WOOOO, NUMBER ONE!
Awhile back EA was less than happy to learn they were in the running for Consumerist’s Worst Company In America bracket. It shouldn’t be a surprise they were in the bracket, considering the FIFA hacking scandal they ignored for months, their habit of releasing arguably broken/incomplete games with the option to buy DLC on the same day of release to improve the game (the entire gaming industry needs to cut that sh-t out and just raise the price of the game if need be), and customer anger — some of it admittedly silly — over the Mass Effect 3 ending (EA owns ME3 maker Bioware).
Now, the results are in. It’s Lupus!
After more than 250,000 votes, Consumerist readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA, which is supposed to be making the world a more fun place, is worse than Bank of America’s avarice, which some would argue is the entire point of operating a bank. To those who might sneer at something as “non-essential” as a video game company winning the Worst Company In America vote: It’s that exact kind of attitude that allows people to ignore the complaints as companies like EA to nickel and dime consumers to death. For years, while movies and music became more affordable and publishers piled on bonus content — or multiple modes of delivery — as added value to entice customers to buy, video games have continued to be priced like premium goods. [Consumerist]
EA won the Golden Poo over Bank of America? Seriously? No wrath quite like a gamer scorned, I guess.
EA has already responded to the win by saying, “We’re sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton are all relieved they weren’t nominated this year. We’re going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide.”
In other news, we figured out their super secret and complex method for allowing players to choose the outcome of Mass Effect 3:
On the upside, at least the company isn’t kowtowing to any homophobic trolls, so good on them for that.
[Sources: Consumerist, Kotaku, TDW, Reddit]
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I think this is definitely an example of “look at the demo that is voting”. No way a gaming company with bad customer service is worse than corrupt-executive-filled banks; Especially after they told religious protesters to go f*ck themselves. Even though I am a “gamer”, I don’t mind saying that they are just some of the most whiny, butthurt-prone consumers out there.
This is beyond stupid. EA isn’t close to being worse than BoA or Goldman Sachs or any of the other To Big To Fail Banks who not only crashed and burned the world economy but are still getting away with it. A company that releases subpar media content and has poor customer service isn’t even in the same league.
It’s never lupus.
Entertainment as a product or serviced could be said to be so non-essential that no one should blink at displays of corporate greed from an entertainment company. They product something that everyone could live without, but simply chooses not to. So when you piss off your customer base so badly with displays of greed and deception that go beyond the absolutely minimal expectations of good faith dealing that have for the company in the first place, you’ve truly earned the award.
There are no questions of ethics involved with the sale of goods from a video game company. They’re not sticking an exorbitantly high price on a pill that could save a person’s life. It’s a completely non-essential item they’re selling so the minimum expectation is that in exchange for compensation they will provide me with a product I feel is worth the price. Using DLC as a way to tack on additional charges after we’ve already completed our transaction is pretty transparently deceptive.
Haters gonna hate. And be fucking retarded, in this case.
I won 20$ on that bracket. **immediately spends it on MS points for shitty day one dlc **