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We Can Do Better

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Re: We Can Do Better

#31

Post by rinon »

nostromo wrote: post #15
randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

EA has a LOT of money to throw at games. They're one of the few publishers that can play at that level and put out blockbuster, ridiculous budget games. People like the polish and shine of big-budget games, some of which are genuinely not possible with less money.

Unfortunately, there's also an aspect that consumers don't get a whole lot of choices. Movies are a decent comparison to that. Why are there so many bad sequels that everyone hates? Cause they still buy tickets. Any movie > no movie.

Plus, EA used to make great games.

Re: We Can Do Better

#32

Post by mey »

nostromo wrote: post #15
randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

IP mostly, for example, SimCity (2013) was the first (complete) iteration of the venerable series in 10 years. A lot of people (including myself) were interested in an improvement on games we played as kids and teens back with the first SimCity. The marketing, information and videos released ahead of the game indicated a solid and fun game. Fun enough to warrant at least putting up with an always online experience. To me the biggest issue isn't ultimately the online aspect (while I disagree with it, if it really bothered me I wouldn't have bought it.) The big issue is that for a game with a history of reflectively deep simulation and gameplay, this one falls on it's head hard. I've put a few hours into it, the only challenge in the game is fighting against things that are essentially design issues/bugs, not in the challenge of managing a complex and changing city.

Anyways, this is the first EA game I've bought for myself since SimCity 4, first time I actually installed their platform Origin. Actually that points to the interesting reality, the people who buy these games may be simply purchasing a gift.

Re: We Can Do Better

#33

Post by jiggy2011 »

nostromo wrote: post #15
randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

I imagine some mixture of.

1) They own a number of franchises that had lots of fanboys before EA got them. The fanboys cling to the hope that EA won't screw it up.

2) They own a lot of sports franchises and in some cases have the only games which are officially licensed by the sporting bodies.

3) There are lots of newer , younger and older casual gamers who have completely different expectations about what they want from a gaming experience.

4) They advertise their games a lot , all over the place.

Re: We Can Do Better

#34

Post by alxbrun »

"At EA we remain proud and unbowed."

Enjoy until you go bankrupt, dear Mr Moore.

At the beginning I thought it was good piece of humble thoughts: What did we do wrong ? How can we improve ? Then I realized it was exactly the contrary. Atrocious.

Re: We Can Do Better

#35

Post by wsc981 »

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

> Again: just because you have a bunch of people willing to pay you money for your crap, doesn't mean it isn't crap and you couldn't be doing better.

Personally I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with F2P games with micro transactions. I feel Riot has created a great F2P game with League of Legends. Micro transactions are only used for non-essential stuffs (for example skins for your heroes or to "buy" heroes quicker then possible by the normal "grind").

For the rest I agree with your opinion. And with regards to SimCity, I really feel they should change the game to make the always-online functionality not required. Sooner or later the services will go down and in the current state the game will be useless.

Re: We Can Do Better

#37

Post by kayoone »

tiredofcareer wrote: post #21
kayoone wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, people werent exactly happy when they had to sign into Steam to play HalfLife2 in 2004 either. Times are different i know, but people tend to forget that Steam was forced upon us in quite similar ways and really wasnt everyones darling like it is today. I agree with the rest of your comment though.

I think the disconnect there is that Half Life 2 was a superb achievement in gaming, and worth the investment of dealing with Steam (arguably, Counter-Strike 1.6 started the Steam train, though, and Team Fortress 2 keeps it chugging). If EA gave us a Half Life 2 of its own that required Origin, they might pull it off. I can't think of one, which is telling. SimCity had the potential to be and, well, wasn't.

The title that required me to install Origin first was Battlefield 3 and thats a pretty awesome game by every measure, if you are into these kind of big budget military shooters that is.

Re: We Can Do Better

#38

Post by BorgHunter »

rinon wrote: post #31
nostromo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

EA has a LOT of money to throw at games. They're one of the few publishers that can play at that level and put out blockbuster, ridiculous budget games. People like the polish and shine of big-budget games, some of which are genuinely not possible with less money. Unfortunately, there's also an aspect that consumers don't get a whole lot of choices. Movies are a decent comparison to that. Why are there so many bad se…

EA still does make great games, sometimes. Their problems tend to be more toward customer-hostile actions (see: SimCity, the myriad Origin customer service horror stories, the letter that spawned this thread) and their tendency to eat smaller studios that were fan favorites before their acquisition (BioWare, Maxis, and so on). That last one is important to understand the vitriol thrown at the company, I think; it's a bit galling to see a franchise like SimCity, that touched so many people's childhoods (like mine), become the joke that it has.

Re: We Can Do Better

#39

Post by gavanwoolery »

jmomo wrote: post #30
gavanwoolery wrote: post #14

There are obviously many reasons to hate EA, but it is FAR from the worst company in America. Overall EA has had a positive effect on the economy and created many jobs (even if they are not "great" jobs). Many other companies have taken govt. bailouts and/or gambled tax-payer money. Let's be civil and have some perspective.

As a former employee of EA (Tiburon) during the EA spouse days, I feel entitled to say it's okay to hate EA.

I agree with you - like I said, there are many reasons to hate EA. :) But still I would not vote it for the worst company in America...
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