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EA Takes Over Scrabble App, Wipes Player Histories and Switches Dictionary

New submitter DeathToBill writes "EA is in the midst of another user backlash, the BBC reports. After EA took over operation of the online Scrabble brand, it introduced a 'new and improved' version. Improvements include requiring manual refreshes to see other players' turns, irretrievably wiping players' game history and a switch to the Collins dictionary (rather than the traditional Chambers edition) that has proved deeply unpopular with Scrabble fanatics. "EA was unavailable for comment.""

3 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This article is about how you can get free advertisement. Move along.

    Yep, because nothing makes me more interested in checking out a game than learning of an unpopular change.

    It serves as a reminder that EA are a bunch of assholes. Lest we forget.

  2. Re:That's Right EA. by grasshoppa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What hole? Users still line up to buy their shit. EA execs know gamers will continue to fork over the cash for shit. As a gamer myself, I can't help but marvel at the stupidity that requires.

    Watch; EA has control of star wars. I guarantee they pull the same shit with forthcoming SW games, and they'll make a mint regardless of the quality of the game itself, nor how the company chooses to abuse the consumer this time around. Oh, we'll all whine, bitch and moan. Then we'll turn around and buy the DLC and expansions.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  3. Re:How is this newsworthy? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't it just common knowledge that EA destroys everything they touch and have zero respect for gamers?

    What kind of amazes me(not entirely, given how EA manages to fuck up things like 'Origin' so completely), is that none of the player-shafting here appears to have actually been in EA's interests...

    Manual refresh to see the other player's move? That's just insanity. If anything, the bandwidth eaten by players hammering 'refresh' impatiently will be substantially greater than just having the server push things down when the other player submits their move.

    Nuking play histories? Probably made some DBA's life easier(but since when has EA given a damn about the tech peons?), at the expense of cutting existing customers' perceived 'investment' in the platform. Good job, guys...

    Switching dictionaries? You'd better have a convincing story about how usurious the licensing costs were for the official one; because the reaction from the hardcore scrabble heads was totally predictable. Those guys are Serious.

    Had they taken it over and then larded it with DLC, microtransactions,(Would you like to buy a vowel?), and in-game ads for assorted discordant products, that'd be merely lawful evil of them. This is just stupid evil.