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The Simultaneous Rise and Decline of Battlefield

Posted by Soulskill on from the profit-motive dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Ben Kuchera at Polygon recommends against buying the upcoming Battlefield Hardline first-person shooter. Not because it's bad — in fact, he doesn't really offer an opinion on how good the game is — but because it's time to stop incentivizing poor behavior from Electronic Arts and its Digital Illusions CE development studio. After EA acquired DICE, Battlefield game launches accelerated, and launch issues with each game were hand-waved away as unpredictable. The studio's principled stand against paid DLC evaporated in order to feed the ever-hungry beast of shareholder value. Kuchera says, "EA continues this because the Battlefield franchise is profitable; we as players have taught them that we'll buy anyway, and continue to support games that don't work at launch." He suggests avoiding pre-orders, and only buying the game if and when it's in a playable (and fun) state. "Every dollar that's spent on Hardline before the game comes out is a vote for things continuing down an anti-consumer path. If the game is a hit before its launch, that sends a message that we're OK with business as usual, and business as usual has become pretty terrible."

5 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Haha, nobody will do this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'll keep buying the games as fast as EA pushes them out.

    1. Re:Haha, nobody will do this. by Algae_94 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't mind these companies making money, but they do it at the expense of loyal customers, rather than in support of them... I don't think it's a good long-term practice, but that's just me.

      Funny thing is your average hard drug dealer does the same thing. They make money at the detriment of their loyal customers. They know they'll keep coming back because they are horribly addicted and have nothing else to do. If they eventually do lose a customer, they find a new crowd of young customers that haven't gone through the cycle as many times to get jaded.

  2. In other words, Don't Pay for Promises. by Thatto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pay for Value.

  3. Re:Or Be an Adult by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Adults don't stop playing games. As a matter of fact, humans never stop playing games throughout their entire lives. Haven't you seen old men playing chess or backgammon? Football, soccer, even courting are all games. Even haggling is a game in a certain sense.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  4. Re:Warriors, unite! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The main problem is that so many people confuse not gaining something with losing something.