The Electronic Arts thread

[Doublezero]

Anthem is sounding like a disaster. I wonder how many failures it's going to take for EA to change course.

[Kendo 2]

1 hour ago, Doublezero said:

Anthem is sounding like a disaster. I wonder how many failures it's going to take for EA to change course.

If they think their business model is a success they'll never change course.  It's obvious that multiplayer, games-as-services and microtransactions are what they want; and people with more money than sense are rewarding them.  Action RPGs published by EA might be things of the past. *shrugs*  Regardless, I'll never buy anything they publish after all of the things that came to light after Andromeda was released.  Battlefront2 was another confirmation for me; and I'm only interested in single player games anyway.  Had my fill of multiplayer with WOW.

 

[nsfwmodszzz]

EA empire is built on the cash flows from EA Sports, which its management recognized is an addiction and remade a content business model into an extraction model.  Financially it was brilliant, evil but brilliant nonetheless.  As long as EA can keep extracting from its sports monopoly the company can and will fund its evil tentacles into other genres and IP, even if EA's culture means every original content it acquired will wither and die in its hands.  Interestingly Tencent of China is likely to make a play for FIFA and NBA licensing at some point which could destroy EA.  However Tencent is even more evil than EA so just as we thought the Empire has died a new one could rise and take its place...

[Doublezero]

Another gem from EA.

 

[Kendo 2]

EA's stock value dropped another 5 points, making the total loss since Battlefront2's release estimated at $6 Billion.  Individual stock certificates were $125.00, now they are at $100.  And people really aren't talking about UFC2 yet...and the fiscal quarter won't end until Jan 31, 2018.  Suck it, EA. 

[zilvradrow]

This happens when you fool customers and the greed outweighs. I do not begrudge anyone a bad thing, but they have to attribute themselves to the loss and the minus is in my opinion too small. I know some more times when a customer was king.

Edited December 6, 2017 by zilvradrow

[Kendo 2]

2 hours ago, ritualclarity said:

If they keep on loosing stock value they might get taken over..

...by Disney. 

...by Warner Bros. 

BUT if Warner Bro.s bought them then maybe...just maybe they might through a few IPs at CDPR.

[nsfwmodszzz]

It doesn't make sense for Disney to buy EA at all.  Disney is all about accumulating timeless IP (and buying off politicians to kill off public domain).  EA has no IP that can withstand test of time.  EA's power/value is its sports monopoly but EA Sports is not itself an IP like ESPN, which Disney also owns and is not currently aging well so no way Disney is looking to double down on an inferior model.  EA's second biggest money maker is actually Star Wars games whose value lies within Disney.

EA will die when someone with a bigger pocket and similar predatory business model makes a play on its sports licensing.  It won't be CDPR.  CDPR has not the cash nor the interest in getting into the addiction extraction business.  Valve or Blizzard maybe, but the most likely candidate would be Tencent.  Tencent is a bigger evil than EA but is too powerful for Disney to let Star Wars be in its hands for the same reason Disney is pulling out of Netflix; so there is a silver lining...

A more likely scenario if the stock price is cheap enough to attract hostile bids is that management will get in bed with hedge funds for privatization.  There will be enough interest and the management team can make even more money for themselves that way. 

 

[Doublezero]

Quote

EA May Not Bring Certain Loot Boxes Back to 'Star Wars Battlefront II'

Electronic Arts may not bring microtransactions back to Star Wars Battlefront II, the chief financial officer of Electronic Arts told a gathering of investors earlier this week. This is the first time EA has publicly acknowledged that the controversial money-making system may not return to the Star Wars game.

Also on Tuesday, one of the Hawaiian state representatives looking into EA's use of microtransactions in the game released a video calling for viewers to write their local politicians about the practice. State representatives Chris Lee and Sean Quinlan talked viewers through the process of creating a bill that would prohibit loot boxes to people who are under 21.

While the specter of government intervention into video games continues to threaten the game industry's long-fought independence from government oversight, the industry's major publishers and organizations all remain relatively quiet about any form of self-regulation when it comes to the use of microtransactions in video games. That could be in part because microtransactions represent such a large portion of the video game industry's income. Analysis group Superdata estimates that the transactions tied to free-to-play PC games accounted for $19 billion dollars of the industry's revenue in 2016, while traditional PC and console game sales only accounted for $8 billion.

Electronic Arts found itself at the heart of the controversy earlier this year when it released a beta for Star Wars Battlefront II that contained what players believed was an overly aggressive use of microtransactions. 

While the game sells as a full-priced retail title, it was originally set to have a microtransaction system that asked players to invest extra time or money to unlock major playable heroes. The outcry, which resulted in the most downvoted comment (by EA) in the history of Reddit, led the company to temporarily pull the microtransaction system on the eve of the game's launch. It also led to comments from both LucasFilm and Disney, seemingly condemning EA’s approach to microtransactions in the game.

At the time, EA said that microtransactions would "become available at a later date, only after we've made changes to the game."

But speaking at the 37th Nasdaq Investor Conference on Tuesday, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen noted that microtransactions may not return to the game when asked about how the company is dealing with the backlash.

"Clearly we are very focused on listening to the consumer and understanding what the consumer wants and that's evolving constantly," he says. "But we're working on improving the progression system. We turned the MTX off as an opportunity to work on the progression system inside the game. We're continuing to do that. I think there's an update this week and again next week.

"Overtime we'll address how we will want to bring the MTX either into the game or not and what form we will decide to bring it into."

Meanwhile, in Hawaii, the video released by State Rep. Chris Lee offered some insight into the thinking of law makers there when it comes to microtransactions, something referred in the video as predatory gaming practices.

