I read this, along with the fact that EA was saying that the monetization in Dungeon Keeper was steaming BS, and have come to one conclusion. We are watching a company (EA) that wants to physically split into multiple competing divisions. I'm looking at the next Microsoft here.
Division 1: Game development. This division will make the games, and is limited such that 80% of games must be continuations of previous franchises, 10% must be shameless cash grabs, and the remaining 10% may be new and innovative attempts to create IP that can be fed back to the 80% as the nostalgia factor fails to overcome blatant over-use.
Division 2: Monetization. These people purchase the finished "games" from Division 1, and figure out how to make them more profitable. Shear off a chunk of the game and make it day 1 purchased DLC; check. Release a drip feed of maps that take a week to construct, and then charge another 1/6th of the initial purchase price to be able to play with your friends who already bought that DLC; check. Take old games and severely cripple the mechanics so that the nostalgia dollars begin to flow; check. Defend the practice of cash gouging until you're about to release the next steaming load of BS, then apologize for the "error" (without ever offering a substantial apology) and say you've "learned your lesson" without ever changing anything you've done; check. This division will be where most EA executives transfer to.
Division 3: PR. These poor souls will observe the games from division 1, and then drink themselves stupid. In the drunken haze they'll write press releases and design ways to contact the media. This department will send sample out to the press (I'm thinking things like a collectors editions with actual sharpened butcher's knives in it), produce demo footage for trade shows that absolutely doesn't reflect the actual game play, and it'll all be capped by a barely covered hatred for everyone that buys their products.
Division 4: R&D. This will be the cream of the crop for EA. They'll experiment with new ways to both hobble games for paying customers, while determining exactly how much you can charge for as little as possible. Part one will be new forms of DRM. Just connecting to Origin isn't enough, we'll need to develop new Spore style root kits, activation limiters, and disconnects for single player games should you happen to be guilty of the sin of a poor internet connection. Part two will be something entirely new. Rather than charge $60 for a new game, they'll charge $50. Of course, they'll make multi-player a $20 unlock. They'll develop new DLC that makes anyone who hasn't bought all of it incapable of playing with 90% of other players. They can top this off by cross-branding; basically have a big name company under-write development of a feature (think a new set of skins by a specific designer), then charging consumers for the download of said feature. Who loses here? Consumers are already paying for other DLC, so why not screw them once on the DLC price and a second time on never actually investing in development.
Snark aside, EA has been full of crap for years. How is any of this new? One arm says sorry, then the other arm commits the same crimes. It used to be root kits, then it was activation limits, it then phased into online vs. hard copy pricing, it transitioned into DLC pricing, and now it's wound up in crap monetization on mobile gaming. I ask how anyone with a brain is still tolerating this?
If you want better games, then don't buy the crap. Battlefield 5 will be an improvement on 4, but 4 will still be playable months after its release. Mass Effect deserves to be buried because it never delivered on a decade of promises, which were centered around choices you made in a narrative. Plants vs. Zombies doesn't need a team FPS modification, it just needs a competent sequel (PvZ 2 wasn't bad, but if the resources weren't divided between the two games I'd bet it would have been better). EA has lost sight of games (the "artists" part of EA), and they're run by bean counters. Bean counters don't understand that gaming cannot be indefinitely copied without becoming stale, and sales figures tend to agree with their conclusions. As long as we support EA financially we continue this myth.
I'd ask that everyone goes out and buys two or three indie games the day the next CoD or Battlefield came out. That $60 could buy three or four new Indie games, and it would demonstrate to the EA bean counters that we aren't mindless sheep. I know that isn't going to be the case, but I live comfortably in the fact that one or two more high profile launch failures will finally get people to listen. Hopefully Battlefield 5 releases with Diablo 3 style server errors. Maybe then people will realize that an afternoon of of "gritty modern combat" can be far less fulfilling than building a house and lighting it on fire for giggles (think Minecraft). It's too bad that we've grown complacent in gaming, but I'm sure that for every person who wants change there are a dozen more who buy the new FIFA, NFL, CoD, Battlefield, and Halo game the day they are released. When that changes, so too will our choices.