Is it better to be feared, or respected? If you know the rest of that line, pat yourself on the back. The thing that isn’t mentioned in that line though is being hated. Despite what companies may think, a vast majority do try and be loved by those they serve. After all, if they are, it can create more sales, which inevitably brings them more money. USA Today compiled a list of the most-hated companies in the United States. And one gaming company made the top 5. Electronics Arts, aka, EA.
To be honest, this isn’t much of a surprise, especially when you consider that Electronic Arts has been on this list before, as well as other lists that name it the “worst game developer” in the world, give or take. So, what did USA Today have to say about them?
While it has helped shape the face of gaming, EA has also unfortunately earned a reputation as the industry’s evil empire. There are many examples of EA buying up smaller studios or operations for a specific game and then either stripping the game of its originality or running the studio into the ground.
Hmm…that sounds familiar…oh wait, it’s because that all happened in 2017! EA bought many studios in that year, including Respawn, and they’ve also shut down some highly anticipated titles for one reason or another. Including shutting down Visceral before their Star Wars title could be done.
Speaking of Star Wars, Battlefront II was also part of the reason for it being on the list this year. But you could also add Need For Speed Payback and Mass Effect Andromeda to those reasons as well, as EA had a big hand to play in the fan backlash for those titles as well.
Now, yes, not everything EA does is bad, but you can’t deny that they didn’t make too many great and positive decisions last year. So this ranking is kind of accurate. Hey, at least they’re not No.1, right?
Nothing EA has done has ever been good.
They only do what is necessary to kill off anything perceived as a potential competitor or rival to any of the CEO’s pet projects.
If this had been Microsoft, they would have been hit with anti-trust and anti-competition lawsuits long ago.
They still should be.