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EA Responds To Its Appearance In the 'Worst Company In America' Poll

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-wasn't-us,-it-was-the-one-armed-man dept.

beerdragoon writes "Electronic Arts CEO Peter Moore has responded to the company's appearance in the finals of the Consumerist's Worst Company In America poll. Moore accepts some responsibility for some of EA's past failings: 'I’ll be the first to admit that we’ve made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn’t meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this.' However, he ignores or contests many of the common complaints about the company — issues that earned it a spot in the finals for the second year in a row. Quoting: 'Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period. ... Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games."

10 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing will change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This isn't the first time they've received such honors and they're still complete and utter bastards.

    Don't like EA and where they're herding the gamers? Don't buy their wares.

    Simple,
    Steve (from beyond).

    1. Re:Nothing will change by DrEldarion · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, that just gives them ammunition. They can see download counts, look for unauthorized server connections, etc. From this, they deduce that the reason their titles aren't selling well is because of piracy, not because of the way they're designing their games and treating their users. And what does that lead to? More extreme anti-piracy measures, of course!

      Don't play them at all. Just avoid them altogether. Instead play games from companies that Get It. Then they'll have nobody to blame but themselves.

    2. Re:Nothing will change by mister_playboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      http://imgur.com/a/gW7F9

      Does EA's CEO have any response to the fact that SimCity's "simulation" is so trivial that optimal play involves have 100% residential zones, no taxes, and no services of any kind?

      A 5th grader with a pencil and a piece of paper could come up with a more realistic simulation that this.

      --
      Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  2. Strictly DRM by David89 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There was plenty of proof that the Always Online was purely a form of DRM not necessary for the gaming aspect of the product.

    --
    Track IP - Remotely track the IP address of a machine via email or MySQL.
  3. Oh good by Experiment+626 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not."

    If the always-on thing isn't there as a copyright enforcement thing, a crack to remove it won't run afoul of the DMCA. Thanks for giving your blessing on that, EA.

  4. Stomp your feet & say it isn't DRM. by jaskelling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the end, it doesn't really matter what you say or how often you deny that it's a DRM scheme. It's how your customers see it now, it's how they react and interact with it, and that's what it will be. Your ineptitude & outright idiocy brought this on yourselves, so you can stop calling your customers liars & ignoramuses - and just fix your crap. You know, try to do something competent and classy to improve your image. Or you can just keep doing what your doing and see yourself on this same list next year and every year, EA.

    1. Re:Stomp your feet & say it isn't DRM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, it works fairly well. The registration procedure is modest, you can recover your logins, you can play offline, and you don't need to keep original media lying around. You can download when you want, on as many computers as you want. You just can only play on as many as you bought licenses for the game. There's no rootkit, the application is lightweight and unobtrusive and robust, and there's an enormous and growiing variety of older and low cost games still available.

      This is what DRM should be. It limits your use, but it gets you good support and free installations as needed.

  5. He's got a point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the same poll that last year judged us as worse than companies responsible for the biggest oil spill in history, the mortgage crisis, and bank bailouts that cost millions of taxpayer dollars.

    There is a lot wrong with EA, but saying they're the worst company is fundamentally bullshit.

  6. Re:Gaming company executive doesn't get it by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It sounds like a psychopath saying "Sure, I'll admit there's some scuffs on my shoes, but the blood on my hands, I swear to God those people wanted to die!"

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  7. They are doing what a company should NEVER do... by mark-t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... which is to blindly state that the public is wrong.

    Because now it doesn't matter if they are wrong.... they've completely screwed the pooch with the people who expressed their negative opinion on the matter.

    Eventually, of course, they'll have to rationalize the whole thing to themselves by concluding that these people's opinions simply don't matter to them anyways.

    Way to go there, EA. Awesome PR. You will, I'm afraid, be eating those words eventually. Unfortunately, probably not before a whole lot of people lose their jobs.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'