EA voted the worst company of 2012 & response

[RoutedScripter]

There's the result:
http://consumerist.com/2012/04/congratulations-ea-you-are-the-worst-company-in-america-for-2012.html


And the EA response:

We're sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton are all relieved they weren't nominated this year. We're going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide.

Wow they've actually said something that has sense.

Yeah ... BofA ruins you're lives ... and BP and halliburton and Monsanto ... etc. So i kind of agree - but i noticed there was a thread on neogaf.com which petitioned a ton of peolpe to vote for EA.

But yeah nothing would have really happened if bofa won - i mean - they know they're doing it but they don't care either about their image.

 

[zootac]

thats so dam funny that pic on that site lol

 

[xenocide]

I think it is ridiculous that EA won that. Just in the realm of Gaming, there are infinitely worse companies. Where are Zynga, Activision, and UbiSoft? It's getting to the point where it's just cool to hate EA, so everyone does it.

 

[douglatins]

Yeah kinda weird, BOA ruins lives, BP oceans, etc etc...... But i do hate them, not the worst though

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think it is ridiculous that EA won that. Just in the realm of Gaming, there are infinitely worse companies. Where are Zynga, Activision, and UbiSoft? It's getting to the point where it's just cool to hate EA, so everyone does it.

Can you name one series that EA didn't trash? They bought out all these excellent companies like Westwood, Bioware, and Maxis, ruin their brands, and only produce sequels because the name alone sells. Not to mention, EA (Activision too) are frequently blamed for having slave labor for developers. EA deserved the title of worst company and their response is insulting. BP's oil spill, AIG's golden parachutes, etc. were all 2009/2010, not 2011/2012 which this "reward" was for.

BofA's only falling out was them threatening to add fines for services others had no fines on. BofA later backtracked after losing a lot of accounts and it has really been business as usual since.

I think EA can place the blame for getting this squarely on Mass Effect 3 but they've been building up to this for a long time now.

 

[Arctucas]

I cannot say that I disagree with the article.

I gave up on EA a couple years ago, due to their so-called 'Customer Support', or rather, the lack of it.

 

[erocker]

I think it's ridiculous that a game company won. It shows where people's priorities are and it's very very sad.

 

[NC37]

EA pissed off too many within the last 2 years. The mess with Origin, the mess with BF3, now Bioware...I really feel Bioware has been losing their identity to EA. I have ex guildies from WoW who will not join TOR because they view Bioware as EA.

Forbes article on this whole thing was perfect, stop buying EA products! Polls and votes like this do nothing. I've maybe bought 1 product on launch date from EA in the last 2 years. Rest, I wait on. ME3 had me real tempted but I just had to calm myself and remind myself, its on Origin...you don't want it that badly.

Why EA won this year is simple. The audience out there hating on EA for Origin, DICE, Bioware...is a very loud audience and is one that is very active online. In regular elections you have elderly who vote in force. In online polls where you have a company like EA...you have those spurned by them voting in mass. They in turn tell friends. Anything to hurt the company which has hurt them.

Whether EA makes good games or not, they've made a lot of enemies with consumers. Its just a shame many of these consumers don't vote their wallets. Course the same principle can be said of CoD games. Activision is the pimp of raping wallets via CoD but no matter how poor or rehashed the new title is, people just buy it without any thought.

 

[ShiBDiB]

I think it's ridiculous that a game company won. It shows where people's priorities are and it's very very sad.

The worlds fucked, just wait for it to blow up.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think it's ridiculous that a game company won. It shows where people's priorities are and it's very very sad.

It's not necessarily the product that matters but how the business conducts itself. EA has not acted in their customer's interest in a very long time. BofA, BP, etc. at least tried to make amends. EA? As long as the money keeps coming in, they couldn't give a rat's ass.

 

[ShiBDiB]

It's not necessarily the product that matters but how the business conducts itself. EA has not acted in their customer's interest in a very long time. BofA, BP, etc. at least tried to make amends. EA? As long as the money keeps coming in, they couldn't give a rat's ass.

Nor should they, the money keeps coming voluntarily. These other companies are basically monopolizing areas forcing u to get boned by their service. Or destroying entire ecosystems and coastal economies..

The fact that a gaming company won can be diluted by the fact that this was an internet based survey that no1 knew about.. but still, I'd hope the high school tweens would have a slightly larger understanding of the world around them...

 

[FordGT90Concept]

...EA practically has a monopoly on sports games and life simulators (The Sims).

Why should the entertainment industry be held to lesser standards than oil and financial industries?


EA made the Fortune 500 list in 2010. In 2011, they are on the Fortune 1000 list. $3+ billion in revenue is nothing to skalk at.

 

[zootac]

Can you name one series that EA didn't trash? They bought out all these excellent companies like Westwood, Bioware, and Maxis, ruin their brands, and only produce sequels because the name alone sells. Not to mention, EA (Activision too) are frequently blamed for having slave labor for developers. EA deserved the title of worst company and their response is insulting. BP's oil spill, AIG's golden parachutes, etc. were all 2009/2010, not 2011/2012 which this "reward" was for.

BofA's only falling out was them threatening to add fines for services others had no fines on. BofA later backtracked after losing a lot of accounts and it has really been business as usual since.

