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EA Responds To Its Appearance In the 'Worst Company In America' Poll 208

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

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:38PM (#43373787)

    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).

    • by Penguinisto ( 415985 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:28PM (#43374239) Journal

      Well, there is some good news for EA - Zynga is poised to take the crown from 'em at the rate things are going there.

      I mean seriously - ganking existing stock options out from under from employees, working them into the dirt, and then laying off a chunk of them almost at random?

      EA must look like a frickin' workers' paradise from that kind of viewpoint.

    • Didn't they win last year? [gamesindustry.biz] It's sort of a dubious honor, but you know what they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. ;-)
    • by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:59PM (#43374457) Journal

      Don't buy their wares.

      Download their warez...

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @08:58PM (#43375371)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

          More extreme anti-piracy measures could play into our hands though. Only once they get so annoying that large numbers of ordinary gamers start to care, like they did with SimCity, will things change. In other words the only fix is to make them hit rock bottom first, perhaps even go bankrupt, in the hopes that they or others will learn from the mistake.

        • I'm still playing quake, no good fps has been released since quake 3 and unreal 2

          All other genres have been the same since, BG, and fallout.

          Dues Ex was novel and good, but its successors have all been shadows to the originals charm and character.

          EA hasn't been on my radar for ever.

          Until someone comes up with a spiritual successor to BG, quake, or dues ex thats not a total rip off and watering down of the depth of game play to "easily balanced" or "mass marketable" levels. I will not be buying any more "tact

          • I stand corrected, Joint Operations was a good series when it first came out and was after the quakes and unreals. But that was still not published by EA.

      • don't want their crap even if it's free.... A waist of bandwidth.
    • Yeah, EA is only raping their customers, it's not like they're killing them, so that makes it A-OK

    • by bdwebb ( 985489 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @07:33PM (#43374689)
      No mod points but completely agreed. I'm not even pissed at EA anymore because I don't buy their games and give them enough of a chance to piss me off.

      I'll admit, it is a bit depressing seeing games that I would love to play (like Sim City) released under the EA banner and it is sometimes hard to resist buying them to just give them a chance. However, while I might love to play them, I am certain that I would hate playing them as EA products and that turns my depression into simple disappointment.

      Ultimately nothing will change until their developers start to leave them due to the sweatshop style working conditions [salon.com]. I have no illusions that my boycott of EA's games will have any impact on their business...there are too many people who love the 'idea' of their titles and will try them repeatedly and get disappointed repeatedly. It does make me a happier person knowing that I'm not wasting my money, though. If conditions improve, Origin is destroyed, and releases improve in quality I would be willing to try again someday (after a SHIT-TON of positive reviews and a month or so break-in period) for a special title but until that day comes, fuckem.
      • I was a Madden fan for over a decade. Finally in '09 I decided I'll no longer buy Madden games b/c it's the same BS every single freaking year, and I'd given them long enough to make me a believer. It's sad really. Unfortunately I'm an avid Battlefield fan -- even though they've fucked that up too since taking over DICE, but at least that's the only game of theirs I continue to buy. I may reach your level though, since BF4 is coming out this year when there is really nothing wrong with BF3 at all and I
      • First off, I despise sweatshops and have left companies because of that mentality. That said, I findit increasingly difficult to sympathize with people who tolerate those conditions, especially when they're for specialized skills like game programming. The company can't replace an entire team, so if the entire team says no to unpaid overtime, the company is stuck doing what they want. Ergo, EA gets away with treating its employees like shit because their employees let the company do so.
    • Also, don't forget, Peter Moore is the man responsible for the endless spew of madden and fifa games with different rosters and no other changes every year.

      You can't fault him as a business man. His business is booming.

      This always clashes the games are art argument for me. I've never heard of a gallery telling an artist what to paint.

      Yet, the COO of EA is trying to tell it's paying customers, "You're wrong!"

      The market is shifting. Gamers, paying gamers are putting out less of their money for AAA titles a

    • by mister_playboy ( 1474163 ) on Saturday April 06, 2013 @01:16AM (#43376647)

      http://imgur.com/a/gW7F9 [imgur.com]

      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.

      • Maybe it's supposed to simulate a post-scarcity techno-utopian communist society and everyone just assumed it was a simulation of contemporary capitalism? All the little sims were wondering why the hell their leaders are taxing them and trying to set up businesses like some kind of caveman.

    • by GameboyRMH ( 1153867 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <hmryobemag>> on Saturday April 06, 2013 @07:56AM (#43377927) Journal

      I like his argument about the SimCity DRM.

      "I know this appears to be my dick screwing you in the ass. It looks like a dick, feels like a dick, is attached to me at the crotch and is thrusting into your ass, but I can't be any clearer, it's not. Period."

