EA CEO steps down.

Very insightful video, was thoroughly interesting.

The last gaming system I bought was a Dreamcast sometime in 2001 - so I'm rather unfamiliar with popular titles today and their respective developers; However EA's reputation precedes them as being notorious for what seems to be the standard business procedure of bullying/buying promising companies and then bleeding its talent in order to absorb capital from an already established fan base. Perhaps I worded this too dramatically, and I'm sure EA isn't entirely alone - but it's this kind of practice that breeds mediocrity and makes me believe a second video game crash is plausible.

Although I haven't purchased a modern console or game in 12+ years, if the next generation really is considering implementing the technologies mentioned as a means to remove used games from the market and therefore enforce a totalitarian approach to secure customer loyalty, I'd probably welcome a crash.

Not sure if a crash will happen, but I would welcome it with open arms. Time to hit the reset button.

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Originally Posted by TurboRotary

People keep buying those rehashed shit games though. I don't like EA either but as long as people are buying they are gonna keep making and selling shit games... Not that all EA titles are shit though.

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NFL Madden, again & again & again and again. Same recycled shit every single August every year. They've been using the same formula since like, what 2006.

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Originally Posted by The Jackal

And I bet a majority of that was from pre-orders. Like with Aliens Colonial Marines. I'd be more interested in sales figures in a month's time when word of mouth gets around, I bet it tells a different story. Of course, that's if they're able to patch the game, then they have nothing to worry about.

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No doubt, but who cares if it stops selling now? EA already considers it a success. It did exactly what it was supposed to. Anything from here on out is icing on the cake. It can be a slow burn for years to come and will be nothing but profit for them.

If this game would have been a financial disaster because of the always-online DRM, that would have been great. But the game couldn't fail even from day 1.

Where you'll really need to look to see if the reaction had any impact is on the next always-online DRM enabled game. If, say, EA launches another big game with it, and it bombs, then you'll know if people got the message.

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Originally Posted by MrSega

EA although the biggest western publisher in the World, is at risk of caving in on itself if it can't produce any more strong selling IPs.

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I believe Activision/Blizzard is the biggest western publisher.

As far as I'm concerned the only EA published games worth buying are the Crysis and Mass Effect games. Dead space is a chore to play. What's the enjoyment in shooting off alien limbs? Everything else is second rate. Dragon Age 2 was a fucking joke. Star Wars The Old Republic was an abysmal failure.The only reason why Madden remains so popular is because EA has the licensing rights to the NFL. Battlefield will never see the success that COD has enjoyed. And that always online DRM bullshit is insane. IMHO, I'm sure CEO John Riccitiello was realized as an epic failure he resigned in lieu of termination.

Although I did enjoy Shadows of the Damned.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1074_.jpg

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Originally Posted by Qjimbo

I heard about the online problems with Sim City... but wow, those are some serious logic problems. Apparently a large chunk of the game is coded in Javascript? What happened to decent coders who knew assembly and C++, hardware is so powerful now it's becoming commonplace for it to be grossly underused with inefficient programming. What happened to the art of squeezing every CPU cycle out of a processor to do something useful?

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Sir please:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuakeC
Using scripting languages has existed since Quake, I'd say carmack is the best example of a guy who knew how to squeeze every cycle out of a processor.

On another hand, javascript is a horrible language and I'd rather program the whole thing in C++ instead.

EA need to dig out and reproduce the NES version of Sim City, IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT COULD SAVE THEM NOW!

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Originally Posted by stu

If there's ever a company that needs to go away, its EA. Having raped gamers over the years with yearly updates of the same old boring games and now with the Sim City debacle, they've been the worst game company around for a long time (along with the likes of Activision). I won't be shedding a tear if they lose most of their market share.

