Hey,
Lately, many of you may have noticed the increase in EA rant blogs, particularly in reaction to The Sims 3: Katy Perry's Sweet Treats.
This time around, I'm looking at how EA will do anything to get money and how their alienating gamers.
While it's EA as a company that's causing the problems, I can't help but feel it is all down to one guy in particular: John Riccitiello - the current CEO of EA.
EA CEO John Riccitiello On Gaming Microtransactions
EA's CEO shares his love for ripping people off. If you're watching from the YT webpage, check out the amount of dislikes and "loving" comments.
You guys know what microtransactions are, right? It's basically a way of getting money from gamers to gain something in a game, such as extra content, a multiplayer server etc. They are not the same as DLC. iOS games often use microtransactions. Since they made the Store more invasive in a patch for The Sims 3, I suppose they can be called microtransactions too. He wants people to buy servers to play Battlefield 3 online and even took down the free EA servers...until a major backlash. This guy seems to love digital distribution so much that he'll do anything for EA to gain revenue from that - that's where microtransactions, useless DLC, sell-out EP/SPs (like Katy Perry) and Origin come in.
This guy took charge in 2007. It was pretty much at that time when people started to hate EA more thanks to their greed. Back in the days of The Sims 2 and earlier, EA were better at what they did. They didn't try to find every excuse to "patch" one of their invasive marketing techniques into your game. Back then, gaming was much more fairer. EA's greed has alienated gamers because they're being forced to put up with unwanted software/advertising and such - it's like a dictatorship.
EA are quite possibly the worst publisher out there. They sell cheats as DLC. No I am not joking; Shift 2 Unleashed had an "Unlock all cars" DLC pack for £8. Who on Earth would pay that much for a 100KB unlock key? I know for sure I wouldn't.
If I had God powers, I'd take control of EA, sack Riccitiello, start listening to gamers, stop being greedy and make a change people want. That way, EA can shake off some embarassment.
I know EA need to make money to survive but the way I see it, they need to rethink their business model if they want to win back all those they alienated.
Feel free to comment, whether you love or hate EA!
