Remember that to win the contest tomorrow, EA doesn't have to be the worst company in America. They only have to be worse than Ticketmaster. And then, in the finals, the "winner" of Comcast and Bank of America.
Time and time again its been deduced that corporate EA is only interested in their pocketbooks. Even some developers care more about the money than the quality of their product. If something is a big name game like Star Wars i feel that they ride on the success that the name alone will bring them in sales, which in turn makes them less likely to produce something deemed very good and will add to the gameplay in a positive way.
Now most of us are impatient and wants games ASAP, and EA is good at getting games out ASAP, but it translates to usually being an unpolished product. The sad part is not only does EA take the heat for a poorly finished game but the studio that developed it gets flamed as well, which is unfair when they had tight deadlines and couldnt fix everything. Luckily it usually works out in the longrun when the game is out the door it will be patched and remedied for better or worse, but by then its already too late at times.
As for EA being the worst company in America, no that is a foolish statement, but are they the worst when it comes to the gaming industry, yeah i think i would label them the worst. They killed the good that was my beloved Command and Conquer series, and it amazes me how they managed to do that when the formula for the game was already there and practically perfect. All they had to do was continue down the path Westwood had been going and continue with the Tiberium universe and obviously bring the graphical improvements with newer games.
While there are companies that globally do a lot more damage than EA, I think a lot of people underestimate the amount of internal damage a company like EA actually does. Their entire business model is based off of acquiring talented studios and driving them into the ground. I think they've closed more gaming studios than another other company in the industry. Furthermore, though they've gotten better about it, they have a pretty notorious track record for abusing their artists. Practices like overworking artists, without paying overtime + no benefits are just the start. They're have been cases of them flat out not paying people who have worked on their games in the past.
That said, the company has gotten better when it comes to its artists, especially after all the legal issues they've had to deal with. However, they are still one of the most destructive companies in the gaming industry, and it does have an effect on the overall economy.
Personally, I wouldn't say they are 'the' worst company in America, but I'd say they deserve to be in the top 5.
Well various companies could win the "worst" label in certain categories. Ethics, success, destruction, pollution and so on. It would be difficult to say any one company is the overall worst.
But like others have said, in the gaming world EA is the worst. They absorb good development houses and obliterate them, they churn out crap and repeatedly show how little they care for their customers.
I haven't purchased an EA game for ages, at least since ps2 was current gen.
I voted yes, given what I felt was the nature of the question (aside from how open the phrasing of the question leaves itself to semantical arguments).
Worst can be taken to mean (in my mind) quality vs price of product, transperency for earnings vs. spending, honesty in public relations, quality of employment etc. etc...and within their realm, and within the continental U.S.A....yeah probably.
If your talking about worst in general worldwide...walmart hands down (walmart has litterally let employess burn to death to save a buck...a savings they pass on to us with their rolebacks).
I'm actually somewhat puzzled by the number of people saying "but the oil companies are worse" without picking out a particular oil company that is much worse than the rest.
/Snip
To say BP isn't more 'evil' than EA is laughable at best and 'lost all perspective' at the worst.
Yeah, remember the 'Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010'?
4.9 billion barrels of oil spill onto the ocean VS whatever company EA 'destroyed'
I mean c'mon, you really going to compare THAT?
How about ExxonMobil with their wonderful Mayflower oil spill of 2013?
Lets get some perspective cause my god, the 'I hate EA' is a bit out of control.
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
I'm actually somewhat puzzled by the number of people saying "but the oil companies are worse" without picking out a particular oil company that is much worse than the rest.
/Snip
To say BP isn't more 'evil' than EA is laughable at best and 'lost all perspective' at the worst.
Yeah, remember the 'Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010'?
4.9 billion barrels of oil spill onto the ocean VS whatever company EA 'destroyed'
I mean c'mon, you really going to compare THAT?
How about ExxonMobil with their wonderful Mayflower oil spill of 2013?
Lets get some perspective cause my god, the 'I hate EA' is a bit out of control.
