EA Learning from its mistakes? Time will tell!

[size=33]Former executives and EA staffers on learning from the backlash[/size]

[size=21]Electronic Arts's PR team had a rough-and-tumble start to 2014, in large part due to upset about Battlefield 4's technical problems. But the corporation has been spared, at least, the distinction of becoming the first organisation ever to win the Consumerist's influential Worst Company in America poll for three years running. Channelling anger over in-game micro-transactions, EA beat out the Bank of America in 2012 to claim the trophy; it repeated the trick the following year with an even bigger share of the vote, allegedly thanks to a string of lacklustre sequels, poor post-launch support and overpricing.
There have been plenty of well-documented individual kerfuffles over the years, on top of generalised resentment towards the activities of the industry's second largest publisher. Many Mass Effect fans were contemptuous of the third game's (now extended) endings, which were held to be unrepresentative of the choices players had made in the course of the trilogy - one pundit even tried to have EA charged with false advertising, claiming that the game did not allow players to "completely shape" the outcome.

A significant body of players were similarly irked by SimCity 5's always-online requirement - particularly when servers fell over at launch, severely limiting access for weeks (EA Maxis offered buyers a free game by way of apology). Last but not least, EA Mythic's mobile edition of Dungeon Keeper mobile reboot has done more to bury the license than reboot it - an unapologetic Clash of Clans clone, it's loaded with cheeky in-app purchases. EA chief exec Andrew Wilson subsequently admitted that the company hadn't "walked the line" between the Bullfrog original and new game mechanics.
EA's response to being handed the WCIA gong has been a mixture of defiance - as chief operating officer Peter Moore has argued, an entertainment company's blunders surely aren't as catastrophic as those of an international oil firm - and humility. Wilson has described the second win as a "wake-up call", and according to PopCap's senior franchise marketing manager Gary Clay, a "reputation committee" has been formed to address the fallout.
"There are people across the entire organisation who are trying to make sure EA doesn't fall into that category again," he told me this spring. Over the summer, I spoke to a pair of former EA executives, BAFTA Games chair Harvey Elliott and independent game consultant Ben Cousins, for their thoughts on the publisher's performance so far.

Echoing Moore, Elliott feels EA's main problem is poor communication, particularly when it comes to micro-transactions and other new-fangled monetisation tactics that are still regarded with suspicion. "I think the company has done a better job of being understood in the market over the past year or so, and is clearer about the sort of relationship it wants to have with customers," he observed. "I think it is more direct about how games are monetised."
EA is "a fantastic company" on the whole, as far as Elliott's concerned, "and one I am proud to have worked at. It is of course a corporation, with a revenue target and a bottom line to make, but I think that overall it goes about it in the right way, with the customer in mind for everything it does."
The outlook isn't as rosy for Cousins. "In my opinion, EA suffers from a 'profit first' mentality and culture, rather than a 'customers first' mentality," he told me. "Putting customers first, if done correctly, will lead to huge profits." Addressing this ethos will require "a huge effort", Cousins went on, and undesirable 'accolades' like the WCIA have a part to play here.
"I think the principle - 'naming and shaming' companies that upset consumers - is a great idea," he commented. It's important, of course, not to conflate online polls with general opinion: "[They tend] to draw focus (and votes) to companies that upset a certain type of highly connected, internet-savvy person." Nonetheless, "EA is clearly doing something wrong. Otherwise there would not be this perception."

As to why EA dodged the bullet in 2014, opinions are divided. Elliott believes the company escaped censure this year by "identifying other companies that have been more in the news" and "answering back" with well-reviewed games such as Titanfall. Cousins has a gloomier assessment. "The US broadband infrastructure is broken, and this year was a tipping point in people's frustration with monopolies and lack of investment. EA were up against Time Warner Cable in the first round, and Comcast ultimately won." EA is still a bogeyman, in other words, but the other bogeymen have gotten bigger.
Gary Clay, meanwhile, feels that a certain amount of negativity is inevitable for a publisher of this stature - as, perhaps, is the eventual dissipation of that negativity. "When you're an enormous company and you reach that many people, some people are always going to be unhappy with your products - it doesn't matter whether it's videogames or you're making cans of soft drink. When you're at that level of reach, some people are going to be unhappy, and the key balance is ensuring that you listen to the feedback and then adapt."
Harvesting feedback is easier in the age of digital distribution, as is changing games post-release, but achieving "the right level of reactivity" to complaints is "is very difficult to do", in Clay's experience. "I think it's just as very different marketplace now. People have social media channels, [they can provide] different levels of feedback - they allow us to understand what they really want from gaming. Obviously a few years back, you made a game, you put it out and if it wasn't great people didn't buy it, and if it was great everybody bought it."

Such difficulties notwithstanding, the past few months have been relatively positive ones for EA. The company attracted guarded praise by delaying Battlefield: Hardline till early 2015, in order to make use of data gathered during this summer's beta - a major concession, given that games sales are highest around Christmas, and clear evidence that it has taken the uproar over Battlefield 4 to heart.
There's also the just-launched EA Access, an Xbox One-based game subscription service that includes pre-release game trials and discounts. Going by comments posted to OXM's Facebook pages and forums, which may not be representative of the mood elsewhere, the response has been enthusiastic. The library is modest at present, but the service appears to have been deemed solid value for money, and we've yet to hear tell of any significant technical hitches.
Cousins warns against complacency, however. "My personal opinion is that the 'profits first' mentality is deeply ingrained in the company and changing that to put 'customers first' will require a huge effort," he told me in closing. "I like Andrew Wilson a lot, and I hope he'll be able to turn things round."

Misfit203 wrote:EA and Rockstar are my 2 favorites. Though the only money i ever thru at EA was for the sims series. well atleast as far as PC games go. which is obviously more than enough lol. I bought every sims 1 from the beginning, as well as sims 2. i tried to with sims 3, but only made it as far as showtime and have since run into financial ruin and have been unable to buy any game aside from gta V thanks to alot of trading of most of my console games. 


i got hit with severe depression a few years ago, and have since been out of work with no income. luckily i have an understanding family who has helped me along thru these times. sad to say 10 meds later and still nothing is working. but thats enough for getting off topic. lol


i try my best though to support the sims series as much as possible even if i have already downloaded an EP or SP i go out and buy it anyway if i can afford to do so.

Sorry to hear about those issues, MisFit203.   But yes, real-life "obligations" should definitely have priority over games ! The only Sims 3 games I would have bought - maybe - are "Seasons" and "Supernatural", two of my favorite expansions.

Admin wrote:Good ol' "beeping and chiming" times indeed. I miss that beautiful sound.