The consumerist - Worst Company in USA : March 14 - EA vs Sony

[Nova Prospekt]

EA,Gamestop & Sony are the only to video game related companies in this contest.

Link for voting (http://consumerist.com/2012/03/worst-company-in-america-round-one-ea-vs-sony.html)
The match up (http://consumerist.com/2012/03/worst-company-2012-bracket-announcement.html)

Discuss.

[stinkytaco]

Cool EA is going to win another award , this time it will be just deserved rather than bought by them.

[Nova Prospekt]

Honestly i'm a little surprised EA is winning by 81 % - Do people honestly hate a company that overprices it's games vs a company that practically gives away user information by not even bothering to store it safely?

[Rockworm]

It doesn't get much worse than backing SOAP/PIPA but for my vote it goes to EA simply for destroying my faith in yet another game company.
Yeah I'm a bit bitter over the whole Bioware thing.

[Naruzuru]

Honestly i'm a little surprised EA is winning by 81 % - Do people honestly hate a company that overprices it's games vs a company that practically gives away user information by not even bothering to store it safely?

Sony is bad because they're incompetent. EA is bad because they're malicious.

Would you hate a dumb person more than an evil one?

[Rockworm]

Yeah that audio of the EA CEO talking about microtransactions makes it clear.
Earning happy customers is so far from their agenda its not even funny.
And Destructiod calculated that to get everything you have to spend 870 bucks on Mass Effect 3? Really? I would like to know how they came up with that.
Not that I'm doubting it but thats a LOT.

[BadBeat]

Hmm, I predict an EA vs Facebook Semis. With, perhaps, Facebook going onto the finals.

[Monkeyminhy]

Sony is bad because they're incompetent. EA is bad because they're malicious.

Would you hate a dumb person more than an evil one?

This. Sony made a mistake that is still costing them, but EA is openly pissing all over their customers with the full understanding of what it is they're doing. It's easier to forgive mistakes, not so easy to forgive intentional disdain and hostility for a consumer base.

[Naruzuru]

And Destructiod calculated that to get everything you have to spend 870 bucks on Mass Effect 3? Really? I would like to know how they came up with that.
Not that I'm doubting it but thats a LOT.

Nah I'm pretty sure that was including merchandise and non-in-game related things.

[Rockworm]

"Destuctoid recently calculated that you would need to spend $870 to get access to all of the content in the newest big EA release, Mass Effect 3."

^^ exact wording is to get access to all of the content in.....
Which tells me its in game.
It sounds very unlikely though even by EA's money grubbing standards.

[Nova Prospekt]

I found a link -

http://kotaku.com/5888816/buying-all-of-mass-effect-3s-dlc-will-cost-you-870

[Rockworm]

Eh a bunch of weapons for buying things.
Thats nothing new and isn't important all of that can be ignored to enjoy the main game.
Not like any of it was already on the disc... oh wait.

[Modiga-Disabled]

In my experience, The Consumerist seems to be very bad at doing proper research into their stories.

[BadBeat]

I guess I don't see the big problem with physical and digital products being sold together as a bundle, though I can understand why people might be annoyed by it.

It'll only jarate me off if the core game experience suffers (single or Multiplayer) if you don't have specific stuff. (Eg if the story or the gameplay is specifically designed around one of these DLCs being in place.) As I've not played ME3 yet, and the description of what all that DLC actually is in that article, is spartan at best, I can't judge too far atm.

[Europhoria]

I found a link -

http://kotaku.com/5888816/buying-all-of-mass-effect-3s-dlc-will-cost-you-870

Seriously? A mousepad costs more than the book 'the Art of Mass Effect'?! :confused: The book is a master piece and I'd pay for some of the two page spreads as posters. It says Collectors Assault Rifle DLC/Power up for several of the items so perhaps they went a little overboard with their calculations...

[Trashcantoy]

Wow, what a great contest :D

Voted for EA.

[bluz74]

:rolleyes: Silly contest. Everyone knows the worst company in the USA are my in-laws.....

[Asiris]

Good. Let's help EA to earn some recognition :D

[Europhoria]

:rolleyes: Silly contest. Everyone knows the worst company are the USA is my in-laws.....

You're not even married you lying stupid. :mad:

[drgnzach]

Google shouldnt even be on that list, they are actually awesome.