If you try to transport something on the order of a million barrels of oil per day around the world, then occasionally you goof up and spill something. It's not possible to always be perfectly safe and never make any mistakes. That's as simple result of the massive volume that oil companies deal with.
Would you argue that every car crash that kills anyone proves that the company that built the car is irredeemably evil? Or are you willing to call that a case of if enough cars get driven enough, there are some crashes now and then?
Given a choice between "there are oil spills now and then" and "most of modern industrialization never happens", I'd choose the former--and it's not a tough call.
EA won by a freakin landslide it was 78.89 for EA and Ticketmaster only got 21.11 that is percent of the votes and remind you guys this is not all just gamers that voted but from all sorts of people think about it it could of been from parents of a kid who had a very bad experience with EA food for thought.
Oil companies aren't even near the worst of the worst. Like I said earlier in a post, look at companies like GE and Johnson & Johnson, they're worse than anything that oil companies have done. Nothing like a good tens of thousand maimings and killings that noone ever hears about. There was a dryer recall last year because the idiots decided to put a cheap piece of plastic as a retaining bolt, when that snapped your dryer tub inside became a freaking rocket lol. That hits closer to home...
Then don't even get me started on medical companies...you want to know why every other commercial on tv is for some lawsuit for some drug or medical device? These companies take how much it costs to produce thier device/drug, then they factor in malpractice cases, because they know it's going to harm people. If it's profitable, then they go ahead with it...That's why they'll never cure anything major...there's no money to be made. There's more money in keeping people sick and just treating symptoms, while people eventually die from the disease they have...yeah that's pretty twisted.
Then don't even get me started on medical companies...you want to know why every other commercial on tv is for some lawsuit for some drug or medical device? These companies take how much it costs to produce thier device/drug, then they factor in malpractice cases, because they know it's going to harm people. If it's profitable, then they go ahead with it...That's why they'll never cure anything major...there's no money to be made. There's more money in keeping people sick and just treating symptoms, while people eventually die from the disease they have...yeah that's pretty twisted.
Or maybe that's just because American society is a lot more litigious than it used to be. Surely you're aware that some lawsuits are frivolous--and that a lawsuit being frivolous doesn't necessarily mean that it won't win massive payouts anyway.
With any medical treatment, there are always costs and risks to weigh against the benefits. A substantial chance of rather severe side effects can be justified if the consequences of not having it are severe enough.
Compare the state of modern medicine to where it was a century ago. If you were to go back in time a century and describe our health care system today, people wouldn't be appalled at how evil the big medical companies are. They'd be amazed at how much longer and healthier lives we live today than people used to--and wouldn't understand why you thought the companies that made that happen were so evil. Increasing median life expectancy at birth by about 30 years over the course of a century is unprecedented in recorded human history.
Again, if you want to pick out one particular company that has a long string of doing remarkably awful things and pick it out as a major outlier in its industry--as EA is in the gaming industry--then go ahead. But the entire medical industry, or even a large chunk of it, being evil? I'm not buying that.
Originally posted by wordiz If you think EA is a worse company that Halliburton or Monsanto, or JP Morgan or Merrill Lynch...well, you're priorities are pretty jacked. I wouldn't even say they're the worst company in the entertainment or media industries. I would say they are the worst company in gaming...without a doubt.
Agree. I mean this is the company that emploee wives and husbands sued and won.
EA is the worst GAMING company out there. Hands down... But comparing a gaming company (and their evil ways) to a company like Monsanto and their Ilk is totally unfair and impossible and makes EA look positivey wonderful.
-Also (if I remember right) the actual POLL this was ased upon put EA against Budweiser or something-
Sp yeah... I voted YES because the poll is impossible to compare gaming companies and non gaming companies. EA may be shady, but they arent Blackwater... But compared to other AAA "gaming" companies (not counting certain Indies like SV and Electric Crow)- EA makes SOE look positivley Heavenly..
