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[nani17]

Battlefront
Battlefront 2
Mass Effect Andromeda
Titanfall 2
Battlefield 5
Anthem

All might have been a disaster and more or less failed with the public. Sure they might have made money but all in all, they're considered failures by many. That's six titles in a row that have done this and now we have Star wars on the way and I honestly can't see why anyone would run out and by this game day one. Well unless you have to have it because you're mad about anything Star Wars.

Seriously what do you guys honestly think is going on over at EA and can it be fixed? It can't just be greed causing this

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Talent drain + profit-driven management for decades + arrogance.

May I remind the audience that Electronic Art's board of directors had to force Trip Hawkins to begin development on the Nintendo Entertainment System because he didn't see any profit or point in it? May I remind the audience how Electronic Arts blackmailed SEGA unless they eased the licensing fees for EA games?

Sega-16: Some publishers complained about Sega attempting to emulate the strict licensing policies Nintendo had. Was this ever the case with EA?​

​

Trip Hawkins: Sega’s initial “standard license agreement” was indeed a Nintendo clone. EA skirted this because we reverse engineered the Genesis and therefore did not technically need a license agreement to bring games to market. This gave me a lot of leverage in negotiating a reasonable license, which I did in 1990.​

​

Sega-16: According to Steven Kent’s Ultimate History of Video Games, you had a certain “disdain” for consoles, and refused to publish for the NES because you would have had to tone down your games for the hardware. The Genesis, however, was much better suited for PC ports. How long did it take you to recognize that the 16-bit console market was worth getting into?​

​

Trip Hawkins: Other than Acclaim, all the American publishers avoided the 8-bit Nintendo and had disdain for their model. None of us at that time appreciated how license fees could be used to subsidize hardware pricing and marketing, and thereby help companies like Nintendo build an installed base.​

---

He said it in plain English: third parties don't like paying their fair share to subsidize the platforms and build a profitable installed base which third parties are reliant on to bring their games to market. EA's current behavior is no different than their past behavior. They're scum with a big wallet.

 

[NickFire]

Not every game on that list was bad. But in general their issues are two fold. 1 is greed - too much focus on how to fleece consumers and not enough focus on making great games. 2 is stupidity - they listened way too much to left wing advocates (masking as journalists) and twitter, and alienated a lot of customers who have been with them since the early 90's.

 

[molasar]

Not every game on that list was bad. But in general their issues are two fold. 1 is greed - too much focus on how to fleece consumers and not enough focus on making great games. 2 is stupidity - they listened way too much to left wing advocates (masking as journalists) and twitter, and alienated a lot of customers who have been with them since the early 90's.

Yes, the corporatism GREED blindness over everything else.

 

[The Cockatrice]

As far as I know EA pays their employees quite well a lot more than most corporations so I suppose it's nice to work there financially but morally you're working for the devil. Thus quality matter little as long as they can get payed a lot.

 

[wvnative]

Not enough dev time + pushing too hard for MTX.

Actually liked some of their late 7th gen early 8th gen output. But after Battlefield 1, it all went down the shitter.

 

[Musky_Cheese]

Shitty anti consumer practices + anti community practices + long documentation of the first 2 = current EA

 

[CJY]

 

[xellos2099alpha]

Titanfall 2 is awesome. Battlefield V is good too

 

[molasar]

As far as I know EA pays their employees quite well a lot more than most corporations so I suppose it's nice to work there financially but morally you're working for the devil. Thus quality matter little as long as they can get payed a lot.

A sort of gilded cage comes to mind.

 

[bobone]

Most of those games aren't bad. I've played them all, except Anthem, and greatly enjoyed them.
They really are a ton of fun if you are into the series they are part of.

Maybe you don't like multiplayer games?

The main problem is gamers complain too much and choose not to have fun when they could be.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

You can add Mirror's Edge Catalyst and Battlefield Hardline to the list, basically anything DICE has touched this generation. Battlefield 4 was able to turn it around, but it was a mess at launch.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

It doesn't matter how badly these games do because FIFA people always keep EA's wallets fat.

 

[Roni]

Titanfall 2 might have been a commercial failure, but that game might be the most fresh multiplayer FPS experience out there. EA dropped the ball hard with the release date...

My memory might be failing here but wasn't Andrew Wilson part of EA Sports?

That might have something to do with it. Once he took over every dirty trick they pulled in those games, which made them a lot of money, was applied wholesale to the entire company.

 

[Danjin44]

My issue with most EA games is they trying too hard to have “wide appeal” this how they killed Dead Space.

 

[DonF]

They demand every game they develop to be as successful as fifa ultimate team. this is idiotic.

 

[johntown]

EA is too greedy plus they try to inject politics into all their games.

 

[Tesseract]

titanfall 2 is the best arena shooter ever but failed for not so obvious reasons

apex is doing really well

 

[kraspkibble]

to be fair Battlefront games and Titanfall 2 are good games.

the rest? yeah they are ass.

I know the first Battlefront got a lot of hate but i really enjoyed it. the 2nd was a big improvement.