[Porcupeth]

where are the actual bad companies? can't vote for anything on this poll

[marie pavie]

With Monsato not even in the running, I'm not going to read any more of it.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers."


:rolleyes: Silly contest. Everyone knows the worst company in the USA are my in-laws.....
Some Top drawer humor here.

[dune297]

I'd like to offer EA my sincere congratulations for the winning of such an outstanding award.

[somebody]

Voted for Sony. Their repair service is pure crap.
Had to send in my PS3 because I got the YLOD (€160!). Then you think they would give you a new PS3 (which took about 3 months), but it's really an old PS3 with a better fan. The problem is that the fan is extremely loud and doesn't get enough power which makes the PS3 shut down after <2hours.

[HeadshotHoncho]

Voted for Sony. Their repair service is pure crap.
Had to send in my PS3 because I got the YLOD (€160!). Then you think they would give you a new PS3 (which took about 3 months), but it's really an old PS3 with a better fan. The problem is that the fan is extremely loud and doesn't get enough power which makes the PS3 shut down after <2hours.

You should send it in immediately with the complaint that they didn't actually fix your problem.

[Nomad Trooper]

Honestly i'm a little surprised EA is winning by 81 % - Do people honestly hate a company that overprices it's games vs a company that practically gives away user information by not even bothering to store it safely?
No; people hate a company that overprices it's games and literately sells user information VS a company that removed features people payed for.

[somebody]

You should send it in immediately with the complaint that they didn't actually fix your problem.

I did that, but received the same thing again. I just stopped trying. No more Sony products for me!

[HomerPepsi]

I did that, but received the same thing again. I just stopped trying. No more Sony products for me!

Yea sony is evil. Waaay more evil than EA.

After the PSN_Hack, they made everyone who logged in sign a waiver saying they won't sue sony over the theft and misuse of the personal information stolen. What a bunch of crooks.

Also, my PS3 ylod last year (original 60gb, fully BC :( ).. Good thing it was only my wife and kids who used it for streaming and netFLAKES. Just sucks now cause there is no way in hell I am gonna ever pay for xbox live in the first place, let alone just to use netFLAKES..... so Wii it is (and the crappy video quality too).

EDIT: EA also gave me BF3... For that, they have been forgiven slightly, but Origin being spyware puts them right behind sony.

EDIT 2: HOWEVER that EA on Microtransactions on the vote page really has me split... Evil, evil, greedy pigs!

[Zodiark1593]

EA may have questionable practices, but I don't think they're ever removed features in their products that were already bought. Sony on the other hand... *shakes head*.

I may buy a game from EA if conditions attached to the game are acceptable, but Sony, I cannot and will not support.

[MADDOGGE]

Honestly i'm a little surprised EA is winning by 81 % - Do people honestly hate a company that overprices it's games vs a company that practically gives away user information by not even bothering to store it safely?SONY screwed up. It was not intentional. That's forgivable if they fix things. Sony didn't wake up one morning and decide to screw themselves over along with their customers

What EA does however is coldly calculated and not for the long term health of the company. Not to achieve long term customer brand loyalty/satisfaction thereby creating a solid and dependable income stream for stock holders. Instead of building quality games people flock to buy, they build medioce games and bury people in DLC to get a full game. All they do is for short term profit with no real thought of tomorrow, to insure stock holders their fat quarterly dividend checks.

I can not remember a time in EA's existence where they ever gave quality service or customer support. They are like army ants swarming over everything, destroying all in there path, devouring it and leaving nothing worthwhile in their wake.

Though crap now, at least Activison was a decent company at one time. No so EA. Sony I've never had issue with.

[tibetanpunk]

I really don't like either, but the way EA are conducting their business recently my tendency is to vote for them.

[flambeau2]

Yeah that audio of the EA CEO talking about microtransactions makes it clear.
Earning happy customers is so far from their agenda its not even funny.
And Destructiod calculated that to get everything you have to spend 870 bucks on Mass Effect 3? Really? I would like to know how they came up with that.
Not that I'm doubting it but thats a LOT.

I don't like EA either, but I think that microtransactions/day 1 DLC's and so on are not EA's fault, they're gamers' fault. As long as there are silly people willing to waste loads of money in these stuff they'll exist. This is the core of market and capitalism: if people will happily buy expensive crap companies will happily sell them expensive crap

[HomerPepsi]

Though crap now, at least Activison was a decent company at one time.

