The worst company in the USA. As commander Shepard ruined the mood of the EA leadership

Recently, Electronic Arts has often been mentioned in news feeds – then the promotions will fall, then sales will be reduced, then the financial director will leave the industry. The most unpleasant and unexpected message was that Electronic Arts recognized the worst company in the United States according to the readers of The Consumerist. Literally, rumors about the dismissal of EA thousands of employees (almost 11% of all labor) creeped immediately. What is happening?

Unexpected failure

Critics are all for the executive director of Electronic Arts John Rikitello. They claim that before his arrival, the company cost fabulous money, and now fails for failure.

John Rikitello – undoubtedly, a talented person, with a real entrepreneurial vein. He managed to work in Clorox , Pepsico , H?Agen-Dazs , Wilson Sporting Goods , Sara Lee Corporation and in Electronic Arts (as the chief operating director). Then John left EA to establish an investment company Elevation Partners Together with Bono from U2. In 2007, Rikitello triumphantly returned to EA at the invitation of the former CEO of Larry Probst.

[[Bullet]] CEO Electronic Arts John Rikitello admits that he loves games with all his heart and often hangs in front of the screen to pass the next action movie.

Paradoxical, but at that time the company's shares cost $ 51, in a year she managed to produce up to six dozen games. Five years later, in 2012, Electronic Arts shares are already $ 14.87, and the number of games has significantly decreased. The company relies on fresh IP, invests a lot of money in advertising, does not break out of the developers of the hand, but efforts are far from always married to success.

Many loud AAA-Igra Electronic Arts were not sold in the best way. Take, for example, a recent shooter Syndicate – rethinking the legendary series about the war of the corporations of the future. Studio project Starbreeze At the time of writing these lines, 130 thousand copies were dispersed two months after the start of sales. The failure is associated with the crisis, problems of the retail sector and a high price ($ 60) with insufficient content.

[[Bullet]] EA's colossal budgets for Games Marketing can level the profit from sales even the most loud title.

Another insulting failure of Electronic Arts – Bulletstorm. The adventures of the cosmic Soldering Grayson Hunt were played in one breath, the mutated miners were exterminated by thousands, bright special effects did not stop from the first mission to the victorious end. In fact, the game was nearly a revolution in the genre. What about? A little more than a million boxes were sold on all the main platforms from the moment of release on all the main platforms. Not so bad for the new series, but EA spent more on the project marketing more than expected. As a result, Bulletstorm was unprofitable, and Epic Games began to blame pirates in everything. It is possible, it is not unreasonable.

Finally, another unsuccessful start is Need for Speed: The Run with the Russian supermodel Irina Shayk. The game was released on PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360, WII and even 3DS, but only 3.03 million copies were sold. For comparison, NFS: Most Wanted for all conceivable game platforms diverged with a circulation of 9.36 million copies.

The commander failed

But all this does not explain why the company was recognized the worst in the United States. First, let's figure out what the Consumerist blog is generally. This is a network representation of an authoritative American magazine Consumer Reports, which publishes reviews of various equipment and services. The publication is very influential, since its verdict is directly reflected in sales of tested products. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the words of The Consumerist are listening with great interest. About a quarter of a million people took part in the network survey, of which 160 thousand unanimously recognized the worst company in https://davincis-gold-casino.co.uk/ the USA Electronic Arts. The second place in this standings of losers occupies Bank of America.

Some journalists explain such a strange behavior of users with a wave of negativity, which fell on Electronic Arts after the release of the final part Mass Effect. The players were unhappy with the proposed ending options. Addressed to BioWare and ea raised angry letters. The voting on The Consumerist, who turned up to the public, was in the right place at the right time: Shepard's fans put a tick opposite EA, and the publisher received an unflattering title.

[Bullet]] Saga Mass Effect 3 derived the level of directing and scenario skills in games at a completely new level. It seems that in the future of games that are as close as possible in terms of entertainment to Hollywood films, there will only be more.

There is another important factor – an attempt to cash in on DLC. The blog explains that EA intentionally produces imperfect products, and then sells additional content that corrects problems for money. Criticism is also caused by the company's reluctance to reduce the cost of the retail cost of boxing games.

Perhaps someone also remembered scandalous advertising Dante’s Inferno In 2009, when the publisher suggested visitors to the San Diego Comic-con "lusting" models from the exhibition and receive prizes for this. The company also arranged a real performance at the event Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) a couple of years ago. She hired actors who played the role of angry Christian activists who protested against the scandalous game.

Perhaps some of her workers, not satisfied with the unstable situation in the publishing house, voted for EA. In April on the site Startupgrind.Com posted reports that the company in the near future could fire up to a thousand people. In addition, in February, the company Director Eric Brown left the company, and several more high -paying specialists switched to high -ranking positions in Zynga.

[[Bullet]] Chic Brunette Irina Shayk could not save NFS: The Run from failure. The game series needs something more than the ideal forms of our compatriot.

Criticism is often caused by corporate absorptions Electronic Arts. For example, last year the publisher bought the next developer of social games – company Popcap Games , Creators of superpopular projects Plants vs. Zombies , Zuma And Bejeweled. The transaction value amounted to over a billion dollars. But back in 2007, the publisher bought the developers BioWare And Pandemic for $ 620 million. It's a pity, but often these large -scale investments are in vain. Electronic Arts is far from always successfully working with purchased companies. The list of closed units EA includes Gamestorm , Bullfrog , Westwood Studios , Westwood Pacific , Origin Systems , Maxis , Dice Canada and a number of others. The fate of Popcap Games is still under a big question.

Good boss

Of course, you can look at all the listed problems Electronic Arts at a slightly different angle. To begin with, the publisher denied rumors about the dismissal. The company said that some reductions may happen, but by the end of the year the total staff of employees will even grow up. As for the voting results on The Consumerist, EA reacted to them like this: “We are sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris and Halliburton sighed with relief when we learned that they were not nominated this year. We will continue to make excellent games and services that enjoy 300 million people around the world.

As for pricing, then here John Rikitello has an answer. As the general director of the company, he successfully managed to start working on the digital distribution system EA Origin , which shows very good results, in particular, and thanks to acceptable prices. The publishing house confirmed that at least 40% of SWTOR got the game from this store. In 2011, EA profit from digital sales exceeded one billion dollars. Buying on the Internet is actively stimulated by the company itself, which has implemented various social functions in its last projects. For example, players Need for Speed: The Run And football simulators can now view friends statistics and compete with them. Plus to this through Origin All additions and updates are distributed.

[Bullet]] widely advertised and long-awaited online game in one of the most popular universes has not yet shown its best qualities, so the players do not linger for a long time.

As for the departure of high -ranking employees, Rikitello does not believe that their decision was directly affected by the personnel policy of EA. During a speech at the conference Wedbush Technology The CEO told how colleagues approached him and almost with tears admitted love to Electronic Arts, but complained that they were forced to leave it for various reasons (for example, because of the incredible money offered by Zynga).

In fact, on the site of EA in the list of The Consumerist could be any major publishing house selling high prices and abusing the release of additional content for hits. With their verdict, players simply warn that it is high time for bulky corporations to change something in their work with customers, otherwise the next time they can be punished much more than the first place in the list of the worst companies in the USA.