More layoffs hit TOR team, EA hits 52-week low, CEO may be replaced. - Polidicks

I think part of the problem is that EA keeps demanding sequels, which requires to up the stakes and redouble their efforts. They can't make the same game again, otherwise people would get bored and the game would be rated poorly. If there was more openness to new ideas and concepts, perhaps there would be less of this "one bad game and you're done" stuff.

[QUOTE=Solo Wing;36839666]Last I heard, those who work at EA are usually fucking MISERABLE. I cling to the hope that EA will see the light and become a better business because of it, but that seems incredibly unlikely. Weren't they one of the FIRST companies to implement that absurd "online-pass" system? Then they think they can compete with Steam, the BIGGEST online distribution platform in the world. Now thinking they can get away with charging $10 extra on all of their games. Not to mention their horrible practice of buying up every damn studio they can find, milking them for every game they can make, and then shutting them down when ONE game does shitty. Its times like this you need to tearfully load the double barreled shotgun, take EA outback, and put it out of its own misery.[/QUOTE] Do you have a reputable source that says EA employees are miserable, or are you just assuming that EA works their employees to death because you don't like the way they try to turn a profit? Also, nice double standard there. Belittle EA for online passes, which exist to combat used copies of games. Praise Steam in the next sentence, which is a DD platform where used copies don't fucking exist and cannot exist.

[QUOTE=ironman17;36838909]We can only hope that this titan collapses, and all the companies manage to begin again under a better, though probably humbler, regime. Also, one "bad" game? I dunno, does DA2 count as bad or just sub-par?[/QUOTE] bad Bad BAD [editline]19th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Nerevar982;36840080]I like to think Bioware Austin secretly decided to sacrifice themselves, destroying EA and saving video games in the process.[/QUOTE] It's embarrassing. Every time we get excited for an MMO it ends up being shit.

[QUOTE=stupid10er;36840815]maybe if EA stopped making shit games and actually took on worthwhile projects *cough* Mirror's Edge *cough* then i'd consider shelling out 70$. but with this online pass bullshit to play a subpar game, it's not even worth it.[/QUOTE] Sorry, EA still make some of the more interesting games on the market right now. Think for a second. Of all the AAA developers who has the most variety in their publications? Most certainly not Activision, who have killed many a studio for the hivemind of CoD developers they seem to be working on. Can't be Valve, all their games are FPS games to some extent. THQ? Yeah, probably, they do have some pretty cool games. Take-two? nah. 2k? Well, we've got a new Bioshock on the way, yeah maybe. EA? Quite possibly the most diverse. Shooters, sports games, racing games, RPGs, action/ adventure games, probably a platformer every blue moon. They are pretty diverse. Almost all of their recent games have been good, but due to either over hyping them, or them not being 100% polished, while EA implements some pain in the ass extra content pricing or uses online passes being the only things dragging the games down. I'm sure if DICE wanted to they could work on Mirrors Edge at any time seeing as it was both critically acclaimed and had good sales.

I liked TOR. :( But when my starting subscription expired I couldn't be fucked to pay more to keep playing. Free to play, please.

Well, they sort of had it coming.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;36841554]Sorry, EA still make some of the more interesting games on the market right now. Think for a second. Of all the AAA developers who has the most variety in their publications? Most certainly not Activision, who have killed many a studio for the hivemind of CoD developers they seem to be working on. Can't be Valve, all their games are FPS games to some extent. THQ? Yeah, probably, they do have some pretty cool games. Take-two? nah. 2k? Well, we've got a new Bioshock on the way, yeah maybe. EA? Quite possibly the most diverse. Shooters, sports games, racing games, RPGs, action/ adventure games, probably a platformer every blue moon. They are pretty diverse. Almost all of their recent games have been good, but due to either over hyping them, or them not being 100% polished, while EA implements some pain in the ass extra content pricing or uses online passes being the only things dragging the games down. I'm sure if DICE wanted to they could work on Mirrors Edge at any time seeing as it was both critically acclaimed and had good sales.[/QUOTE] EA's one of the largest publishing companies and you're comparing them to Valve and 2K? Yeah, they are diverse, but that doesn't mean that any of their games are worthwhile.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5F0A2B8fmU[/media]

I can't possibly understand how Dead Space 3 needs 5 million units sold to make a profit. That is an insane number. Not only that, but rarely do publishers or developers come out and say "oh yeah by the way please buy x number of copies so the game does well thanks" Either someone lied or fudged the numbers.

[QUOTE=tratzzz;36839220]25% of Estonias minimum wage. Thats also why Valve is great, they had Europe divided into three, rich ($=€), Medium (Converted properly) and poor (slightly cheaper than med.) which consisted of the Baltic countries. Now the poor is gone and it was combined with the medium group.[/QUOTE] Uh no, that's not great at all. Nobody should pay their games at a 1:1 dollar to euro rate. At this point it's just Valve fanboyism. If it were EA everybody would go "hurr they increased the prices in richer countries to milk consumers even more, EA are greedy fucks". I mean, I like Valve and Steam as I hate EA but this is ridiculous.

[QUOTE=Saxon;36838863]Haha $10 more for video games?, and they think they're going to be able to keep up with selling an adequate amount of copies?[/QUOTE] Videogame prices have barely changed over the last 10 years, despite inflation.