Very true. Back when activIsion published games like a-10 cuba (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Cuba!), fighter squadron, cod 1-4, doom 3, Heavy gear series, RTCW, mechwarrior series, etc.. They weren't so evil. I'd argue it was guitar hero, cod4, and the surge in console gaming that came with this generation that made them evil.

I don't like EA either, but I think that microtransactions/day 1 DLC's and so on are not EA's fault, they're gamers' fault. As long as there are silly people willing to waste loads of money in these stuff they'll exist. This is the core of market and capitalism: if people will happily buy expensive crap companies will happily sell them expensive crap

I agree, and personally, I blame my generation (I'm 26). Young idiots that have money, who can't see the big greedy corporate picture or think 5 minutes into the future, nor do we have any patience which paves the way for gouging.

[vashts1985]

ea is in the lead with 81%

wake up call EA?

[Anarchisteve]

ea is in the lead with 81%

wake up call EA?

Maybe but I reckon they'll just hit the snooze button.

[KnownUnknown]

SONY screwed up. It was not intentional. That's forgivable if they fix things. Sony didn't wake up one morning and decide to screw themselves over along with their customers

What EA does however is coldly calculated and not for the long term health of the company. Not to achieve long term customer brand loyalty/satisfaction thereby creating a solid and dependable income stream for stock holders. Instead of building quality games people flock to buy, they build medioce games and bury people in DLC to get a full game. All they do is for short term profit with no real thought of tomorrow, to insure stock holders their fat quarterly dividend checks.

I can not remember a time in EA's existence where they ever gave quality service or customer support. They are like army ants swarming over everything, destroying all in there path, devouring it and leaving nothing worthwhile in their wake.

All subjective. Besides, a bunch of other game publishers do exactly the same things you listed yet aren't up for a Worst Company award from the Consumerist. People love to hate on EA just because they can.

Sony, on the other hand, compromised user account information and then tried to cover it up. They also prevented PS3 owners from legally and rightfully using their units as those owners saw fit. I won't bother to mention the dozens of other distasteful stunts they've pulled over the last decade. They're about as anti-consumer as an electronics company can get.

Sony should be winning the Consumerist competition by a huge mile.

[TangledThorns]

I avoid Sony so well that the last product I bought made by them was the PS1.

[Draek]

Between them I'd go for EA, purely because Sony's service is excellent... in the area of digital cameras. Yeah. If it weren't for them I would've had to pay almost twice as much for my SLR (dear Canon & Nikon: your prices suck), a fact for which I'm ready to forgive any misgivings they might have committed against users of a console I'll never buy myself anyways.

[Nomad Trooper]

I can not believe how dumb many of you are acting. Yes, Sony lost user information, but guess what? Valve was hacked recently too and lost personal information. And yet, here you are on the Steam forums, Valves forum, putting down Sony for something that can happen to anyone.

Get your head heads out a your ♥♥♥♥. There are many good reasons to hate Sony, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find! /rant

[Legacy-ZA]

EA has my vote, congratulations! :)

[tibetanpunk]

I can not believe how dumb many of you are acting. Yes, Sony lost user information, but guess what? Valve was hacked recently too and lost personal information. And yet, here you are on the Steam forums, Valves forum, putting down Sony for something that can happen to anyone.

Get your head heads out a your ♥♥♥♥. There are many good reasons to hate Sony, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find! /rant

Big difference though. It was only Valve's forums that got hacked and all the information that the hackers gained was hashed and encrypted.

Sony lost everyone's details and NONE of it was hashed or encrypted...

[drgnzach]

I can not believe how dumb many of you are acting. Yes, Sony lost user information, but guess what? Valve was hacked recently too and lost personal information. And yet, here you are on the Steam forums, Valves forum, putting down Sony for something that can happen to anyone.

Get your head heads out a your ♥♥♥♥. There are many good reasons to hate Sony, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find! /rant

Sony's was stored AS PLAINTEXT (Meaning, once you have it, its youres) and took 3 weeks to get their service back up. Valve's info was hashed and salted (Meaning, even if you get it, its just a jumble of letters and symbols unless you have the correct algorithm)

Sony got their ♥♥♥♥ hacked because of their ♥♥♥♥ty security. Valve had taken measures against it, yet they were still hacked in the end, which wasnt their fault.

