Electronic Arts: Difference between revisions

EA has received criticism for its reliance on microtransactions, its focus on [[downloadable content]] (DLC), and other business practices that some consumers perceive as excessively unfavorable (predatory and anti-consumer). <!--Editor's note: When we add that ranking system, I'd say they would rank pretty high in consumer unfriendliness.-->

===Origin shutdown===

===Lootboxes===

Multiple games published by EA in recent years have garnered significant controversy over what is essentially legal gambling. This is most commonly seen in EA sports titles and their "Ultimate Team" modes, which has players using in-game currency that can be purchased with real-world money to buy card packs, in order to potentially get high-value player cards. This monetization method, considered by many to be "predatory", most notably introduced controversy within the modern release of ''Star Wars Battlefront 2'', wherein the most powerful character in-game, Darth Vader, could only be obtained through this lootbox system.<ref>https://www.pcworld.com/article/3231668/gaming/loot-boxes-ruining-gaming.html</ref><ref>http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-10-09-star-wars-battlefront-2-has-a-loot-crate-problem</ref><ref>http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-10-12-thinking-outside-the-loot-box</ref> It was not until several weeks after the backlash that EA would tone down these lootboxes by changing loot pools.<ref>https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/star-wars-battlefront-ii-changes-its-loot-box-plans-but-is-it-enough/</ref><ref>https://www.vg247.com/2017/10/13/after-beta-controversy-dice-has-better-clarified-the-loot-crate-system-in-the-final-version-of-star-wars-battlefront-2/</ref> Lootboxes remained within the title until [[Disney]] directly instructed EA to stop because of gambling concerns.<ref>https://www.wsj.com/articles/electronic-arts-pulls-microtransactions-from-star-wars-battlefront-ii-after-fan-backlash-1510936871</ref> <!--Honestly deserving of an article considering the sheer insanity of EA here--><!--Concept section:

At the moment, The Sims 4 holds EA's record for game with the most DLC for sale, with a total of $519.97 for expansion DLC being sold at $40 a pop, and a grand total of $1064.45 for all DLC. Purchase of these DLCs are necessitated since compared to the previous entry in the series, The Sims 3, there is a lower amount of content in TS4's base game.

===''Spore''===

''Spore'' retains a historical 1.7+ million pirated copies,<ref>https://www.ncesc.com/gaming-pedia/how-many-times-was-spore-pirated/</ref><ref>https://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/</ref> directly related to EA's use of [[SecuROM]].<ref name=":0" /> In more recent years, ''Spore'''s server access was locked down to EA accounts,<ref name=":1">https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=582350678</ref> mostly thanks to a free [[Steam]] key exploit. This has led to various problems for legitimate consumers who merely wanted to play the iconic game and its sibling ''Darkspore,'' since according to guides,<ref name=":1" /> users could only have a singular install of the game on any device, were required to have an EA account using an alphanumeric password, and needed a CD key to redeem on the user's EA account.<ref>https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002333209-Spore-How-to-get-access-to-online-features?product=gog</ref> This has brought concern among the community, leading to community-developed tools to circumvent these server problems.<ref>https://sporecommunity.com/</ref>

In order for EA to hold its high position, it has been known to buy out its competition.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20191230013406/https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/02/01/bad-reputation-americas-top-20-most-hated-companies/1058718001/</ref> Often, this has led to the detriment of the companies they buy out,<ref>https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2012-apr-04-la-fi-mo-electronic-arts-worst-company-consumerist-20120404-story.html</ref> and by extension, the media which they release. A historical example, Westwood Studios, which pioneered the RTS genre with the ''Command & Conquer'' series, was shut down about five years after its purchase by EA, and its notable franchise was left abandoned years later, with entries either delisted or broken after GameSpy-based DRM were broken circa 2014.<ref>https://www.pcgamer.com/reddit-compiles-terrifying-list-of-games-affected-by-gamespy-shutdown/</ref> While its habit of buying and closing studios has thinned since 2008, it similarly closed Visceral Games, the developer of ''Dead Space,'' in 2017.<ref>https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/17/ea-shuts-down-visceral-games/</ref>

In February 2025, EA worked with C&C community members to open source four Command & Conquer games under the GPL license, in a move widely celebrated by the gaming community<ref>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43197131</ref><ref>https://news.itsfoss.com/ea-open-source-cc-games/</ref>.