it turns out to be a laggy, glitchy piece of st. OK it's the Beta and testing is the point but it was all but unplayable. The launch day rolls round and what do I find ?? The same piece of crap as before just on more maps. No one forced you to buy it or pre-order? No but that is a ridiculous point nobody forced you to buy the last component you bought for your computer but if it didn't work you would complain and quite rightly want your money back.
Then comes the DLC farce and the overpriced Premium crap I paid £22? Well it was £30 on release when I had already paid £40 for the limited edition. and the money grabbing continues. BF3 suffered with the same development schedule and patch schedule across all platforms so even if a PC Patch was ready they wouldn't release it until the PS3 and Xbox patches had cleared certification. Which costs EA money. Did they have to do this? No, but it would have meant things would have got incredibly complex with different platforms at different stages. Then why release the game while it is still broken?? That is wrong and it is money grabbing.

Then to top it off they start asking for pre order money the same day that, as a PC user, I get access to buy the last DLC for BF3. No real surprise. Several games companies do this. Activision were looking for Pre-orders for CoD Ghosts and the last CoD MW3 DLC was only just released last month I believe?

Compare to this...

Roll forward 5 months and I pre purchase PAYDAY 2 getting access to the beta. Pre-orders for BF4 get beta access? As do Premium members and those who bought MoH Warfighter? Didn't mean to suggest that beta access was in any way special just that it happened.

The overkill team assign a liaison to the testers who keeps in constant contact with the players. 4 patches are released to improve the beta and when the game comes out it is awesome. Yes there is a problem for some in starting for the first time (the issue was with steam not the game)and within an hour a solution is presented. A statistical impossibility considering the MILLIONS of people likely to be playing Beta of BF4 compared to the few hundred/thousand playing Payday 2.

To top it all off all the people who pre-ordered are going to get the first of 5 planned DLC's for free as a thank you. EA are offering China Rising to all those that pre-order, the first of 4 or 5 (not 100% sure) DLC's planned? EXACTLY the same deal as this company? OK fair point I concede but I wouldn't know as I won't touch BF4 till I see the posts on here saying that the inevitable glitches and fk ups have been sorted.

EA suck balls and honestly believe that they can keep pedaling crap and we're too dumb or desperate to say no.

Also don't forget that EA have put forward over $200 of games as part of the Humble Bundle AND where a game is available on Steam and Origin you get a key for BOTH. So far this has meant $8,770,227.40 to charity AND over 1.8 million purchases AT THE TIME OF WRITING. If these games were purchased at RRP you're talking over $100 million dollars that EA has 'given away'. And I find Origin is up and running far more often than Steam certainly used to be. Rarely a week goes by without Steam suddenly saying I'm offline or someone else is offline. Sitting chatting to my mates on TS while Steam says it's lost contact with the Steam servers and doesn;t come back on for hours. I remember when half Life 2 came out and everyone was FORCED to use Steam. Everyone was raging and cussing and swearing. 6 years later everyone thinks the Sun shines out of Gabe's arse. Origin has issues (100 friend limit? WTF EA?) but so does Steam.

EA the worst company in the world? NO, Sorry, definitely not. Quite how they were voted worse than Bank of America who were found to be paying BONUSES to staff that forclosed on customers mortgages and homes is so far beyond my I can't even comprehend how a GAMES Company can be voted worse than a company like that. But then again Internet Keyboard Warriors willg et upset over a gun in BF3 being balanced or a bug they were taking advantage of being fixed compared to a family who were skating so close to the bone little Jimmy wouldn't even have a computer or Internet access to Vote BoA worse than EA for forclosing on his family home. If you look at the title of the thread you'll see that I asked if they were the worst GAMES company this is a games forum after all.

I understnd that there are worse issues in the world and that this is the very example of a first world problem.

FFS get some perspective man!!!!! I do, I think youv'e taken my purposly prevocative statement (intended to start debate) a little too seriously.

Edited by MissChief on Saturday 24th August 00:40

Edited by MissChief on Saturday 24th August 01:57[/footnote]

[footnote]Edited by Stagpump on Saturday 24th August 10:46