Still, EA are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s.

[Zodiark1593]

You know what, can I vote Apple. They seem to sue the pants off everyone who even strives to compete.

[spartan0078]

Does anyone else wonder if big gaming companies like EA will ever see the light and realise alot of their consumers want more than just the next COD clone?

It saddens me even more since I was old enough in the 90s to appreciate the originality that alot of game developers put into their games. The blood, sweat and tears that went into making your game as original as possible. I will still continue to play video games as long as I humanly can. But how long will it be to the breaking point where every game is just a FPS military shooter?

[Penguin1992]

I still am quite fond of Sony, I never went through the hacking fiasco since I've never owned a PS3, and they gave me my Playstation 2, which may be my favorite console of all time.

[BadBeat]

Does anyone else wonder if big gaming companies like EA will ever see the light and realise alot of their consumers want more than just the next COD clone?


A lot of their consumers seem to want nothing more than the next COD clone. Given that the most recent one sold more units than any 15 indie games you'd care to mention put together, they'll keep making them so long as people keep buying them.

If I had to make a prediction, it would take two COD games tanking horrendously before they decided to either cancel it or do something with it. How many depressing years do you think it'll take before *that* happens? 10? 15? Fricking Judgement day?

[Naruzuru]

Er. Do some of you guys really think the dislike for EA is simply because of overpriced games?

What about things like all the hostile takeovers they did/attempted over the years? Shutting down studios they bought, ruining acquired IP's or milking them, being the number one region-overpricing jerks, and explicitly, intentionally nickel and diming customers through various dlc schemes? How about horrible treatment of employees? :|

[Anarchisteve]

Er. Do some of you guys really think the dislike for EA is simply because of overpriced games?

What about things like all the hostile takeovers they did/attempted over the years? Shutting down studios they bought, ruining acquired IP's or milking them, being the number one region-overpricing jerks, and explicitly, intentionally nickel and diming customers through various dlc schemes? How about horrible treatment of employees? :|

According to knownUnknown none of that counts for anything, the only reason we hate EA is because we can. I'm not sure what difficulty he thinks we have hating other companies.

[Rockworm]

To make it clear I don't hate EA exclusively.
Sure I hate Ubisoft and Activision but they haven't hurt me like EA has.
They ruined my love of Bioware and that is simply unforgivable.

[GirlPower23]

Does anyone find it funny that EA is 80% to 19%? LOL

Er. Do some of you guys really think the dislike for EA is simply because of overpriced games?

What about things like all the hostile takeovers they did/attempted over the years? Shutting down studios they bought, ruining acquired IP's or milking them, being the number one region-overpricing jerks, and explicitly, intentionally nickel and diming customers through various dlc schemes? How about horrible treatment of employees? :|

This is exactly why I hate EA Games. Has nothing to do with pricing of their games.

[Nova Prospekt]

I can not believe how dumb many of you are acting. Yes, Sony lost user information, but guess what? Valve was hacked recently too and lost personal information. And yet, here you are on the Steam forums, Valves forum, putting down Sony for something that can happen to anyone.

Get your head heads out a your ♥♥♥♥. There are many good reasons to hate Sony, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find! /rant

:rolleyes:

Sony's user data was just frickin plain text.They didn't even bother to encrypt it.It was all a matter of getting in, once in you have all PSN details.

Valve's steam had hashed and slated data, meaning it was still going to be difficult for the hackers to get details as the'd need the hashing and salting algorithm.Also why we get only a few reports of Steam users having their cards used vs the thousands from the PSN.

After they came up, Sony made everyone sign a petition to not sue sony for their own mistake.Valve obviously did not pull such a BS move on users.

There are very few good reasons to hate Valve, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find!

[Legacy-ZA]

Does anyone find it funny that EA is 80% to 19%? LOL



This is exactly why I hate EA Games. Has nothing to do with pricing of their games.

You have to remember, not everyone lives in your corner of the world, EA regional pricing here is extremely bad. Old games still cost $50 - $70 here. EA is currenly having a sale of some kind, would you know how many games actually have a % off here?

Shhhh, come closer, it's a secret 0

[Anarchisteve]

You have to remember, not everyone lives in your corner of the world, EA regional pricing here is extremely bad. Old games still cost $50 - $70 here. EA is currenly having a sale of some kind, would you know how many games actually have a % off here?

