Electronic Arts’ Matt Bilbey recently told GameIndustry.biz how he struggles with the perception that EA is seen as the bad guys of the video game industry.
“25 years at EA and I still struggle with the external perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys. We love making and playing games. Unfortunately, when we make mistakes on games, the world knows about it because it’s of a size and scale.”
Most of EA’s games strike me as middling. It’s not very often they make something truly great and memorable. When they do touch on something that really strikes a positive nerve in the gaming community, they usually find a way to destroy it.
Letting the EA Big series die comes to mind. Shuttering Visceral Games after they created the popular Dead Space series is another example. Ruining NFL football video games by securing NFL exclusivity and littering their Madden games with micro-transactions. Getting the Star Wars license and littering Battlefront II with micro-transactions. It’s a pattern of behavior that’s gone on for decades.
If EA is tired of being perceived as villains by the gaming community, they should stop engaging in anti-consumer behavior. Start looking at publishers that the gaming community generally likes. Maybe study them and take some hints. Two that come to mind are Nintendo and CD Projekt Red. They’re popular for a reason.
I don’t buy many of EA’s games. I don’t go out of my way to avoid them, but their brand of mediocrity just doesn’t appeal to me, and EA’s execs are almost politician-like in how out of touch they are.
EA execs: If you don’t like how gamers perceive you, don’t whine. Do something about it. Get good. Here’s a good first step that will be applauded industry-wide: Re-release and/or remaster SSX Tricky and SSX 3 for modern systems for a reasonable price. I guarantee they’ll be well-received.
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