      • I like to call it the Cheney effect, after the American Vice President and political pundit that perfected it. Strictly speaking it was Karl Rove's idea though. You just lie brazenly and publicly about something nobody really wanted to believe in the first place.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Strictly DRM (Score:5, Insightful)

    by David89 ( 2022710 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:42PM (#43373815) Homepage
    There was plenty of proof that the Always Online was purely a form of DRM not necessary for the gaming aspect of the product.
    • by Guspaz ( 556486 )

      I don't discount the possibility that it wasn't really about DRM, but that it was less work for them to do it this way rather than maintaining the separate offline behaviour for the information that is reliant on the network connection, and they just don't care about the criticism. That is to say that it wouldn't have been that much effort to maintain an offline mode, but they don't care enough to even bother.

      • Well, supposedly the server does game saving (which probably would have required a small amount of effort to make cloud based in the first place), and syncing a small amount of information about city stats between players (this last one was trivially spoofed and apparently is the thin justification for making it always-on multiplayer online).

        I'd say they went out of their way to break offline play.

        • by Guspaz ( 556486 )

          I don't know, I can easily envision some pretentious designer getting his way saying "This way is better, so it HAS to be this way" if you know what I mean.

          I don't think DRM is necessarily their goal, but that doesn't mean their goal is much less deplorable than DRM, and ultimately it doesn't really matter why they made the decision. The why doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day it's an always-on game that doesn't need to be always-on.

    • by k8to ( 9046 )

      Yep, it's DRM.

      It's DRM that they can plausibly convince dupes that it's not because it theoretically has some utility value.

      Don't bee fooled, or be a fool.

      • by k8to ( 9046 )

        If you can't see that this is DRM, ask yourself:

        Is this game fundamentally multiplayer? (If you don't realize it isn't, you certainly haven't played it.)

        Once you realize there's actually almost nothing multiplayer about it, ask yourself why you can't just play offline.

        At this point, you realize it's DRM.

  • FTFY (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:42PM (#43373819)

    Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme ... We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. We did it because we're a**holes.

    Fixed that quote for you.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      People still want to argue that EA is a good company. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period

    • by Alsee ( 515537 )

      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 canâ(TM)t be any clearer - it's not. Period.

      Fuck you.
      I can't be any clearer - you're not getting my money. Period.

      -

  • Oh good (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Experiment 626 ( 698257 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:43PM (#43373823)

    "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.

    • Re:Oh good (Score:5, Interesting)

      by sehlat ( 180760 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:01PM (#43374005)

      Actually, the true test of that attitude will be when somebody actually publishes a crack that lets players save their games locally and never talk to EA.

      If they go after that person, they'll either be forced to use the DMCA, which will amount to an admission that always-on IS a DRM scheme, or the lawyers will have to find some very creative grounds for suit.

      I'm betting on the lawyers' creativity, to be honest.

      • I really do not think that Sim City is a big enough game to get people to rewrite large sections of its code to get it to work offline. When servers are used to do more then verify a copy of the game it becomes very work intensive to create a crack. And from what I understand some of the game logic is even done in these servers.

        • Re:Oh good (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Wildfire Darkstar ( 208356 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:26PM (#43374219)

          That was EA's claim, at least initially. They appear to have been lying, or at least overstating the case substantially. The only things that seem to absolutely require an active connection are resource trading (which a lot of players never do, anyway) and the cloud-based save system.

          As I understand it, the game has already been cracked to work offline. The only reason it hasn't gotten more attention is because the inability to save makes it less than perfect for regular play.

          • Ah, well implementing a saving system seems like something that would be doable, but it would put a large delay on any cracks obviously.

        • It was made playable offline about 3 hours after the asshole claimed it was not possible to play it offline.

          Pretty much every single statement about the always-on bit has been proven to be a all out lie.

        • It shouldn't take large sections of code. The interaction between the client and the server is minimal at best. The game doesn't actually offload any real computations, and cooperation between cities in regions is handled on the most basic level (JSON responses just saying simple things like how much power is available to buy, etc)

          I think about the only somewhat complex interaction with the server is the global economy system.

          The game already basically saves a local cache of its state offline when the net g

          • The problem is understanding the saving system based on the assembly that you get and creating a scoring and retrieval system.
            Which is orders of magnitude more work than turning a `if(connected){play;}` into `if(true){play;}`. But even this first one is challenging in assembly.

    • Beautiful.

    • Even if they're being honest it still leaves them as naive since they honestly think all players want multi-player experience and leaves them stupid for failing to include a single player only mode in a game that has always been single player, and just terrible at implementation for utterly failing to work when the network is down.

      • I should also add the idiocy of the VP(?) who claimed to be "proud" that he's never approved a single player only game since he's been there. It's a strange sort of thing to be proud of.

