"In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we're seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America."
"That last one is particularly telling. If that's what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because we're not caving on that," Moore added.

Yeah, that's right, if you vote EA for Worst Company then you're siding with the gay-bashers!  Shame on you!  And... er, wait a second, isn't this the same excuse they used last year?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/05/ea-in-full-damage-co nt rol-mode-points-to-anti-gay-hate-mail/

Yes, that's right: we disgruntled gamers, tired of seeing beloved developers twisted and prostituted, tried of new and exciting ways for separating us from our money, tired of the lies and condescension, are just mad that Male Shep and Garrus can jump in the sack... two years in a row.

Not the worst company in America, but not for lack of trying.

They can't compare to Bank of America in terms of corruption, incompetence and harm done to the entire world.  They're not the worst company in America.

They're just really, really good at aggravating their customers. Nearly everyone who purchases something from EA feels like they've been scammed in some fashion afterwards, either because the game is worse than it looked or because it had oppressive DRM or because it doesn't freaking work. And the standard EA response to annoyed customers is to say "Deal with it, suckers.".

Not to mention they have a weird habit of buying up much-loved developers and then either shutting them down or forcing them to produce crap. Origin, Westwood, Dice, Criterion Games, Bioware, Maxis, Bullfrog, Mythic, Visceral Games, Pandemic, Black Box... After a while it starts to look deliberate.

So EA is taking a page out of the Republican party's book?

"It'll fix the deficit, because I said it does."

/sigh

Gunther: After a while it starts to look deliberate.

Or desperate. A despot who takes out all political rivals before they have a chance to gain any success, even if they have good ideas.

Milo Minderbinder: BP dumps 4.9 million gallons of oil, screwing up the Gulf, costing thousands of tourism jobs, and actually killing 11 oil workers.

EA pisses off entitled basement dwellers that can't play make-believe on their computers when they want to.

/sounds reasonable

Do you know what BP even stands for?

Part of the reason everyone keeps nominating them is it makes them so ridiculously butt hurt about it. Everyone hoped they would release a whiny statement like last years and they delivered before they've even won it! It almost doesnt matter if they lose, they are pissed.

Milo Minderbinder: BumpInTheNight: Milo Minderbinder: BP dumps 4.9 million gallons of oil, screwing up the Gulf, costing thousands of tourism jobs, and actually killing 11 oil workers.

EA pisses off entitled basement dwellers that can't play make-believe on their computers when they want to.

/sounds reasonable

Do you know what BP even stands for?

No, I have no idea. I do know that I am very mad because I can't play my games with all their flashing lights and pretty colors.

Nope, sorry, your troll-fu is weak.  I hear there's a good pony thread in the video tab you can try to upset, sounds like its more your league.

Maybe they should qualify it as the "Worst Game Company in America."

The response in large part shows why they are being nominated as it relies on corporate speak to distort the truth.  Between this guy and the woman who did the replies for Simcity 4 I have to wonder if there is a degree in obfuscation that people like them obtain.

With every screw-up with software releases I keep hoping for a big class-action suit to knock one of these companies into line.... surely we're getting closer.

While I agree that EA sucks pretty hard I'll also agree that they really don't belong in the same league as say, BofA or Monsanto.

/I'll give that other guy some more time to figure out why BP doesn't qualify for this "contest"

broadsword: With every screw-up with software releases I keep hoping for a big class-action suit to knock one of these companies into line.... surely we're getting closer.

EA has already had a class action suit against them over Madden.

Adolf Oliver Nipples: Origin exists only because people have no choice but to enroll so they can play the games that they bought, the games can only be verified through Origin and can't be used until then. Therefore, the 45 million users are people who got sucked into registering for EA's other type of DRM scheme.

This.  I am one of those 45 million users and I only signed in for one game.  I haven't signed in since I stopped playing that game.  I am signed into Steam most of the time.

Generation_D: Bank of America screws with the global economy, launders drug lord money, buys at least one entire political party and you all say "meh"

But holy crap, let a gaming company's releases not live up to expectations! WORST. CORP. EVAR.


Direct proof that this country is in nowhere near as bad of a condition as the Republicans would have you believe. If we're more concerned about video games than anything else? Well, then we haven't really lived through a real recession, now have we...

JasonOfOrillia: Adolf Oliver Nipples: Origin exists only because people have no choice but to enroll so they can play the games that they bought, the games can only be verified through Origin and can't be used until then. Therefore, the 45 million users are people who got sucked into registering for EA's other type of DRM scheme.

This.  I am one of those 45 million users and I only signed in for one game.  I haven't signed in since I stopped playing that game.  I am signed into Steam most of the time.

I was also forced to join so I could play a game that I didn't realise was EA until too late. I don't even remember what game now but it sucked and I regretted buying it and have never used Origin since.

..I'm willing to also bet there's a bunch of people in Arkansas not too fond of Exxon right now

Gunther: They can't compare to Bank of America in terms of corruption, incompetence and harm done to the entire world.  They're not the worst company in America.