 

[JoeyWestSide]

Bfv is great, I don't know what you're talking about with that one. Game is smooth, fun, cosmetics only, free map updates and best bf since 4 and hardline.
The rest isn't them, it's media. Bf2 is known for its store but it wasn't even available at launch and hasn't changed much to date but it's reported to be fine now, people are just angry assholes. Then with Anthem, the media and masses say they want a story based game but then judge it on its post game content. Again, assholes and hypocrites.

 

[MMaRsu]

You forgot Dragon Age zzzzzz

 

[Bryank75]

It’s a down generation, if their good friends at Xbox were winning they would be churning out bangers bi-annually, like last generation.

 

[Chozofication_]

Battlefront
Battlefront 2
Mass Effect Andromeda
Titanfall 2
Battlefield 5
Anthem

All might have been a disaster and more or less failed with the public. Sure they might have made money but all in all, they're considered failures by many. That's six titles in a row that have done this and now we have Star wars on the way and I honestly can't see why anyone would run out and by this game day one. Well unless you have to have it because you're mad about anything Star Wars.

Seriously what do you guys honestly think is going on over at EA and can it be fixed? It can't just be greed causing this

Titan fall 2 is awesome

The rest are shit

 

[II_JumPeR_I]

Yup it looks pretty dark for a lot of EA franchises etc.

I dont see anyone getting hyped anymore for a new Battlefield or Needfor Speed.

Both Battlefront 2 games under DICE have been terrible and missed the meaning of that franchise by Battlefront 2 being the worst so far.

Fallen Order still hasnt impressed me.

Another Battlefield from the current DICE? No thanks...

 

[nani17]

Titan fall 2 is awesome

The rest are shit

It is but died very fast

 

[Chozofication_]

It is but died very fast

Tbh i only played the campaign which was really good. Surely it still has a decent number of peeps online?

Killzone 2 kept going for years with not a ton of peeps

 

[Clear]

Talent drain + profit-driven management for decades + arrogance.

May I remind the audience that Electronic Art's board of directors had to force Trip Hawkins to begin development on the Nintendo Entertainment System because he didn't see any profit or point in it? May I remind the audience how Electronic Arts blackmailed SEGA unless they eased the licensing fees for EA games?

Sega-16: Some publishers complained about Sega attempting to emulate the strict licensing policies Nintendo had. Was this ever the case with EA?​

​

Trip Hawkins: Sega’s initial “standard license agreement” was indeed a Nintendo clone. EA skirted this because we reverse engineered the Genesis and therefore did not technically need a license agreement to bring games to market. This gave me a lot of leverage in negotiating a reasonable license, which I did in 1990.​

​

Sega-16: According to Steven Kent’s Ultimate History of Video Games, you had a certain “disdain” for consoles, and refused to publish for the NES because you would have had to tone down your games for the hardware. The Genesis, however, was much better suited for PC ports. How long did it take you to recognize that the 16-bit console market was worth getting into?​

​

Trip Hawkins: Other than Acclaim, all the American publishers avoided the 8-bit Nintendo and had disdain for their model. None of us at that time appreciated how license fees could be used to subsidize hardware pricing and marketing, and thereby help companies like Nintendo build an installed base.​

---

He said it in plain English: third parties don't like paying their fair share to subsidize the platforms and build a profitable installed base which third parties are reliant on to bring their games to market. EA's current behavior is no different than their past behavior. They're scum with a big wallet.

Umm Trip Hawkins left EA in 1994, and frankly the whole industry bears little resemblance to what it did 30 years ago.

EA were a massive force for good in their early years, and pretty much throughout Hawkins' tenure. The ramifications of which rolled on well past that point as, for example, pretty much every western made 16-bit game, be it for console or computer had its art generated in EA'S Deluxe Paint.

 

[Stuart360]

Those games aren't bad at all. Its their output thats worse than anything for me. They used to release like 30 games a year, covering loads of different genres. Now its just like Fifa, Madden, and one of Battlefield or Battlefront most years.
They really arent the massive company they used to be, game wise.

 

[Alan Silvestro]

I don't buy any EA games nor Activision anymore and I feel good. ^_^

 

[Three]

EA are actually leading the way for what's to come.

 

[Chozofication_]

Man, ea published solid gold back in 6th gen.

After bad company 2 though that was pretty much it for EA. The first dead space was cool but not amazing, on the whole they were pretty meh last gen too.

 

[Cynn]

It was gamers who failed Titanfall 2 by not supporting it.

 

[The Snake]

I can't speak for the others, but Battlefront II is actually a pretty decent game now. And I effing despised it when it launched (I rented it from RedBox).

Disclaimer: I'm not an FPS guy so I might just be dazzled by comparative mediocrity.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Umm Trip Hawkins left EA in 1994, and frankly the whole industry bears little resemblance to what it did 30 years ago.

EA were a massive force for good in their early years, and pretty much throughout Hawkins' tenure. The ramifications of which rolled on well past that point as, for example, pretty much every western made 16-bit game, be it for console or computer had its art generated in EA'S Deluxe Paint.

I bring up Trip to highlight that the culture at EA has been garbage from the start.

 

[nani17]

It was gamers who failed Titanfall 2 by not supporting it.

