Do you purchase EA products? Is EA's image and product quality worsening?

...they're quite a ways down the list compared to a lot of other publishers...Jackc8

[QUOTE="Jackc8"]...they're quite a ways down the list compared to a lot of other publishers...El_Zo1212o

There are many who are much worse.

There are many who are much worse.

Dracula68

You're right.

^ Worse than EA.

Barely

The last EA product I bought was The Saboteur, whose developer was closed down by EA. Other than that, I haven't enjoyed EA this gen, and and some of the games series I liked last gen have definitely worsened. The madden games are horrible (last good one was 2005 imo), they ruined Medal of Honor, and I'm still trying to decide weather or not to get the new SSX, as it looks a lot different than the older games. Add that in with their business practices, and I'd say they pretty much suck.

You call the 800 number on the back of your credit/debit card to complain about an unusual charge or an insufficient funds fee. Since you are upset you let a swear word spew out at the unhelpful customer service on the line. Your credit/debit card is now banned and every product you purchased with that credit/debit card you can no longer access. Not to mention your bank's ATM machines have been replaced with inferior machines that are constantly broken and your credit/debit card can only work with their machines. Could you imagine if Bank of America was operated by EA?

EA defeats Bank of America as the worst company in America and joins previous winners of the Golden Poo award such British Petroleum, AIG, and Philip Morris: http://consumerist.com/2012/04/ea-responds-to-worst-company-win-by-name-dropping-past-worst-company-winners.html

The Consumerist is a blog that conducted a bracket survey, in the spirit of March Madness, which asked what company is the worst in America. The results were baffling given that EA, a game developer, marketer, publisher, and distributor with barely five billion dollars of assets was voted a worse company than Bank of America, a multinational bank with over two trillion dollars of assets. Bank of America is also responsible for sparking the ongoing Occupy movement which has encouraged hundreds millions of individuals from across the world to protest the bank while The Consumerist poll collected just over a mere quarter million votes.

So here we are almost a year after the introduction of Origin and over ten million installations and the same concerns and criticism remain un-responded to from EA. With the results of The Consumerist's survey and the release of The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3 we must ask ourselves if we should continue to purchase EA's products.

Is the internet an appropriate platform to protest a gaming company such as EA?

Will EA listen to their customers or continue to ban those who question the company's actions?

Are there any advantages to use EA's distribution platform Origin if the same exclusive titles were available on other distribution platforms?

Why is EA unsuccessfully attempting to line their pockets at the expense of the quality of their products?

And why are gamers still tolerating EA to this day?

BygByron3

You know what. honestly i dont give a crap about what people think about EA.or any other company. All that matters is "DO I LIKE THE GAME" if i do like it i will buy it. And the games i am unsure about i either rent or borrow from a friend who have it or the libraryJacanuk

There are many who are much worse.

Dracula68

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"]You know what. honestly i dont give a crap about what people think about EA.or any other company. All that matters is "DO I LIKE THE GAME" if i do like it i will buy it. And the games i am unsure about i either rent or borrow from a friend who have it or the libraryBygByron3

[QUOTE="BygByron3"]

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"]You know what. honestly i dont give a crap about what people think about EA.or any other company. All that matters is "DO I LIKE THE GAME" if i do like it i will buy it. And the games i am unsure about i either rent or borrow from a friend who have it or the libraryJacanuk

Or are is that not the consumer's responsibility? The Consumerist is a blog about informing consumers of business practices and their rights as consumers. The survey isn't about the the size of a company or how much damage they could cause or Bank of America would've won. It is about their business practices and how they listen to their customers and respect the rights of the consumer.

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"][QUOTE="BygByron3"]Do you buy diamonds from African warlords as well? They do provide the best diamonds and for an unbeatable price!

BygByron3

Or are is that not the consumer's responsibility? The Consumerist is a blog about informing consumers of business practices and their rights as consumers. The survey isn't about the the size of a company or how much damage they could cause or Bank of America would've won. It is about their business practices and how they listen to their customers and respect the rights of the consumer.

Hmm, you do know right that Gamespot is a gaming site and this discussion is about games and a gaming company EA.