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what the hell is so wrong with activision? thq and ea I can understand, but activision

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Originally Posted by Qjimbo

I heard about the online problems with Sim City... but wow, those are some serious logic problems. Apparently a large chunk of the game is coded in Javascript? What happened to decent coders who knew assembly and C++, hardware is so powerful now it's becoming commonplace for it to be grossly underused with inefficient programming. What happened to the art of squeezing every CPU cycle out of a processor to do something useful?
</rant>

Anyway on a related note, what is the best Sim City title? I sort of skipped over the series and I'm curious to try some of the older (better) versions.

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we don't live in the 90s anymore

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Originally Posted by Lync

Although I haven't purchased a modern console or game in 12+ years, if the next generation really is considering implementing the technologies mentioned as a means to remove used games from the market and therefore enforce a totalitarian approach to secure customer loyalty, I'd probably welcome a crash.

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No conformation if Microsoft are implementing that technology, but the PS4 and Wii U won't/don't block the user from playing used games. I think online pass still exists though.

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

No doubt, but who cares if it stops selling now? EA already considers it a success. It did exactly what it was supposed to. Anything from here on out is icing on the cake. It can be a slow burn for years to come and will be nothing but profit for them.

If this game would have been a financial disaster because of the always-online DRM, that would have been great. But the game couldn't fail even from day 1.

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You're right. Completely right.

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

Where you'll really need to look to see if the reaction had any impact is on the next always-online DRM enabled game. If, say, EA launches another big game with it, and it bombs, then you'll know if people got the message.

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I don't think it would change a thing; people might huff and puff about it when it happens, but they're still willing to lay the cash down in advance for games they don't truly know much about, which leads to the companies still turning a profit and Average Joe getting screwed over. Sad but true.

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

No doubt, but who cares if it stops selling now? EA already considers it a success. It did exactly what it was supposed to. Anything from here on out is icing on the cake. It can be a slow burn for years to come and will be nothing but profit for them.

If this game would have been a financial disaster because of the always-online DRM, that would have been great. But the game couldn't fail even from day 1.

Where you'll really need to look to see if the reaction had any impact is on the next always-online DRM enabled game. If, say, EA launches another big game with it, and it bombs, then you'll know if people got the message.

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I truly believe the one main thing that will likely sink EA is if the company caves in on itself by having its investors bail on them which would cause their stock to hit rock bottom which in effect would sink them in red.


It doesn't matter how successful their badly managed IPs are saleswise, if the practices catch up to them, the investors will bail out.

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Originally Posted by The Jackal

You're right. Completely right.




I don't think it would change a thing; people might huff and puff about it when it happens, but they're still willing to lay the cash down in advance for games they don't truly know much about, which leads to the companies still turning a profit and Average Joe getting screwed over. Sad but true.

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Unfortunately I think this'll be the case, too. Our spending habits are pretty lemming-like when it comes to blockbusters. Maybe not US personally, but the mass market in general. It really sucks when it props up such an anti-consumer practice.

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Originally Posted by bultje112

what the hell is so wrong with activision? thq and ea I can understand, but activision

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Whats so great about them then? They have the same shitty business practices as EA and treat their development talent as poorly as EA (try asking Bizarre Creations how great Activision are - they closed the dev studio down). The only people that like Activision are the COD fanboys eagerly waiting for the next boring re-release of Call of Duty. At least THQ had some decent IP, they were just let down by their lousy management.

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Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

Unfortunately I think this'll be the case, too. Our spending habits are pretty lemming-like when it comes to blockbusters. Maybe not US personally, but the mass market in general. It really sucks when it props up such an anti-consumer practice.

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The consumers have to hold EA accountable with their wallets for their actions if the company is gonna crash and burn. I have yet to see them be willing to do that. They should just stop complaining and start taking action.

Why is every game a chuffing sequel these days? Seriously, when did originality die? Sure the Mega Drive was peppered with sequels, but there was a lot of innovation there too. This is what will cause a second video game industry crash the same shit reproduced with a bigger number on the end. Aren't we on six Resident Evils now and, as for Sonic, he's whored out more then a tired old crack whore who will do anything for her next fix. I also laugh that the latest Tomb Raider game is called "Tomb Raider" when it's about the 80th instalment.

Well they can all sod off with that tosh.