EA did decide to put the title out between cod and bf1. Which anyone would know is a terrible idea. Basically killing any momentum out of the gate

 

[JohnnyFootball]

It's a publisher being run exclusively by suits who have no understanding of gamers. Instead of making great games, the focus on making games that are intended to be money sinks.

 

[Iorv3th]

What I can't believe is how they have treated Battlefield V. Putting so much dev time and support into their "Fornite" knock off and nobody plays it. Nobody cares to play it. Everyone that wants to play one of those games can get a better version of it elsewhere. In the meantime they ignore the core game that people loved to play battlefield for. It had a lot of stuff missing from the base game that other battlefields had, if they put that stuff back in and worked on maps etc the game could be really good. Instead they are working on trying to beat fortnite.

 

[Hudo]

Those games aren't bad at all. Its their output thats worse than anything for me. They used to release like 30 games a year, covering loads of different genres. Now its just like Fifa, Madden, and one of Battlefield or Battlefront most years.
They really arent the massive company they used to be, game wise.

I agree. For a company of that size, their output seems to be fairly low. But I have a hard time pinning down why that is. Maybe it's because Andrew Wilson demands projects of a certain size to be as profitable as Fifa Ultimate Team? And devs might have a hard time figuring out how to do it, especially with all the controversy around lootboxes etc.? Or maybe projects just keep getting cancelled so that teams basically have a very low average output because they don't finish a lot of things?

To be honest, I don't even see a direction Wilson wants the company to go towards.

 

[HotPocket69]

Titanfall 2 has one of the best singleplayer FPS campaigns in recent years. Fantastic game.

I played through the Battlefront 2 campaign last Summer because I was itching to blast some baddies with some Star Wars guns and I had a good time with it as well.

 

[Rock And Roll]

I feel like EA hasn't had a hit at all this gen. All their games have either been trash or severely underperformed expectations (or a mixture of the both). It seems each time they launch a game it comes with a laundry list of problems and is discounted almost immediately.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

now we have Star wars on the way and I honestly can't see why anyone would run out and by this game day one.

You have to wait a couple of months to be sure of two things:
1 they don't add loot boxes kind of mechanics post reviews
2 they patch bugs
3 it actually has some level of good reception with the public

 

[Inviusx]

There was a time when they were industry leaders. Now they follow whatever trend is popular and release a half baked product that completely misses the mark on all fronts and never seems like anything other than a shameless cash grab.

 

[Riven326]

Battlefront
Battlefront 2
Mass Effect Andromeda
Titanfall 2
Battlefield 5
Anthem

All might have been a disaster and more or less failed with the public. Sure they might have made money but all in all, they're considered failures by many. That's six titles in a row that have done this and now we have Star wars on the way and I honestly can't see why anyone would run out and by this game day one. Well unless you have to have it because you're mad about anything Star Wars.

Seriously what do you guys honestly think is going on over at EA and can it be fixed? It can't just be greed causing this

I think a lot of it is this diversity hire bullshit and the idea that they can turn every one of their games into Fifa.

 

[Woo-Fu]

It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of their games. Most of the games on that list are good, normally good enough to succeed, IMHO.

The problem is their image coupled with their unwillingness to spend any real money supporting their games after release unless it is an established brand that requires it(Battlef*). People know that if the game isn't a hit that EA will abandon it shortly after release which in turn prevents their otherwise good games from becoming hits.

tldr; You reap what you sow.

 

[Scopa]

EA’s recent statement in which they implied that they won’t release most of their games on an extremely success platform like Nintendo Switch because of ‘reasons’ just highlights how poor their business management has been this gen.

I’m curiously watching to see their upcoming moves in the industry after they promised to correct course in their financial report to shareholders.

In my opinion, they have been terribly mismanaged for at least half a decade.

 

[cryptoadam]

Go Woke Go Broke ?

Its the MTX garbage. We can all tell that their games are designed around MTX's. I mean Star Wars 2 had a huge backlash around it and probably cost the game millions in sales.

BF V was designed around stringing along content isntead of a season pass so it was a light game missing tons of features, in the hopes of sucking its fan base dry with MTX.

Also no switch presence. Switch has been on fire and EA can only be arsed to release a conctractually obligated FIFA. For F's sake I am sure there are tons of people who would play portable NFL/NBA/NHL.

But basically EA looked at only the bottom line and decided that they should shit on their customers and thought they could still make money that way.

 

[renzolama]

Talent drain + profit-driven management for decades + arrogance.

All of this, but I think the real primary factor that allowed these to occur was the giant volume of microtransaction money coming in for EA sports games which allowed them to ignore growing problems in their development output for way too long.

skillup did a great video discussing this awhile back

 

[EverydayBeast]

EA is on the hot seat because they're one of the biggest publishers out there.

 

[molasar]

I do not know the man personally but every time when I see Andrew Wilson's face two thoughts come to my mind - plastic fantastic and corporate america.

 

[AndrewRyan]

They just shared their earnings a few days ago and beat expectations by 12% with net revenue of $1.21 billion. Apex Legends, EA Sports, The Sims.. all cash cows.