And show me the game that can fall even close to buying blood diamonds, its not like EA is using human slaves or killing people to make their games.

Just because a minority of gamers think they are hardcore and hate EA because its big and big equels bad does not mean that they actually are.

Look at their sales figures, i think that speaks for itself.

[QUOTE="BygByron3"]

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"] Eh? so you really think comparing EA to Blooddiamonds is a ok comparison? We are talking about games not something that costs actual human lives.Jacanuk

Or are is that not the consumer's responsibility? The Consumerist is a blog about informing consumers of business practices and their rights as consumers. The survey isn't about the the size of a company or how much damage they could cause or Bank of America would've won. It is about their business practices and how they listen to their customers and respect the rights of the consumer.

Hmm, you do know right that Gamespot is a gaming site and this discussion is about games and a gaming company EA.

And show me the game that can fall even close to buying blood diamonds, its not like EA is using human slaves or killing people to make their games.

Just because a minority of gamers think they are hardcore and hate EA because its big and big equels bad does not mean that they actually are.

Look at their sales figures, i think that speaks for itself.

I asked you where you draw the line, I've already made my own comparisons. Just Google what developers and ex-employees criticize EA for, let alone what gamers say on forums.

If you read the rest of this thread you'd realize the size or amount of money EA makes has absolutely nothing to do with this survey or this topic. In fact their sales figures are bad and have been declining over the past few years, so yes they are speaking nice and loud, and maybe EA should listen to gamers now?

I'm glad you enjoy their games, I do as well and have purchased a handful EA titles over the past year but they're really on a bad track and hurting the industry with their business practices.

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"]

[QUOTE="BygByron3"]So where is the line that you refuse to purchase even the greatest product if the means in which it were produced are too costly or morally objectionable?

Or are is that not the consumer's responsibility? The Consumerist is a blog about informing consumers of business practices and their rights as consumers. The survey isn't about the the size of a company or how much damage they could cause or Bank of America would've won. It is about their business practices and how they listen to their customers and respect the rights of the consumer.

BygByron3

Hmm, you do know right that Gamespot is a gaming site and this discussion is about games and a gaming company EA.

And show me the game that can fall even close to buying blood diamonds, its not like EA is using human slaves or killing people to make their games.

Just because a minority of gamers think they are hardcore and hate EA because its big and big equels bad does not mean that they actually are.

Look at their sales figures, i think that speaks for itself.

I asked you where you draw the line, I've already made my own comparisons. Just Google what developers and ex-employees criticize EA for, let alone what gamers say on forums.

If you read the rest of this thread you'd realize the size or amount of money EA makes has absolutely nothing to do with this survey or this topic. In fact their sales figures are bad and have been declining over the past few years, so yes they are speaking nice and loud, and maybe EA should listen to gamers now?

I'm glad you enjoy their games, I do as well and have purchased a handful EA titles over the past year but they're really on a bad track and hurting the industry with their business practices.

If you ask where i draw the line generally then obvious i wont buy blood diamonds or products that has price of human lives, but in UK i luckly rarely get faced with that option.

And the reason why EA sales figures are declining are not because they have begun to make bad games or because suddenly the main stream have begun to see how "evil" EA is, its simply because we are and have been in a reccsion and one thing people cut are games.

And what business pratices are they hurting the game industry with? i have asked this question a hundre times and all i get each time is "MAAANNNN your dumb and a troll and work for EA" EA is bad because we say it is.

And honestly thats not a very intelligent response.

i have asked this question a hundre times and all i get each time is "MAAANNNN your dumb and a troll and work for EA" EA is bad because we say it is.

And honestly thats not a very intelligent response.

Jacanuk

[QUOTE="Jacanuk"]i have asked this question a hundre times and all i get each time is "MAAANNNN your dumb and a troll and work for EA" EA is bad because we say it is.

And honestly thats not a very intelligent response.

BygByron3

There are many who are much worse.

Dracula68

I do from time to time. The only thing they make that interests me is their NHL series, and I won't buy one until the NHL hits a point of stability again, so it could be a while before I get another EA game.