Shhhh, come closer, it's a secret 0

May I ask which country you are from? It must surely be a very small one formed within the last few months to be missing from the maps of a major corporation like EA.

[bluz74]

0

Interesting. Inb4padlock?

[Mivo]

Sony lost everyone's details and NONE of it was hashed or encrypted...

Sony was the first prominent victim, everyone else had plenty of time to make preparations after that incident. How well that extra time was used by other companies is probably a matter of opinion.

[Alavard]

Sony's problems go back for years even before the PSN hack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal

http://involuntaryfury.com/2009/05/sony-pictures-ceo-says-nothing-good-has-come-from-the-internet/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OtherOS

Their idiocy, incompetence, and anti-consumer attitudes and practices are bred into the company's culture.

[Anarchisteve]

Sony's problems go back for years even before the PSN hack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal

http://involuntaryfury.com/2009/05/sony-pictures-ceo-says-nothing-good-has-come-from-the-internet/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OtherOS

Their idiocy, incompetence, and anti-consumer attitudes and practices are bred into the company's culture.

Interesting reading. I agree that Sony are definitely deserving of an award like this but the trouble is it is rather like a Nastiest Dictator Award, so many candidates that each thoroughly deserve it but only one can win. You can argue back and forth about which has done more to earn it but at the end of the day they are all despicable and should be avoided at all costs.

[spartan0078]

Just for kicks. I looked up EA on wikipedia, the critisms section is bigger than the entire article. Lol

[Naruzuru]

May I ask which country you are from? It must surely be a very small one formed within the last few months to be missing from the maps of a major corporation like EA.

It's bad that most publishers screw over Aussies, and give Europe the $1=£1 thing, but really. EA hates every single country outside of the good old North America.

They very rarely give proper sales to the rest of the world. Even if they did, the base price itself is considerably higher than NA.

[KnownUnknown]

According to knownUnknown none of that counts for anything, the only reason we hate EA is because we can. I'm not sure what difficulty he thinks we have hating other companies.

I never said EA hate is unwarranted, I only stated - in very simplified terms - that many gamers don't bother to use valid reasoning when jumping on the EA hate-wagon. You know it's true; simply browsing the Steam forums will verify that.

EA is a morally dubious company, but they don't hold a candle to Sony. Not even close.

[AlecJ32]

I can not believe how dumb many of you are acting. Yes, Sony lost user information, but guess what? Valve was hacked recently too and lost personal information. And yet, here you are on the Steam forums, Valves forum, putting down Sony for something that can happen to anyone.

Get your head heads out a your ♥♥♥♥. There are many good reasons to hate Sony, so stop picking the dumbest ones you can find! /rant

I challenge you to go and learn some absolutely basic fundamentals in information security and then hold that same opinion.

On Sony's network, a small hole gave the hackers access to nearly the entire Playstation network. Plus, Sony stored data in plain text. PLAIN TEXT. If you knew absolutely anything about security at all, it would be blatantly obvious to you that what Sony did is the absolute worst crime against data humanly possible.

On a properly secured network, like Valve's, one little hole won't give the hacker access to absolutely everything they please. The hackers who hacked valve were only able to obtain some database entries for the forum. The actual steam account information was untouched. Furthermore, Valve securely hashed and salted that data, so even though the hacker was able to obtain it, they weren't able to do anything with it because reversing the security on properly stored data can take anywhere from years to thousands of years.

There is zero excuse for storing plain text passwords. Passwords never need to be retrieved; They only need to be compared against. Thus, an irreversible hash is industry standard for storing passwords. Think of it like your bank leaving your money in an unguarded cardboard box in the middle of their parking lot. When the money gets stolen, are you really going to blame the thief and not the bank?

[Legacy-ZA]

Interesting. Inb4padlock?
Indeed, it is what you think it is. I am glad someone noticed. :)
"Unlock" the secret that was hidden.

[MADDOGGE]

Sony made some really bad decisions concerning security but that's on the head of the person or persons responsible for security not the boardroom.

EA's poor anti customer decisions happen in the boardroom though and are intentionally planned with ONLY the shareholders in mind. No thought is given to their customer base. They are expenable. Their attitude being screw the fan base. So we loose the old customers there are plenty new ones if we keep making the games simple enough.