If you try to transport something on the order of a million barrels of oil per day around the world, then occasionally you goof up and spill something. It's not possible to always be perfectly safe and never make any mistakes. That's as simple result of the massive volume that oil companies deal with.
Would you argue that every car crash that kills anyone proves that the company that built the car is irredeemably evil? Or are you willing to call that a case of if enough cars get driven enough, there are some crashes now and then?
Given a choice between "there are oil spills now and then" and "most of modern industrialization never happens", I'd choose the former--and it's not a tough call.
Let me get this straight, BP purposely ignored safety for $$$ which caused the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.
ExxonMobil with their Mayflower oil spill is actively engaging in media blackouts / bullying to keep it from being accurately reported and how it is being dealt with (it isn't, a bunch of A4 size oil soak pads do ZERO against 260 tons of oil)
Those two above are LESS EVIL than game companies that EA bought (legally I might add) and 'destroyed'?
You really really want to compare that and argue that logic? REALLY?
I knew some people didn't like EA but jeez....
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
I know it's been said before, but this is absolutely ridiculous. How could a game/entertainment company possibly be the worst in the country? Because you buy the games and don't like them? It's all optional... it's not like these things affect your lives the way other companies can. I hate to stereotype, but I'd have to assume a lot of people on this site are just too young to really understand how the world works. I just can't possibly understand how someone could try to justify it otherwise.
It's not like people are voting for EA because of the way they treat their employees or something that actually matters... people are complaining about games as if it's a matter of life and death. Give me a break.
Yeah sorry I had to say no since you said worse company in America. If you had worded it better such as worse gaming company then I would change my answer to yes.
They are. By far, the worst company in America. They consistently screw over their users, they have a monopoly on the most ridiculous sports games, and they put cash shops in single player games.
I played WoW up until WotLK, played RoM for 2 years and now Rift. I am F2P player. I support games when I feel they deserve my money and I want the items enough. I don't troll, and I don't take kindly to trolls.
The finals are now EA versus Bank of America. If you wanted to vote for a bank as being more evil, then here's your chance.
two years in a row.. way to go EA
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Keep in mind, the question was about the consumer standpoint. It wasn't the question, which has the worst slave labour or whose products pollute the oceans the most. It was about consumer treatment and product quality and how they deal with their customers.
If you buy stocks from a Hedgefond, you, the customer, EXPECT the Hedgefond to ruin other economies, because that is what you pay for, that is how you make profiit.
But if you buy a video game from EA, you *expect*t it it work (contrary to Sim City 5), you expect it to be inspired (contrary to Dragon Age 2), and to offer meaningful conclusions (contrary to Mass Effect 3).
Good explanations why this was well deserved, see also:
"EA has become a company that releases mediocre products created by faceless teams. There is no real vision at work, no grand design. Just the idea that free-to-play games and microtransactions are the wave of the future, or at least they better be, because none of the company’s $60 boxed releases are finding much success with either critics or gamers."
"When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row — come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?"
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
Time and time again its been deduced that corporate EA is only interested in their pocketbooks. Even some developers care more about the money than the quality of their product. If something is a big name game like Star Wars i feel that they ride on the success that the name alone will bring them in sales, which in turn makes them less likely to produce something deemed very good and will add to the gameplay in a positive way.
Now most of us are impatient and wants games ASAP, and EA is good at getting games out ASAP, but it translates to usually being an unpolished product. The sad part is not only does EA take the heat for a poorly finished game but the studio that developed it gets flamed as well, which is unfair when they had tight deadlines and couldnt fix everything. Luckily it usually works out in the longrun when the game is out the door it will be patched and remedied for better or worse, but by then its already too late at times.
As for EA being the worst company in America, no that is a foolish statement, but are they the worst when it comes to the gaming industry, yeah i think i would label them the worst. They killed the good that was my beloved Command and Conquer series, and it amazes me how they managed to do that when the formula for the game was already there and practically perfect. All they had to do was continue down the path Westwood had been going and continue with the Tiberium universe and obviously bring the graphical improvements with newer games.
This really depends on your perspective.
