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]