Comments on: How EA Can Win Back Consumers

By: Garrett King

Garrett King — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 09:17:00 +0000

For one QUIT LABELING EVERY GAME WITH A CAR IN IT “NEED FOR SPEED”! Just because you put a car game out there doesnt mean you need to stick this on there and trash the franchise. I liked “the run” but thats it, that was all the name it needed. It was ruined by tacking on need for speed in front of it because they arent the same. I am an avid NFS player but keep that title to racing games that really deserve to have it.

By: ookh

ookh — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:03:00 +0000

I’ve been a gamer for 30 years and BF3 topped it for the amount of tolerable BS. All the facade and propaganda surrounding it is little more than smoke and mirrors to get people to buy an unfinished RUSHED out the door piece of crap. Never fixing what people really want, but implementing what they want and DLC tops it. Oh yea it’s all subject to change. Remember that! It’s ALL subject to change and there ain’t a thing you can do about it after they got your money.

So they get no more from me. Never again will I buy a EA / DICE product! Period. Wish I could have been one of the 250,000.

By: Timothybarker1985

Timothybarker1985 — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:58:00 +0000

make another dragon age that not just shows how the other three came to be but make it more exciteing more towns to save more magic more territory to discover more everything that made the very first two very high praised by me wich may favorite characters are the dwarves they are interesting and ultimately kick ass.

By: David Jagneaux

David Jagneaux — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:23:00 +0000

In reply to Gotmyorangecrush. These are some really great points!

By: Gotmyorangecrush

Gotmyorangecrush — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:51:00 +0000

I disagree completely. The buying of franchises is the very thing that has put EA in this mess. Instead of creating games, they just run around buying up the competition and in almost every case, the games from the companies they purchase suffer in quality. I don’t know the reason why. Maybe being owned by a huge corporation that has loads of money at their disposal takes some of the pressure away to make the best game possible, after all, the risk isn’t nearly what it used to be. A bad game on your own and you may have to lay off half your staff. A bad game under EA’s wings and….well, you simply brush it off and move on to the next game. Again, I don’t know what the reason is but its clear as day that it has a negative effect. Besides, people don’t like it when a game company they like gets purchased by a bigger company. It automatically has a negative association to it. Take Microsoft buying Bungie. Bungies boards lit up like crazy when that news broke.

What EA needs to do is sit down and take a good long look at the number of gamers that really dislike their company. Then they need to take a good long look at their entire approach to gaming. For example, buying companies instead of creating from within. Instead of buying established companies for loads of money, why not start their own gaming companies from scratch? With the money they have, and are usually willing to spend on these companies, there is really no limit to the team they could put together. There is plenty of talent out there.

Then you have the whole milking gamers for every single penny problem. Sure, it may make you more money in the short term but its a terrible long term strategy as the end result is going to be that of losing customers. Its already been happening as I know quite a few gamers who refuse to buy EA games, unless its an absolute must buy title like Mass Effect 3. There is nothing wrong with charging for content but it has to be worth it and you should give back to the customers from time to time. If I ran EA, I would not only be developing DLC that cost money but I would also be developing DLC that was free. What better way is there to win gamers over than giving them free content? If a game is successful and has made hundreds of Millions of dollars, why not give something back to the gamers and this goes for all of the studios out there, not just EA. Activision and its Call of Duty franchise is a perfect example. They make so much money on those games that it can make your head spin yet not only are they charging for every last piece of DLC, they are also VERY slow in regards to lowering the price of the game. It took almost a full year for Black Ops to come down in price.

Bottom line is that EA has put themselves in this corner and the best way to get out of it is to change their entire approach to gaming. Just changing one or two things isn’t going to be enough. A significant percentage of gamers actually hate EA and many refuse to buy games from them. If things keep going in this direction….well, the people at the top may just find themselves out on the street and EA might just find themselves laying off employees.

By: Gary A. Swaby

Gary A. Swaby — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000

In reply to Mr. Kennedy. Excellent point, and EA aren't the only ones guilty of this either.

By: Mr. Kennedy

Mr. Kennedy — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:20:00 +0000

I disagree on buying franchises. They should try creating some.

The only EA game I mostly play is FIFA and that game has seemingly been released untested every year.

The EA forums are there for feedback and EA get STRONG feedback throughout the whole year for FIFA from punters like myself who pull their hair out at numerous, numerous fuck-ups yet we are lucky to get any patches whatsoever.

I guess EAs attitude is “fuck these knobs that are complaining, we’ll fix it for next years copy and then they’ll STILL pay £40 for it anyway.”

(…..that’s if they actually fixed any bugs)

If Pro Evo “Soccer” wasn’t so awful, EA would be losing LOADS of punters from the FIFA franchise.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:41:00 +0000

In reply to David Jagneaux. That's a good point... I was gonna wait and see what Madden 13 brings to the table but it's definitely on my list to discuss next

By: David Jagneaux

David Jagneaux — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:25:00 +0000

I’m surprised you didn’t bring up Madden! That series needs some serious innovation or it will continue to lose fans.