While there are companies that globally do a lot more damage than EA, I think a lot of people underestimate the amount of internal damage a company like EA actually does. Their entire business model is based off of acquiring talented studios and driving them into the ground. I think they've closed more gaming studios than another other company in the industry. Furthermore, though they've gotten better about it, they have a pretty notorious track record for abusing their artists. Practices like overworking artists, without paying overtime + no benefits are just the start. They're have been cases of them flat out not paying people who have worked on their games in the past.
That said, the company has gotten better when it comes to its artists, especially after all the legal issues they've had to deal with. However, they are still one of the most destructive companies in the gaming industry, and it does have an effect on the overall economy.
Personally, I wouldn't say they are 'the' worst company in America, but I'd say they deserve to be in the top 5.
Well various companies could win the "worst" label in certain categories. Ethics, success, destruction, pollution and so on. It would be difficult to say any one company is the overall worst.
But like others have said, in the gaming world EA is the worst. They absorb good development houses and obliterate them, they churn out crap and repeatedly show how little they care for their customers.
I haven't purchased an EA game for ages, at least since ps2 was current gen.
I voted yes, given what I felt was the nature of the question (aside from how open the phrasing of the question leaves itself to semantical arguments).
Worst can be taken to mean (in my mind) quality vs price of product, transperency for earnings vs. spending, honesty in public relations, quality of employment etc. etc...and within their realm, and within the continental U.S.A....yeah probably.
If your talking about worst in general worldwide...walmart hands down (walmart has litterally let employess burn to death to save a buck...a savings they pass on to us with their rolebacks).
To say BP isn't more 'evil' than EA is laughable at best and 'lost all perspective' at the worst.
Yeah, remember the 'Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010'?
4.9 billion barrels of oil spill onto the ocean VS whatever company EA 'destroyed'
I mean c'mon, you really going to compare THAT?
How about ExxonMobil with their wonderful Mayflower oil spill of 2013?
Lets get some perspective cause my god, the 'I hate EA' is a bit out of control.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
If you try to transport something on the order of a million barrels of oil per day around the world, then occasionally you goof up and spill something. It's not possible to always be perfectly safe and never make any mistakes. That's as simple result of the massive volume that oil companies deal with.
Would you argue that every car crash that kills anyone proves that the company that built the car is irredeemably evil? Or are you willing to call that a case of if enough cars get driven enough, there are some crashes now and then?
Given a choice between "there are oil spills now and then" and "most of modern industrialization never happens", I'd choose the former--and it's not a tough call.
EA won by a freakin landslide it was 78.89 for EA and Ticketmaster only got 21.11 that is percent of the votes and remind you guys this is not all just gamers that voted but from all sorts of people think about it it could of been from parents of a kid who had a very bad experience with EA food for thought.
GRATS EA on your victory.
Oil companies aren't even near the worst of the worst. Like I said earlier in a post, look at companies like GE and Johnson & Johnson, they're worse than anything that oil companies have done. Nothing like a good tens of thousand maimings and killings that noone ever hears about. There was a dryer recall last year because the idiots decided to put a cheap piece of plastic as a retaining bolt, when that snapped your dryer tub inside became a freaking rocket lol. That hits closer to home...
Then don't even get me started on medical companies...you want to know why every other commercial on tv is for some lawsuit for some drug or medical device? These companies take how much it costs to produce thier device/drug, then they factor in malpractice cases, because they know it's going to harm people. If it's profitable, then they go ahead with it...That's why they'll never cure anything major...there's no money to be made. There's more money in keeping people sick and just treating symptoms, while people eventually die from the disease they have...yeah that's pretty twisted.
Or maybe that's just because American society is a lot more litigious than it used to be. Surely you're aware that some lawsuits are frivolous--and that a lawsuit being frivolous doesn't necessarily mean that it won't win massive payouts anyway.
With any medical treatment, there are always costs and risks to weigh against the benefits. A substantial chance of rather severe side effects can be justified if the consequences of not having it are severe enough.
