EA Wins Worst Company Of The Year twice in a row.

@casper_ said:

Exactly right.

EA didn't win it twice by accident - that's what the story should be here, from gaming's perspective. No shit they aren't actually the worst company. Maybe the people voting aren't entirely earnest about EA being the worst, but just want to teach them a lesson anyway? It's an opportunity for people who are regularly treated with zero respect by EA to return the favour, that's all.

EA continue to learn fuck all from anything their customers are saying to them, but they sure are great at misdirection and at getting apologist gamers to fight their battles for them.

@coolarman said:

@twigger89 said:

I hope no one posted this already

That is the most passive aggressive thing I have read

Seriously! Jeebus! I'm guessing it's not real, but holy shit if it were.....

Yeah, it's been kind of a big deal since...well 2010. Sadly, it's but one example of banks being vile cesspits of corruption and greed. HSBC was caught laundering money for terrorist cells and Mexican drug cartels last year. And they got off with a small fine because they were "Too Big To Prosecute". But clearly EA is doing worse things than that silly stuff.

Is there any consequence for being the winner of this, other than the title? If not, then who cares about an internet poll?

I haven't been this disappointed in the internet since the boneless/bone-in wing Twitter debate of 2013.

I mean, I am pissed off at EA for SimCity, but this is overkill.

@mariachimacabre: In fairness, the fine was pretty huge. The problem is that it was a fraction of the profit they were able to make from their crimes, so it just makes good business sense for them to eat the fine and change nothing.

Yes, the board of directors is marched to the parking lot, single file, then lined up against a wall and shot in the head. Internet popularity contests are serious business.

I hate EA! They totally FORCE people to buy their games, which we all know SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL 4CHAN ANONYMOUS

Yeah that's what I meant. It was a huge fine but it wasn't even a drop in the bucket for HSBC.

I can't believe we still have self-righteous dingleberries decrying EA's position in this poll. Are they objectively the worst company? No, but the Consumerist is polling the Internet, not the average joe (who doesn't know anything about any of these companies or what they're doing). Someone made the gaming community aware of a way to tell EA "fuck you" and they took it. Twice.

And that letter by Peter Moore is pretty hilarious for how passive aggressive it is. Christ, is he twelve?

I mean EA is scum, but Comcast still exists...

@oldirtybearon: The letter is not actually from Peter Moore, it's a joke

EA has a much more public and personal presence on the internet, so I really don't consider this as much of an indictment against the people that voted for EA. It's all about perspective and who's voting in these things.

While BoA and all these other companies clearly do much worse things, people are going to vote based on their own personal experiences, and EA has had a negative, direct, and personal effect (all important factors) on a hell of a lot of people. To put it simply, people are going to be more passionate about the luxury items that are supposed to make them happy rather than the corporations that deal with their money or their cable service in the background of their lives. It's hard to be passionately angry at these other companies who only act as middle-men to the rest of our lives and only create news stories that don't effect us all on a direct level. We almost expect banks to be crooked or cable companies to be terrible, what we don't expect is that a company who makes videogames to be so blatantly anti-consumer at every turn against their own interests.

Basically, it's a dumb poll, and the people who voted EA aren't necessarily dumb. It's just the nature of how we interact with these businesses. They all suck in different ways.

And I thought the John Drake kickstarter was dumb.

Regardless of what grievances they may have, people apparently have no perspective at all.

I was thinking along these lines.

I'd wager that most of the people who take these kinds of surveys are people who heavily use the internet, and people who heavily use the internet also tend to be people who play video games.

I hate that people use the excuse that clearly there are worse companies in America (Such as BoA) to defend EA.

Yeah, it's true, they shouldn't have won this, their practices don't cause nearly as much terrible things as other companies in america. But they're still behaving like a shitty company and deserve plenty of derision for it.

EA "officially" voted worst company for the second year by people still living at home and relying on their parent's income.

In other news, internet.

Good job America

You're going to feel pretty silly when you find out that all EA game boxes are made out of powdered kitten bones by captive orphans in a dungeon under their headquarters.
Obviously all those voters knew this. Right? Right?

Sounds like a company that's righting wrongs. Whens the last time EA did that? Everyone is getting mad at the internet!

Very few adult consumers (myself excluded) bother to vote on polls like that. (Just so we're clear, that means I don't vote on those polls.)

America produces and exports a massive amount of the world's entertainment. I think we've been doing that for too long and now people are starting to think entertainment matters more than it does.

EA has awful practices. They didn't ruin anything but their own and their developing partners' products. I feel for the companies that are signed to release through EA.

But I'm just going to go buy my hobby from other people.

Shows how priorities work because people think EA is the worst company compared much more dubious ones like BP or Blackwater.

Video game company, Oil company, gun company. One of these things is not meant to be on this list. The fucking video game. As a product video games worst fault is wasting someone's time, or overcharging for bullshit.

EA will never produce anything that can destroy an ecosystem. Halliburton employs mercenaries that can operate with even greater freedom than our own military (U.S.) and have a history of committing war crimes.

Fuck the internet...

Maybe the people voting should care less about EA nickel-and-diming them and care more about the companies that are literally stealing from the government, are above the law, are fined for international felonies and walk free, and foreclose (appropriately and inappropriately) on peoples' homes. Companies that maintain a monopoly to purposefully withhold emerging technologies that are consumer, education, and government friendly. Companies that commit atrocities overseas in the name of America and murder innocent people. Maybe send the message to those companies. We all know that people don't think EA is the worst. That's not the point. The fact that you think it's more worthwhile sending them that message over literal criminal cabals is ridiculous.