They're just really, really good at aggravating their customers. Nearly everyone who purchases something from EA feels like they've been scammed in some fashion afterwards, either because the game is worse than it looked or because it had oppressive DRM or because it doesn't freaking work. And the standard EA response to annoyed customers is to say "Deal with it, suckers.".

Not to mention they have a weird habit of buying up much-loved developers and then either shutting them down or forcing them to produce crap. Origin, Westwood, Dice, Criterion Games, Bioware, Maxis, Bullfrog, Mythic, Visceral Games, Pandemic, Black Box... After a while it starts to look deliberate.

Speaking of Bullfrog, anyone notice 'tryable' alpha demo of War for the Overworld?  Its very much just a tech demo ...but yes...this is going to be Dungeon Keeper 3 and I yes, you could drown a toddler in my panties whenever I think about it.  http://wftogame.com/

Milo Minderbinder: I have no crisis; just observations on perspective and priorities. If the discussion is the propriety of EA being named the worst company, then it's completely relevant. If I'm just supposed to be self- righteously indignant because a game company pisses off people that play video games, then you are correct.

Hrm I have under-estimated your troll-fu.  But just imagine how many starving africans your totalfark subscription could have fed.

BumpInTheNight: Milo Minderbinder: BP dumps 4.9 million gallons of oil, screwing up the Gulf, costing thousands of tourism jobs, and actually killing 11 oil workers.

EA pisses off entitled basement dwellers that can't play make-believe on their computers when they want to.

/sounds reasonable

Do you know what BP even stands for?

I notice he still hasn't answered the question...

Milo Minderbinder: /and I realize that the BP spill was in 2010
//BP wasn't Consumerist's
worst company in 2010 or 2011 either

so.. you -still- haven't figured out why BP has never 'won' Consumerist's 'Worst Company in America'?

doglover: Milo Minderbinder: BP dumps 4.9 million gallons of oil, screwing up the Gulf, costing thousands of tourism jobs, and actually killing 11 oil workers.

EA pisses off entitled basement dwellers that can't play make-believe on their computers when they want to.

/sounds reasonable

What does the B stand for in BP?

Today, nothing.  It has simply been BP for over a decade now.

 In 2001, the company formally renamed itself as BP plc ^{and adopted the tagline "Beyond Petroleum," which remains in use today. It states that BP was never meant to be an abbreviation of its tagline.}

Some of this is rehashed, but:

"Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It's not. People still want to argue about it. We can't be any clearer - it's not. Period."   utter bullshiat.  You try and legitimize it with "multiplayer interaction" that's about as functional as somewhere between SC2K and SC3K, both were AI based.

"Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong."  Again bullshiat.  Origin only has people signed up because they have to, so that your Always Online DRM can function.

"Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games."   Only half right on that one, dip-shiat.  How did the industry survive before you had to pay for DLC just to complete the game?  or DLC period?  People bought their games and had the entire game for one price, now you expect people to shell out $60 for half a game, then pay another $60 in DLC to finish it.  Screw you.

"We've seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really..."   Citation, please.  I don't doubt such idiots exist, but surely not in numbers that can make an impact.

"In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we're seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America."   Again, Citation, please.  See above.

Let's face it, EA screwed up so damn bad with SimCity.  They had a chance to make it great, but instead they pushed us the equivalent of SC2k and SC3k's terminally ill and mentally handicapped little brother that has to be on life support or he dies.  What we wanted, and expected was some Apollo-esque, godly slice of digital perfection, what we got was a lump of barely functional spyware with a pretty shell.

All said, EA is a giant load of crap that lost focus of making good or even decent games, and just want money.  They pump out shiatty sequels, not even from their own work, but from the smaller studios they swallow up like the Blob.

But does EA deserve to be counted among the lofty douchebaggery and farktardedness of BoA, Comcrap, and Ticketmaster?  Personally, I don't think so.

So Capital One got fine $210 million for ripping off their own customers and targeting oversea soldiers for foreclosures, HSBC literally laundered money for drug cartels and Al Queda, Monsato behaved like Monsato, GE and Berkshire Hathaway cheated the government of billions in taxes and they choose EA?

Saberus Terras: But does EA deserve to be counted among the lofty douchebaggery and farktardedness of BoA, Comcrap, and Ticketmaster?

Heh, forgot about Ticketbastard. Yeah, when your core business model is to be a parasite, you suck.

Milo Minderbinder: You are missing the point

His point is that BP is a dumb example because it's a BRITISH company while this was a poll for the worst AMERICAN company.

Jesus.

Wow. Gamers are even more pathetic man-children than I thought. You guys are fighting with Bronies for most pathetic, well below Juggalos and goth kids.

Milo Minderbinder: A multi-billion dollar MNC that is the 2nd largest gas supplier in the US, is publicly traded on the NYSE, has thousands of employees, stockholders (and oil rigs) in the US, is, by virtue of its London headquarters, "not in America."

For the purposes of this poll, yes. That is Consumerist's criteria.