Does EA Deserve Its 'Bad-Guy' Rap? - RaychelSnr's Blog

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Does EA Deserve Its 'Bad-Guy' Rap? Stuck

Posted on June 13, 2011 at 02:06 PM.

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In very few circles are gamers quicker to loathe a company that produces so much for their genre than sports gamers are for EA. Much of the discontent stems from EA winning the NFL Exclusive License back in the middle of the last decade -- but does EA deserve their bad guy rap?

I say no they don't. In fact, EA probably deserves a reputation that's on the other end of the spectrum for sports gamers. Not only does EA develop more sports games than anyone else, they also create good to great sports games almost every time. Of course, don't get the wrong idea, I'm not about to go soft on EA -- but I think it's time we put to rest the 'EA is Evil' rap right now. Here are three reasons you should consider it:

1)EA wasn't responsible for the NFL Going Exclusive in Video Games. That wasn't EA's call, they simply won the bidding war to get the NFL license after the NFL decided they were only going to have one video game. So if your only reason for hating EA is because you don't like that they have the only NFL game in town, you are blaming the wrong entity�.still. Sure, EA could say they don't want the license anymore, but the most likely scenario is that the NFL would simply find a new exclusive partner. Now that doesn't make much business sense does it?

2)EA develops more sports games than anyone else. That's right, who else comes close? Take Two only develops 3-4 franchises per year, depending on how frisky they are feeling. Activision has been nonexistent in mainstream sports for years now. The other 'major' publishers? Pretty much the same story. As a sports gamer, there is no other company that develops for more sports than EA. Most every EA big box title is solid as well, and a couple (FIFA and NHL) are among our genre's best creations.

3)EA looks after their customers. Yes bitter NFL 2K fans, I know you don't have a game anymore, but see point #1. Let's take a look back at about 8 months ago -- what happened when EA found out that gamers were pretty much making a joke out of their new NBA Title because it was so bad? They ate the cost and decided to not release it. Sure, one could make the point that EA fully intended on releasing the game until it became apparent irreparable harm was going to be done to their new brand -- but the simple fact is the decision that benefitted the customer was made in the end. Besides, you didn't hear the British complaining that the US took so long to enter the war against Germany after the decision was finally made did you? The important takeaway is that the right decision to benefit customers was made at the end of the day, ulterior motives aside.

So what do you think? Do you think EA deserves the bad-rap many have bestowed upon them in the sports gaming universe? Defend and/or tear down the most prolific sports game publisher in the comment box below!

Comments

# 31 baufan2005 @ Jun 14

Of course EA deserves it's rep. Not only for it's sports games but what it does across the board. If a company makes a successful game then EA goes out and buys the company and puts out sequel after sequel of the game in a short development cycle and gives little improvement over the last. Many times the sequel turns out to be worse than the original. Look at the Sims games, Sims 2 eventually had everything you could need in a sims game. Build your own business, own diff pets, etc. Then Sims 3 comes alone and out of the box it's missing tons of features Sims 2 had, all because EA wants you to buy 15-20 dollar expansion packs. Top that with EA making you pay for online codes to play the game to try and kill the used game market, then offering upgradable items like Guns in the call of duty series that should already be in the game for a price. They are a money grubbing company who cares nothing for the consumer.

# 32 turftickler @ Jun 15

EA Sports as a whole, no. The Madden NFL suits, yes. They are the reason why football simulation games have not progressed. The dev teams have done all they could do. The need jobs so they perform the work of the master to feed themselves and their families.

# 33 Demoncrom @ Jun 15

I know one thing - in the next console generation if EA releases a game with less features than this gen then it's a no sale until the day it gets parity with the previous gen. The fact of the matter is, player progression was in the ps2 games and we are NOW just getting it in a ps3 game. wth IS THAT?

# 34 savoie2006 @ Jun 15

No they probably don't deserve the "bad guy" rep. As stated they weren't responsible for the NFL exclusive license, they simply made the smart business decision they had to make. Yeah it sucks for us gamers, but you can't fault EA. As for the numerous let downs game wise, that's the way the cookie crumbles and it's not like EA is the only gaming company to not live up to expectations.

# 35 supermanemblem @ Jun 16

EA deserves the rap. They are not shy in reminding us that we are mini-ATMs to them. They innovate only to remove the feature a year later. Their R&D is abysmal. They are running the same technology in Madden for forever. Do you think Apple would still be on top of the mp3 and phone markets if they sat back and kept peddling their first gen iPods and iPhones? Heck no. If they focused on their fans they would see there is room for the simmers and the casual gamers. They would rather package a game that looks like a sim, but is so simple a caveman can play it.

# 36 savoie2006 @ Jun 16

EA releases versions of Madden that play ALOT better than the Elite demo did by far. If you think differently then maybe you're the one that needs to wipe the Kool Aid. It was definately a smart decision to pull the game until they had something that stood a fighting chance against 2K.

Take NHL 2K as a perfect example of a series that released a half realized product and ultimately paid for it. NHL 2K9 was a joke and largely because of that game nobody wanted to touch 2K10, which was very much a step in the right direction for the series. The problem was that everyone was so consumed with EA's NHL game and turned off by 2K9 that there was NO chance for 2K10.

If Ea had released that game, it would have killed the series completely in minds of B-Ball fans, considering how great the NBA 2K series has been lately.

Finally, to Supermanemblem...yeah EA knows people will buy up all the micro transactions, but can you blame them? It's a business and there are suckers out there willing to shell out money for things they could EARN by playing the game, then why not? That doesn't make EA evil, it makes the people buying it silly and impatient, but people buy those things to get a jump on those of us that actually play the game to earn them. It's the win at all costs attitude that plagues the gaming world.

# 37 EtheRed @ Jun 27

EA is EA the same thing they have always been. They pump out slightly revamped versions of the year before, have little regard for hardcore fans of their titles and try and find anyway they can to squeeze more money out of us with downloadable options that encourage taking shortcuts. I feel like they remove more than add in with many of their titles and when things are added it's nothing all that amazing. I feel that if you have the rights to something you need to hit it out the park every chance you get instead of "something we hope to get in on future games" attitude. EA should be the hands down champ of sports gaming but even with their exclusive rights they are not. How is that possible?

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