Compare the state of modern medicine to where it was a century ago. If you were to go back in time a century and describe our health care system today, people wouldn't be appalled at how evil the big medical companies are. They'd be amazed at how much longer and healthier lives we live today than people used to--and wouldn't understand why you thought the companies that made that happen were so evil. Increasing median life expectancy at birth by about 30 years over the course of a century is unprecedented in recorded human history.
Again, if you want to pick out one particular company that has a long string of doing remarkably awful things and pick it out as a major outlier in its industry--as EA is in the gaming industry--then go ahead. But the entire medical industry, or even a large chunk of it, being evil? I'm not buying that.
EQ2 fan sites
Agree. I mean this is the company that emploee wives and husbands sued and won.
I voted YES... But allow me to explain.
EA is the worst GAMING company out there. Hands down... But comparing a gaming company (and their evil ways) to a company like Monsanto and their Ilk is totally unfair and impossible and makes EA look positivey wonderful.
-Also (if I remember right) the actual POLL this was ased upon put EA against Budweiser or something-
Sp yeah... I voted YES because the poll is impossible to compare gaming companies and non gaming companies. EA may be shady, but they arent Blackwater... But compared to other AAA "gaming" companies (not counting certain Indies like SV and Electric Crow)- EA makes SOE look positivley Heavenly..
Let me get this straight, BP purposely ignored safety for $$$ which caused the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.
ExxonMobil with their Mayflower oil spill is actively engaging in media blackouts / bullying to keep it from being accurately reported and how it is being dealt with (it isn't, a bunch of A4 size oil soak pads do ZERO against 260 tons of oil)
Those two above are LESS EVIL than game companies that EA bought (legally I might add) and 'destroyed'?
You really really want to compare that and argue that logic? REALLY?
I knew some people didn't like EA but jeez....
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
The finals are now EA versus Bank of America. If you wanted to vote for a bank as being more evil, then here's your chance.
Not the worst (its on the top 10 tho)
Its just the one that likes to punch the consumers balls most
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
I know it's been said before, but this is absolutely ridiculous. How could a game/entertainment company possibly be the worst in the country? Because you buy the games and don't like them? It's all optional... it's not like these things affect your lives the way other companies can. I hate to stereotype, but I'd have to assume a lot of people on this site are just too young to really understand how the world works. I just can't possibly understand how someone could try to justify it otherwise.
It's not like people are voting for EA because of the way they treat their employees or something that actually matters... people are complaining about games as if it's a matter of life and death. Give me a break.
I played WoW up until WotLK, played RoM for 2 years and now Rift.
I am F2P player. I support games when I feel they deserve my money and I want the items enough.
I don't troll, and I don't take kindly to trolls.
two years in a row.. way to go EA
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
NO. They've had a lot of good sports games.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
Predictability?
Hey, like it or not, it is a goal.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Yes they are.
Keep in mind, the question was about the consumer standpoint. It wasn't the question, which has the worst slave labour or whose products pollute the oceans the most. It was about consumer treatment and product quality and how they deal with their customers.
If you buy stocks from a Hedgefond, you, the customer, EXPECT the Hedgefond to ruin other economies, because that is what you pay for, that is how you make profiit.
But if you buy a video game from EA, you *expect*t it it work (contrary to Sim City 5), you expect it to be inspired (contrary to Dragon Age 2), and to offer meaningful conclusions (contrary to Mass Effect 3).
Good explanations why this was well deserved, see also:
http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/ea-earned-hatred-with-poor-games-lack-of-vision-and-contempt-for-the-audien
http://consumerist.com/2013/04/09/ea-makes-worst-company-in-america-history-wins-title-for-second-year-in-a-row/
Quotes:
"EA has become a company that releases mediocre products created by faceless teams. There is no real vision at work, no grand design. Just the idea that free-to-play games and microtransactions are the wave of the future, or at least they better be, because none of the company’s $60 boxed releases are finding much success with either critics or gamers."
"When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row — come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?"
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert