E3 2018

[fatbeard]

EA is not a studio anymore at all. It is a publisher now.

EA doesn't contract with third party publishers. EA buys them and then milks their IP until fans get pissed off and then closes the studio. That cycle has happened 5-6 times. Its probably the main reason so many people hate them.

The main things EA does that wrecks titles are:

1. EA forces secondary monetization schemes into the games they publish
2. EA forces studios to use the frostbite engine, which is great for FPS games but a fucking pain in the ass for anything else
3. EA enforces unrealistic budgets and release dates resulting in the release of unfinished or at least unpolished games. If there is even the slightest hiccup during development, target dates are almost never adjusted and can result in the release of broken ass trash that can sink a whole fucking IP.

There are a lot of other accusations made against EA, but those 3 are pretty indisputable.

#1 is not necessarily a bad thing if it's done well. Successful monetization (that's voluntary and not intrusive to the player) = more profit = more resources = more sequels to the games we love. Sure, it can be executed poorly, but bad monetization was mostly a thing in the early days of in-game cash shops, with Battlefront II being the notable exception--and boy did EA learn their lesson on that one.

#3 is not always true. Sure, EA forced Bioware to rush Dragon Age 2 in 14 (!) months, but EA also gave Bioware 6 more months to polish/finish Andromeda (after already giving them 5-6 years to fart around with it when it was a No Man's Sky clone) because they knew it wasn't up to snuff. It was Bioware who refused in that case.

 

[Ares]

Whoa, I thought you were talking about Microsoft for a second.


Unless consumers demand quality, and us older gamers and users know how to effectively teach younger generations to spot these shady practices, then it doesn't matter. They will get their customers.

I know they get their customers.... I just imagine you get more revenue and better long term revenue growth with a more balanced approach.

Also the strategy of buying up studios... milking them dry.... destroying their IP.... and then moving on to another one, seems like long term folly.

Again I am not saying they can't make money.... and maybe they can continue doing this indefinitely... but what if the market turns on them?

What if studios start rejecting them and their practices or if they make some bad acquisitions and the financials turn on them?

It just seems to me like they are bearing alot of risk and creating more and more enemies in the market for short term sales.

I am just trying to look at this from a business perspective, I am not even trying to consider the intangible value of studios and their IP.

If this was an industry like steel or oil or telecom where you can destroy people and make enemies because you are in a business where the barrier to entry for competition gets higher and higher and the demand for your product is constant if not increasing.... then I get it.... but this is an industry that produces content that is a mixture of creativity and technical prowess.... anyone with a vision for a game and the technical skill to build it can launch their own studio out of their house.... there is no way to monopolize the gaming market.... so why play the game like this?

 

[Crystallas]

I know they get their customers.... I just imagine you get more revenue and better long term revenue growth with a more balanced approach.

Also the strategy of buying up studios... milking them dry.... destroying their IP.... and then moving on to another one, seems like long term folly.

Again I am not saying they can't make money.... and maybe they can continue doing this indefinitely... but what if the market turns on them?

What if studios start rejecting them and their practices or if they make some bad acquisitions and the financials turn on them?

It just seems to me like they are bearing alot of risk and creating more and more enemies in the market for short term sales.

I am just trying to look at this from a business perspective, I am not even trying to consider the intangible value of studios and their IP.

If this was an industry like steel or oil or telecom where you can destroy people and make enemies because you are in a business where the barrier to entry for competition gets higher and higher and the demand for your product is constant if not increasing.... then I get it.... but this is an industry that produces content that is a mixture of creativity and technical prowess.... anyone with a vision for a game and the technical skill to build it can launch their own studio out of their house.... there is no way to monopolize the gaming market.... so why play the game like this?

The market should turn on them, if there was freedom in the market. It goes back to IP. If you protect someone based on an idea and ability to game the system, then we know what happens. For every argument for IP, there are at least 3 against it. Without that IP, it wouldn't matter. The actual creator would carry the big bat behind the ideas, and consumers would evolve to be more loyal to artists, not corporations(and what is a corporation? just the same special interest granted, not an entity that is organically formed without some big bully able to enforce their will to some degree).

Even if you don't like my point of view, at least from the points and observations you make, we can agree that IP strongholds need to be limited considerably.

 

[Scoot26]

The market should turn on them, if there was freedom in the market. It goes back to IP. If you protect someone based on an idea and ability to game the system, then we know what happens. For every argument for IP, there are at least 3 against it. Without that IP, it wouldn't matter. The actual creator would carry the big bat behind the ideas, and consumers would evolve to be more loyal to artists, not corporations(and what is a corporation? just the same special interest granted, not an entity that is organically formed without some big bully able to enforce their will to some degree).

Even if you don't like my point of view, at least from the points and observations you make, we can agree that IP strongholds need to be limited considerably.

Kind of off topic, but your view of corporations may be one of the few things you and I agree on.

 

[fatbeard]

The market should turn on them, if there was freedom in the market.

Uh...

http://fortune.com/2017/11/29/ea-star-wars-battlefront-2-controversy-stock/

 

[remydat]

Ghost of Tsushima looks ridiculous. It never ceases to amaze me how much better games continue to look.

[video=youtube_share;kSAvzeopPC8]https://youtu.be/kSAvzeopPC8[/video]

Yep been holding off on getting a PS4 until this drops.

 

[remydat]

As for EA, FIFA is the only game they have consistently managed to get right.

 

[Monk]

[video=youtube_share;rP3UngLFou4]https://youtu.be/rP3UngLFou4[/video]

I’m still mad they canceled the Silent Hills game. Might have to pick this one up


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