But man, they included microtransactions with Dead Space 3. Fuck 'em.

People really need to grow up

EA released new IPs that people asked for. Army of Two, Dead Space, Skate, Mirror's Edge. They supported them with ancillary media and tons of marketing. Then nobody bought them, so EA returned to what they knew worked: aiming for the middle. Shapeless mush that's "consumer-friendly" that they can sneak more avenues of revenue into to grab a quick buck off the ignorant.

The EA that exists now is one of our own creation. We feed the beast. When you look into EA, EA also looks into you.

I mean even if you want to be myopic and small-minded about this poll: Comcast is fucking waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse than EA.

@wrighteous86: Who the fuck cares about a game at all when you look at them in the grand scheme of things. They are entertainment if a video game sucks you lose a few hours and that is so trivial compared to what some of these other companies do.

@bulimicbalzac: You realize you're agreeing with me, right?

They might not be the worst company in America by your standards, but its stupid to ignore how pissed of everyone is at EA. Make what you will of the metric, but if EA aren't hearing this loud and clear then they're probably pretty deserving of the award.

This doesn't excuse them. I think they're a shit company. I don't live in the U.S so I didn't vote for some bank I know little of. Besides, banks and oil companies aren't going to even shrug their shoulders at a stupid internet poll. The amount of rage over people voting for a company that typically treats their consumers poorly is laughable. And for the people that say 'fuck the internet!' over this, you do realize people are starving in africa, right?

@thehumandove: Even if you want to be that insular with your voting, Comcast is single-handedly holding back the internet for all of America and charging us out the ass for it through loopholes that essentially allow them and the other providers to create a stranglehold on the industry. So, get your shit straight, internet. Fuck EA, but FUCK Comcast.

Edit: I just saw you don't live in the US. But seriously, help us out. Fuck Comcast.

@wrighteous86: Posting under the influence is bad... Sorry brother. Friendly fire can even happen in the virtual arena of a forum war... God damn it...

Yeap sounds about right. The problem with polls is you have to ask yourself who voted before you consider if it is valid or not. Most of the voters the last few years have been dumb ass internet nerd ragers who wouldn't know "company mistreatment" if it walked up and kicked them in the crotch. Or maybe one day they will leave their mommies basement long enough for Bank of America to mishandle their loans, lose a few hundred dollars in a botched bank deposit, or any number of other things all far more important than ME3's ending.

Anyone who thinks EA is worse than Bank of America or the terrible insurance companies out there is just wrong. EA is pretty bad, don't get me wrong, but they're small potatoes compared to some of those other companies.

Just goes to show the people who vote on this type of thing have too much time on their hands if the company they think is the worst is a fucking video game company. Once they grow up and have adult worries they will find out that a video game company is not the worst company of the year candidate.

Do you know what would happen if ExxonMobil was voted worst company? Nothing. They're going to make money regardless of public perception. Besides, everyone already hates corporations, why not dig at something that actually needs a positive public image to make money? EA wouldn't be my choice, not by a long shot, but the notion of giving the award to huge, multinational corporations or private contractors as a way of shaming them is ridiculous. They don't give a fuck what you think, they're still making money.

@coolarman said:

@twigger89 said:

I hope no one posted this already

That is the most passive aggressive thing I have read

after reading that im happy they won, it gave me lulz

Not that the worst company of the year award actually means anything anyway, but the only thing "sticking it" to EA over things like SimCity DRM does is show just how meaningless the award is and cheapen it, now two years in a row. Let's go for three!

Yes, let's keep giving importance to internet polls. We're definitely in the right track. Yes.

Idiots, if you want to strike against EA, do it with your money. Save this bad pr shit for the really evil big corporations.

This should be called most hated company rather than worst company. That would be way more accurate and less hyperbolic.

so the majority of the people who vote on these polls are gamers, and probably arent aware of the other companies, and want to send a message in hopes that it can make a change in the industry they love.

fuck EA

The only winner here is the bloody Consumerist.

If you think EA is the worst company in America you need to leave your house once in awhile and stop being a complete moron.

...and then we're all confused as to why publishers continue to treat gamers like idiotic little children.

Internet polls are dumb,

I think it's more worthwhile sending the message to somebody who will actually give a fuck about the message. I don't think <unspecified criminal cabal> really care too much about the result of an online poll to be honest with you. Who did you vote for? Or did you realise that voting for one of the companies you're referring to would be a waste of your time and have no effect on anything at all?

"We all know that people don't think EA is the worst."

You might. Plenty of others seem confused.

@jimbo: I just don't think EA gives a fuck either. They paid it lip service before the results even came through, and people complained that their response was basically, "Don't care. We got your money." People got pissed...but it's their fault. EA tried another way, and people didn't pony up the cash, so they are sticking with the way that people actually pay them. It may not be the best long-term strategy, but companies rarely care about that, do they?

If you really want to send them a message, stop buying the games. Don't vote on a dumb internet poll and act like you're really hammering it home to them. You just make gamers look dumb.

I like to accuse people of taking dumb things like video games too seriously, while I take dumb things like online polls too seriously.

I wouldn't expect anything less from a (formerly) gawker-affiliated website.