  • Not...a DRM scheme (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:43PM (#43373829)

    "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck" -James Whitcomb Riley
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_typing [wikipedia.org]

  • by jaskelling ( 1927116 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:44PM (#43373837)
    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.
    • by Hsien-Ko ( 1090623 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:01PM (#43374007)
      One word: Origin. I'll never forgive them for Origin.


      ....and by that, I mean the events that happened in 1991.
    • In 10 years when every single interactive product runs server-side only, your comment will seem charming and quaint. We will remember with melancholy the simpler, freer days the days when software ran on machines that we owned.

  • He's got a point (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:45PM (#43373849)

    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.

    • Re:He's got a point (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anastomosis ( 1102421 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:17PM (#43374133)
      I agree, the title "Worst company in America" is definitely worded badly. It's from the Consumerist, which means it's the company with the "worst customer service" or "worst attitude toward consumers" or something along those lines, basically. The investment banks causing the mortgage crisis may have great customer service, who knows? Most Americans don't deal with them on a daily basis, so they're not ever going to win this poll. And BP is not an American company anyway, but no one was complaining how they treated customers. Regardless if most of them are conscious of it are not, EA systematically treats their customers like resources to be mined rather than partners in a mutually beneficial relationship. No one (or at least no one significant) there understands the golden goose principle.

      If you've seen The Wire, it reminds me of when Avon Barksdale is at a party at a club and two guys walk in high (his customers most likely) and he looks at them in utter disgust, then has them thrown out. That's why you have been winning this poll, EA. You're the supplier, and we're the junkies, and since there is a cohort of "addict" customers that will continue to purchase your product regardless of how you treat them, you maintain the status quo.

      • by jbolden ( 176878 )

        The investment banks that sold off those bad loans have fantastic customer service. They would hate to have any wait on hold much less a long wait on hold, stop them from stealing tens of millions of dollars from their customers.

    • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      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.

      Ah, but intent is 9/10ths of the law (at least in criminal cases). Those oil companies didn't intend to spill lots of oil. Sure, they were negligent, but not malicious. The banks who bought those bad mortgages did n

      • by Dahamma ( 304068 )

        EA is malicious rather than negligent? Short-sighted and out for cash over customer service - obviously. But it's not really more intentionally "malicious" than an oil spill. There is no way EA *wanted* their servers to all shit the bed under the load of their ill-conceived "Always On" Simcity debacle. In their ideal but misguided world they would have online DRM on all of their games, continue to release uninspired mega-sequels without taking chances, and all of their customers would agree with their d

    • 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.

      You have to take into account the sampling bias for this poll. The people voting in the poll are making their choices from their perpsective. Most of them were not affected by BP's oil spill, nor were they directly affected by the mortgage crisis and bank bailouts - most of them are probably 20-somethings and college kids, the majority of which live in rental housing anyway.

      But they do play video games. They are a demographic that has a lot of EA customers.

      So what he did was just superficial deflection -

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

      I liked Mass Effect 3, except the ending. They have issues, but like, the worst company? Monsanto and Blackwater/Xe/Academi are far, far worse.

      Even in video games, EA isn't the worst: look how bad Sega's Colonial Marines was, or the crap Sony has pulled with the PS3.

  • by spire3661 ( 1038968 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:47PM (#43373861) Journal
    Always-on is absolutely necessary for them. They make WAY more money by forcing everyone to trade privacy for functionality. Everything else is completely secondary.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    I bought SimCity in the preorder, and I've only been able to play twice. $71 for two hours of poor game play will piss off people enough to never buy your products again. By refusing to give refunds for what is obviously broken and unplayable, you have lost customers for life.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I'm voting for Ticketmaster [consumerist.com], at least EA makes stuff.

    • I'm voting for Ticketmaster [consumerist.com], at least EA makes stuff.

      I'm with you, and am glad that someone else posted this first. I can't stand Ticketbastard, and they have exclusivity agreements with most of the venues in my country. This means that they will receive a fee for ever live performance that I want to attend, regardless of whether or not I want to use them. Fees on top of fees on top of fees that are already included in the ticket price. They haven't done much to curb the secondary market; there is no incentive for them to do so.

      They add absolutely no val

  • I think it is pretty sinister for him to dredge up "US vs THEM" protesting in his "apology".
    Remember, one thing EA does is to hire fake protestors to get controversy for their game!
    Stay classy EA. Even in your apologies, you ooze evil.
  • by GodfatherofSoul ( 174979 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:54PM (#43373951)

    They've had products with glaring bugs that exist for years, yet never seem to shame them into fixing. Their multiplayer games are hopelessly hacked and they only release rare patches. I was a big fan of BF2142 and while the game play was excellent, the 1st release was so bad you could only play 1 or two rounds in a row before the game crashed. The update system is so bugged, I couldn't even play it now if I wanted to.