70 dollars is the price of the super cool ~tier 1 operator~ edition of MOH:W, which includes some extra virtual goodies and access to the BF4 beta. You guys need to simmer down with your EA hate. They're definitely not the best publisher out there, but that doesn't mean they're going to suddenly raise the base price for new games out of fucking nowhere.

[QUOTE=sp00ks;36842392]Videogame prices have barely changed over the last 10 years, despite inflation.[/QUOTE] Er, I distinctly remember 2 years ago games being $50.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;36842291]I can't possibly understand how Dead Space 3 needs 5 million units sold to make a profit. That is an insane number. Not only that, but rarely do publishers or developers come out and say "oh yeah by the way please buy x number of copies so the game does well thanks" Either someone lied or fudged the numbers.[/QUOTE] Well you see, all the employers need their paycheck, then the CEOs need their $2 million paycheck each.

[QUOTE=Zally13;36842496]Er, I distinctly remember 2 years ago games being $50.[/QUOTE] And games back in the NES/ SNES/ early PS era could reach £80 easily. What's you point? Game prices fluctuate quite violently. Games have always been pretty expensive compared to say, the average income of the time. 2 years ago we were still undergoing economic problems, that $50 was a lot back then as $60 is a fair amount of money today.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;36842619]And games back in the NES/ SNES/ early PS era could reach £80 easily. What's you point? Game prices fluctuate quite violently. Games have always been pretty expensive compared to say, the average income of the time. 2 years ago we were still undergoing economic problems, that $50 was a lot back then as $60 is a fair amount of money today.[/QUOTE] Inflation hasn't gone up nearly that much since 2 years ago.

[QUOTE=-n3o-;36839627]God I miss Pandemic Studios and Bullfrog productions. I would love a dungeon Keeper 3, I look forward to the day EA dies.[/QUOTE] I miss Westwood too.

[QUOTE=Zally13;36842496]Er, I distinctly remember 2 years ago games being $50.[/QUOTE]I don't. The last time I really saw $50 being the standard was before the current console generation kicked off, before the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Wii. Since then, everything has been $60.

[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;36842768]I don't. The last time I really saw $50 being the standard was before the current console generation kicked off, before the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Wii. Since then, everything has been $60.[/QUOTE] I'm thinking primarily of PC games, where people don't have to pay licenses to the console owners.

Even the hardcore COD fanboys that I know who only own a 360 are getting upset that the next game is going to be "future sci-fi shit" I don't think the majority of people are going to fly with $70 games.

Reading this reminded me that they closed Westwood and Pandemic. That... that stung a little.

[QUOTE=LarparNar;36839603]It's called needing to make money. Your parents aren't going to pay for you forever. Want to get fired? There's something called [I]quitting[/I], know why they don't quit? Because they need money![/QUOTE] That doesn't justify treating one's workers like shit. There's only so much they can take, and honestly if I worked for EA right about now I'd already be looking for somewhere else to go, assuming I didn't have it lined up already.

I want gaming to go back 7-8 years. When games had offline support, LAN and bots. My friends back then couldn't afford internet. They could buy a PC game and would have no issues playing offline. Now they're stuck playing consoles while I'm fortunate enough to have internet. We live in Hickville USA so it's really hard to get any kind of internet and if you do, it's a butt load of cash. I really want a new company to rise up and have great games that go for $35-$45 and blow everyone out of the water. Valve is awesome, I really love Valve, but a lot of people around here go to the stores and buy their games. They don't get to have the awesome sales that we're fortunate enough to get. I saw on the Summer sale Just Cause 2 was going for $5 Which is totally insane. I went to the store and guess how much? $50. They just need to bring back good quality games, great prices and SUPPORT. I want my Offline LAN back and my BOT's. I miss Populous: The Beginning ): and Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. Probably the most fun I had. I can't even get AoE2 to work on my computer, it's not supported on Windows 7.

[QUOTE=Kendra;36839096]Announcing EA's new CEO: Billy Kotick![/QUOTE] So what's that, Bobby Kotick's (more) evil brother?

[QUOTE=JCDentonUNATCO;36842851]Even the hardcore COD fanboys that I know who only own a 360 are getting upset that the next game is going to be "future sci-fi shit" I don't think the majority of people are going to fly with $70 games.[/QUOTE] Australians already have to pay for games $70-$100 each for a new release. I'm not kidding, if the prices go up I won't be able to buy anything from retail, and I don't like capping my downloads with steam.

and they fucking wonder why people pirate games 70 bucks? you fucking kidding me? CS:GO is really going to open people's eyes, and show investors that cheap games can produce just as much profit as overpriced ones.

Feels good that I stopped buying games from this shit company.

[QUOTE=milkandcooki;36842489]70 dollars is the price of the super cool ~tier 1 operator~ edition of MOH:W, which includes some extra virtual goodies and access to the BF4 beta. You guys need to simmer down with your EA hate. They're definitely not the best publisher out there, but that doesn't mean they're going to suddenly raise the base price for new games out of fucking nowhere.[/QUOTE] I think the fact that they are already talking about BF4 is a bad enough reason to hate them. Seriously, BF3 came out not even a year ago, and they are already talking about BF4 beta? This is what I hate the most. Devs who release sequels after sequels and leave the prequels forgotten in the gutter, as everyone moves to the new one and mostly forgets the old ones.

Great news. So can we finally agree to stop making crappy MMO's? They're worse than WW2 shooters these days...

TOR would've been a lot better if it had been singleplayer with different scaling to compensate for the fact that you wouldn't have people to group with. With the mechanics it had it just didn't make a good MMO.