I think EA can place the blame for getting this squarely on Mass Effect 3 but they've been building up to this for a long time now.

plus crytec with crysis 2 dx9

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Perhaps everyone here has a point, but they miss the forest for the trees.

BP was approved for drilling, using a plan that the US government rubber stamped. It was a slightly modified version of an Alaskan plan. To my knowledge, there are no seals in the Gulf of Mexico, yet the plan had measures to protect them. They lacked a standard FMEA (failure modes and effect analysis), which would have required a plan be developed for this type of failure. Yes, BP screwed up. What isn't represented is the massive screw up by the US government in authorizing the drilling in the first place.

Halliburton has done some screwed up stuff. All of this was informally authorized by the DOJ, because they did not address the issues when they came to light.

The golden parachutes debacle was 100% government incited. Whenever you have a complex system of tax law, that would allow this, the government has failed the people. The greedy bastards that used the loopholes are to blame, but they aren't the ones who put the loopholes in...


So, barring the government as a possible candidate, EA isn't an unreasonable candidate. They screw their customers, their developers, and their own franchises. While this is bad, I personally view AT&T as worse. You can choose not to buy games, and EA will be forced to change. AT&T might be your only reasonable ISP, and you realistically need internet access. To have you dead to right, then to screw you without remorse, is worse than Origin, crappy derivative titles, and any other DRM will ever be.

As a side note, the youtube videos of the ME3 "endings" reminded me why the last game I bought from them at launch was Crysis 2. Burn me twice and I won't give you another chance to steal my money.

 

[AphexDreamer]

Did they basically just say we are as bad as British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton but we don't care because we still make money off yalls asses?

 

[Easy Rhino]

at the end of the day nobody cares.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Did they basically just say we are as bad as British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton but we don't care because we still make money off yalls asses?

Pretty much, yeah.

 

[OneMoar]

Did they basically just say we are as bad as British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton but we don't care because we still make money off yalls asses?

LOL

 

[xenocide]

Did they basically just say we are as bad as British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton but we don't care because we still make money off yalls asses?

No, they are saying they find it hilarious that they were voted over companies that have literally destroyed the planet and peoples lives were not even on the list. BP ignores regulators non-stop and continues to poison water sources for Americans. AIG basically collapsed the entire US economy, and continues to do the same practices unchecked. Phillip Morris sells people products that cause diseases, and lobbies harder than any other company to change peoples lives for the worst. Halliburton is probably the worst company in human history, I don't have the whole day to list reasons why. What did EA do? They released some video games that people were unhappy with.

If you seriously think EA is just as bad as those companies, you have a severely troubling priorities.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Phillip Morris sells people products that cause diseases, and lobbies harder than any other company to change peoples lives for the worst.

Sorry, but I can't get on the boat with you. Everything else you said in this post I can get behind, but Phillip Morris sells pleasure goods. Cigarettes are not a necessity, nor are they something that people are forced into contact with.

Phillip Morris used monsterous tactics to get children to smoke. Cartoons, flavored cigarettes, and even candy cigarettes were deplorable. There is no defending this, and I won't even try. My question to you is when was the last time you saw a Joe Camel cartoon; when was the last time you saw an alcohol or McDonalds (McRib) advertisement?

Phillip Morris has provided substantial monetary compensation for anti-smoking advertisement, and is currently having the bejesus taxed out of their product by the government. Despite the nearly slanderous anti-smoking campaign, and the insanely high taxation, people continue to buy their products as a means to relax.

Perhaps those companies that have products that result in drunken driving and heart disease are also monsters. They kill more people than smoking does, but aren't taxed nearly as heavily as cigarettes. It doesn't take a hyperbole to see that the monsters that are demonized aren't even those that kill the most people...

Budweiser, Miller, McDonalds, and a stable of other fast food restaurants continue on without any fines or bad PR. Where is the justice?


The government needs to get out of my home. Taxation as a stick to shape behavior is the fundamental starting point for communism and socialism. The second that your government believes they know what is best for you, and you do not, is the second that government needs to be reminded that the people who elected them can have them removed!


Edit:
For perspective; I never smoked, rarely drink, and pay more than my fair share in taxes. Just because I don't want something doesn't mean it shouldn't be available to those who do.

 

[xenocide]

Phillip Morris has provided substantial monetary compensation for anti-smoking advertisement, and is currently having the bejesus taxed out of their product by the government. Despite the nearly slanderous anti-smoking campaign, and the insanely high taxation, people continue to buy their products as a means to relax.

I agree, but Phillip Morris has historically done a lot of bad stuff. To put EA on par for any of the companies they mentioned is ridiculous. As a smoker I also wanted to draw attention to that italicized part. It blows my mind that people think smokers are somehow unaware it's bad for them...

 

[Mr McC]

I think it's ridiculous that a game company won. It shows where people's priorities are and it's very very sad.

I agree, but although I feel that EA winning is preposterous, it should not allow them to simply dismiss this very clear message.

 

[babash*t]

EA sucks balls, except in the FIFA&BF3(graphics) dept...
I've honestly not seen a game as dull as Kingdoms of Amalur in the last 2-3yrs

 

[KainXS]

bank of america should have one