Lee points out that in working to draft a bill they are also trying to pave the way for lawmakers in other states to draft their own bills on the matter. Lee notes that his office has been receiving calls from politicians all over the country, noting specifically a state representative from Missouri asking about the law.

He also brings up the patent filed by Activision, and unearthed by Glixel, earlier this year for a system that seemed designed to tweak gameplay and the way players were paired up to try and get people to spend more money on those items. Activision later said the tech isn’t being used in any current games, but it raised some legitimate questions about how far a developer and publisher will go to squeeze out more profit from a released game.

Lee says that the first step is limiting predatory microtransactions and that he hopes that will be enough to get the game industry to change the way it makes money. He also called on viewers to start a grassroots movement to reach out to politicians in their areas about the issue. Lee even created a template "predatory game letter" that can personalized and sent to politicians.

In the letter, Lee draws a straight line between loot boxes and gambling, noting that the "loot box game mechanism is designed to exploit the same psychological responses that make slot machines addictive, posing a significant risk to vulnerable consumers" and that loot boxes are often designed to look like slot machines in how they pay out their non-monetary rewards.

The letter calls for politicians to limit the availability of loot boxes to those 21 and over, have loot boxes and the games that include them be regulated by the same groups that regulate gambling, require a clear disclosure of the odds of winning items in loot boxes, enable regulators to audit loot boxes.

Glixel has reached out to EA, the ESRB and the ESA for comment and will update this story when they reply.

While Electronic Arts hasn't responded to emails seeking comment from Glixel, nor has it done any interviews since the controversy started, this is the second time that CFO Jorgensen has discussed the issue with analysts.

Speaking earlier this week, Joregensen called the turmoil surrounding the game a learning experience.

"But it's been a great learning experience for us; we consider ourselves a learning organisation," he told the gathering of analysts. "If we're not learning, that means we're failing in some way and we're constantly trying to watch what people do and how they play and listen to them to decide what's the best way to build great games."

http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/ea-may-not-bring-loot-boxes-back-to-battlefront-ii-w513439

[Guest]

Lengthy video, but this is pretty much common sense. I already do this for a long time since Square Enix and now Bethesda. I don't buy EA games. The last game I bought was Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings - Enhanced Edition which was on sale on GOG a month ago.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Guest

[Kendo 2]

EA, you done did fucked up now...

 

[Doublezero]

It's not looking good for Battlefront 2.

Quote

NPD Shows Dismal 'Battlefront 2' Sales At 20% Of 'Call of Duty: WWII' Sales

NPD is reporting (via WSJ) that Star Wars Battlefront 2 sales (in the US), were only 882,000 in its debut month. This is in sharp contrast to chief Activision rival Call of Duty: WWII, which instead sold 4.4 million copies during the month using the same metric.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/12/08/npd-shows-dismal-battlefront-2-sales-at-20-of-call-of-duty-wwii-sales/#7c3439cd2b38

[Kendo 2]

 

[nsfwmodszzz]

On 12/10/2017 at 1:42 AM, ritualclarity said:

My question is why would 882,000 people buy the game its debut month? Perhaps pre-sales?

I'm interested in the current trending pattern of the sales of Starwars Battlefront. Hopefully dropping even more.

 

Edit: I mean I downloaded the trial and it appeared to be a pretty good game however after playing for some time and getting prompts for boxes and other things, It started to get really annoying. Not to mention after about 2 hours you realize how much you will have to grind to get anywhere without spending a shit ton of money.

Didn't BF2015 sell over 10 million copies in its debut?  Assuming US is 1/3 of global sales then BF2017 is easily down 70%.  Considering EA did similar shit in FIFA and that game with microtransactions actually became one of if not the biggest money maker in EA history, Star Wars fandom showed that they are fans and not addicts.

[Guest]

This is awesome.

Having to rate their games with loot boxes for audiences of the age of 21+ means less sales. That could only mean they'll take a step back on loot boxes. If this bill passes. Which I have no doubt it will considering the amount of gamers that are against this anti consumer practice alone. Then imagine all them angry moms informed about it who will surely want this bill passed.

Edited December 14, 2017 by Guest

[Kendo 2]

EA has scrubbed to role playing expansion DLC.  The same thing happened with Andromeda and look at what became of that game. 

[Kendo 2]

8 hours ago, ritualclarity said:

Of which game?

Battlefront 2.  The first RPG campaign expansion is dead.

[Kendo 2]

And now there is beginning to be a repeat of what happened to Andromeda with their new Bioware game 'Anthem'.  The lead developer has been fired and another one has quit.

[Kendo 2]

I don't see anything wrong with it since she's a public figure.  Just add her to the list that includes Jessica Alba, Meagan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, etc.  As for her being a minor, the Sims community is full of flaky people.  What is weird to me is that the official Maxis account uploaded and then recommended it.  That's just 'creepy'.

[Kendo 2]

 

 

[Kendo 2]

OH...MY...GOD...

Anita-fucking-Sarkeesian goes to the Bioware studios and they let her in...and apparently they're listening to what she has to say.

Here's the article I read.

Whatever shred of credibility EA's Bioware had left, they just wiped their asses with it.

 

[nsfwmodszzz]

Considering realBioware is already dead and buried I am not as concerned about this as that BF2 sold 10 mln copies.  It's a big fall from 14 mln of BF1 but 10 mln is still a lot.  No wonder EA has no qualm of announcing that they will bring MTX back.  Gamers get the games they deserved.

[Guest]

It's a good thing no one has to come in and drain the swamp, they are doing it themselves.

[Doublezero]

Well Anthem is DOA. Not that I thought it would be any good anyway. Anyone want to bet that this game will sell less than Andromeda? Hell, has EA even provided sales figures for Andromeda?

[Doublezero]

This old news but it's the first I've heard of it.