Remind me why people don't like Electronic Arts

[mikeymikec]

My wife wants Dragon Age: Inquisition (for me to play with her watching) for Christmas. It's been ages since I last considered buying an EA game and I can't remember for the life of me what my likely problem with EA is.

 

[jackstar7]

Origin used to turn a lot of people off, though I think most people got over it...

 

[sandorski]

Where are the NHL for PC games?

Origin is ok and slowly is getting better, but I still prefer Steam.

 

[kalrith]

I don't think the hate was around Origin, although a lot of people still dislike it. The hate involved things like day-one DLC and shutting down servers early to "encourage" people to buy the newest games.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

They absorbed tons of great studios for their IPs, thrashed the dev teams, and ran the IPs into the dirt?

 

[aigomorla]

I don't think the hate was around Origin, although a lot of people still dislike it. The hate involved things like day-one DLC and shutting down servers early to "encourage" people to buy the newest games.

This...

Day one DLC's, Forcing preorders for unlocked stuff which should just come out with the game, and horrible servers at launch always crashing, or offline.

They arent as bad as ubisoft, but EA is pretty close.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah. Their games are usually okay, or at least are okay 6 months after launch, but their business practices suck.

 

[TheELF]

My wife wants Dragon Age: Inquisition (for me to play with her watching) for Christmas.

What kind of kinky stuff is this???

Anyway the game is really fun to play,many hours of enjoyment.
EA sucks because they have the most onoptimized graphics ever...
DA:I far as I now has nothing to do with EA.

 

[rivethead]

My reason:

I have games like ME1 and ME2 and DA:O on Steam. But I was forced to have ME:3 and DA:2 on Origin. Admittedly a minor gripe, but I'd prefer to have franchises all on the same platform.

 

[Elixer]

My wife wants Dragon Age: Inquisition (for me to play with her watching) for Christmas. It's been ages since I last considered buying an EA game and I can't remember for the life of me what my likely problem with EA is.

Ack, you should have gotten it for $15 with all the DLC included last week.
The game itself is pretty fun, and that is what counts most IMO.
There isn't much difference between Origin & steam client, both get the job done.

 

[Grooveriding]

The game was fun and the black friday deal for the GOTY edition was well worth it. I had the regular edition and re-bought it. At $15 it was worth it for all the included DLC that is usually $10 a pop.

 

[BSim500]

My wife wants Dragon Age: Inquisition (for me to play with her watching) for Christmas. It's been ages since I last considered buying an EA game and I can't remember for the life of me what my likely problem with EA is.

Let's just say they have a history of acquiring decent creative studio's then either shutting them down or dumbing down the IP...

It has far less to do with Origin vs Steam, and much more to do with long-term dumbing down every unique feeling game into "that EA casual audience" feel... DAI isn't the worst game in the world and some people actually like that MMO-ARPG-lite genre it's become, but if you're playing as a mage try not to play it back to back to any pre-EA acquisition Bioware RPG.

 

[DigDog]

EA used to the the best games company, at one point, and then proceeded to dumb down the content massively, which was seen as a betrayal by ... everyone. And then they started messing with people through Origin, activations, broken games, etc .. they were held in high regard and then proceeded to f* it all up.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I actually like Dragon Age even post-EA; but I haven't bought Battlefield since BF3, haven't bought Battlefront. The dumbing down has just been too much. I don't suppose BF1 bucks the trend in any way?

 

[Borealis7]

Bioware and Bullfrog. never forget.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

I actually like Dragon Age even post-EA; but I haven't bought Battlefield since BF3, haven't bought Battlefront. The dumbing down has just been too much. I don't suppose BF1 bucks the trend in any way?

Nope.

 

[Nashemon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts#Controversies

 

[Rifter]

EA used to the the best games company, at one point, and then proceeded to dumb down the content massively, which was seen as a betrayal by ... everyone. And then they started messing with people through Origin, activations, broken games, etc .. they were held in high regard and then proceeded to f* it all up.

Yeah this, i still havent played ME3 because i refuse to use origin, even though the ME series is one of my favorite games, ive played ME 1&2 multiple times each start to finish.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Remind me why people don't like Electronic Arts

Because they use their large amount of money to buy out game development studios who have new and unique content, and then use their pull as a publisher to influence how the game is made. This means the games are no longer high quality and targeted for a small group of fans who love the original content, they just become dumbed down and designed for the average joe gamer. And they do this over and over, destroying truly great intellectual property in their wake.

 

[Stg-Flame]

For me, it's the fact they think their playerbase are complete retards. Every single objective is lit with bright neon flashing prompts with obnoxious sound effects that repeat for every five seconds you aren't progressing toward the objective. Crysis 2 showed this perfectly with on-screen prompts telling you to either go straight, or use the secret path. It's not a goddamn secret if they tell us with neon signs everywhere!

Basically, screw EA and everything they've done to the companies they've absolved and destroyed.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

For me, it's the fact they think their playerbase are complete retards. Every single objective is lit with bright neon flashing prompts with obnoxious sound effects that repeat for every five seconds you aren't progressing toward the objective. Crysis 2 showed this perfectly with on-screen prompts telling you to either go straight, or use the secret path. It's not a goddamn secret if they tell us with neon signs everywhere!

Basically, screw EA and everything they've done to the companies they've absolved and destroyed.

What's worse is that they've transmitted this to other gaming companies; many other developers are afraid to make a game that isn't configured to the lowest common denominator for fear of lowered sales.

 

[thejunglegod]

SimCity is why I hate EA so much.

 

[Borealis7]

What's worse is that they've transmitted this to other gaming companies; many other developers are afraid to make a game that isn't configured to the lowest common denominator for fear of lowered sales.

and that is exactly why crowd-funding platforms such as KickStarter have gained so much popularity. they allow the developers more freedom with a high percentage of sales already guaranteed even before the game has launched.

 

[Elixer]

...
It has far less to do with Origin vs Steam, and much more to do with long-term dumbing down every unique feeling game into "that EA casual audience" feel... DAI isn't the worst game in the world and some people actually like that MMO-ARPG-lite genre it's become, but if you're playing as a mage try not to play it back to back to any pre-EA acquisition Bioware RPG.

You are leaving out that Bioware (aka Muzyka and Zeschuk) still had complete control of their creative decisions.
That is just the way the industry was moving, can't say I fault EA for that.
I don't disagree with the dumbing down of lots of things, but that was made to expand the game to be more "friendly". Again, this is a industry trend, they want more people playing their stuff, not just die-hards. (No, not saying I agree with how they are thinking, but, it is what it is).

I think Planescape: Torment was one of their best games, and it barely made any profit, and you can't run studios with no profit.
It took 'self-financing' (kickstarter or whatever) to get back to the core (die-hards) community with titles like Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera.
I don't think any big publisher would touch those games, just not enough people would buy it.

Pillars of Eternity sold ~500K games, Dragon Age: Inquisition "quickly became the most successful launch in BioWare history." with estimates of over 3 million sold (they never released actual #'s).

Yeah, if you owned a company, and had lots of people depending on your decisions, then you would play it safe as well, and go for the broadest appeal for your game as possible.

Anyway, I don't see this trend changing anytime soon, and it is sad for people that want solid games, not the new dumb-downed versions that they are dishing out.

 

[quikah]

Bunch of whiny people because their favorite franchise sold out. It is the fault of the developers, there is nothing forcing them to sell to EA. If theese studios were such hot s* they should be able to survive fine on their own. Reality is a lot of niche game people like don't make any money.

There was a brief time when Origin was really rough, but today it is fine.

As an aside, BF1 is awesome.