    EA is like a guy who beats the crap out of his wife, but doesn't think it's a big deal because she hasn't left him...yet.

  • by swimboy ( 30943 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @05:56PM (#43373959)

    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.

    EA continues to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is not a DRM scheme. It is. EA still wants to lie about it. We can't be any clearer - it is. Period.

  • 'Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. Itâ(TM)s not. People still want to argue about it. We canâ(TM)t be any clearer â" itâ(TM)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."

    Failure as a Jedi, you are, yes. Convince us not for DRM, you try. But to the dark side your company has gone, yes, ooh. Doomed you are to fleeing customers, endless propaganda. Always there are two, the incompetent and the enslaved. Profit-mongering leads to DRM. DRM leads to falling consumer confidence. Poor reviews... lead to suffering.

  • This is the same man that screwed up the Dreamcast by refusing to negotiate with EA for sport games. I believe his line about EA support was "we don't think it's important to have Madden on our system."

    He's not exactly gamer friendly or customer friendly.

    • by DudemanX ( 44606 )

      It wasn't important to have Madden. Sega had the far superior NFL 2K series. That's why when NFL 2K5 was released at $20 it destroyed Madden sales to the point where EA dropped the price of Madden 2005 to $30. EA then backed up a dump truck full of money to the NFL for exclusive rights so they could sell Madden 2006 (more or less just another roster update) for the full $50 again.

      Hooray capitalism?

  • by saveferrousoxide ( 2566033 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:01PM (#43374003)

    We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period.

    No, not "Period." Tell us what it is then! Simply ending the discussion isn't received well by the 8 and up crowd.

    • if he says it's not DRM, that's good enough for the plebes who work for him, and it should be good enough for you too. Why do you hate capitalism?
    • by Arker ( 91948 )

      We canâ(TM)t be any clearer â" itâ(TM)s not. Period.

      This is a very old trick managers learn early. It's called "pee on his shoe and claim it's raining." It's a favourite among the ones who lack the intelligence to invent believable lies.

    • It's either a DRM scheme or a bug that needs fixing.

  • Employee Viewpoint (Score:5, Informative)

    by ohnocitizen ( 1951674 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:06PM (#43374043)
  • ... 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.

  • '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."

    Translation: It's not DRM, because we have a number of customers that don't hate it enough to leave!

    No, DRM is DRM. It doesn't matter if some people can put up with it

  • by MitchDev ( 2526834 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @06:58PM (#43374447)

    "'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."

    BULLSHIT.

  • by jonwil ( 467024 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @07:13PM (#43374563)

    The root problem with the new SimCity is not the always-on DRM crap (regardless of what it might actually be), its the fact that they took the game that basically created the god-simulation genre and ruined it by making it multiplayer-only with limited city sizes and other crap.

  • 4chan (specifically /v/) hates EA enough that they rallied their extremely large amount of users into voting for EA in this, and knowing 4chan I wouldn't be surprised if some of them are using proxies and similar stuff to register even more votes for EA. And of course we already know that they have no problem with significantly influencing polls [time.com].
  • by Tridus ( 79566 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @08:52PM (#43375315) Homepage

    Then it's DRM. Period. We can't be any clearer on this.

    EA management's chronic inability to understand such basic things is truly remarkable.

  • '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."

    To rephrase EA's CEO's words into how customers see things, you get this:
    "Yeah, you all know we suck, so we have to admit it, finally. We screwed you by shutting down servers we knew you were still rightfully using, some of our games were complete crap, we gouged you on price (and we'll continue to do that, duh!), and we totally fucked up with SimCity. But too bad, suckers. You can suck it. And oh yeah, stop bitching and buy the next game, cause we wuv you, or whatever. Where else ya gonna go? So like, sor

  • by uvajed_ekil ( 914487 ) on Friday April 05, 2013 @09:59PM (#43375791)
    I always say: If you find yourself in a BIG-ass hole, stop digging, or you'll look like a big asshole. Apparently Peter Moore disagrees with me, or just likes looking like a big asshole. Way to use an apology to make yourself look like an even bigger asshole, Pete.
  • Perhaps their microtransaction model doesn't appeal to those who enjoy(ed) their games. Just a thought from someone who used to enjoy their games.
  • Yes, the negative reviews are still coming in thick and fast for Sim City 5 at Amazon [amazon.com]. Mostly problems with the server still. I can't imagine how broken the game/DRM must be for them not to have fixed that yet.
  • "People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period. "

    In order to understand what a thing is, or what motivations and intentions are, we look to the action of an entity. We listen to the entity when it speaks because there is a chance it will point out some nuance of behavior we have missed. However, we do not accept assertions regarding action when those assertions are incongruous with those actions.

    EA is a member of the set of companies that believe they can

To thine own self be true. (If not that, at least make some money.)

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