What the f*** is EA (Electronic Arts) Doing?

How EA is Ruining the Gaming Industry.

(Photo saved from EA)

EA has been around a whopping 38 years and counting. You are putting some of our favorite video games, such as Mass Effect, Plants vs. Zombies, The Sims, Skate, and many, many more in our hands. You would think this would be a good thing. Mainly because without EA, some of the games mentioned would have never seen the light of day. However, consumers do NOT run EA. It’s run by businessmen & women who want nothing more than to fill their pockets with your hard-earned money. Now, at this point of the article, you may be saying to yourself….

“Uh….. Isn’t that what businesses are supposed to do? What makes EA so different?”

And to that I say… EA CARES ABOUT NOTHING BUT GETTING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY DESPITE THE QUALITY OF THEIR PRODUCTS!!! Allow me to explain, Using one of the games or more specifically the entire original trilogy of Mass Affect as an example each game varied in quality from the first to the third & keep in mind this section will contain a fair amount of personal opinion but bare with me. Anyways, The first game is universally regarded as the best due to the very immersive story, the wide and varied amounts of weapon customization, & finally the very clear and intriguing personality types Commander Shepard could embody via Paragon or Renegade choices. The first Mass Effect game had very clear and compelling personality types for every character villain and comrade alike while also allowing each of said characters to add on to the very deeply researched and detailed lore of the Mass Effect universe as a whole. To fan girl a bit I loved the very ominous personalities of the Reapers in the original game & the Krogens were my favorite species specifically but I digress.

On to the second game, Mass Effect 2 began to shift a bit but not to terribly much and it’s here in the second game where players could see EA beginning to put their hands more into the development of the game. Now as a quick side bar and to inform those who may not be aware EA isn’t the developers of any of the games mentioned. Each game mentioned was either outsourced too or developed by completely separate companies that EA owns (now keep this in mind because this will be important later). In Mass Effect’s case it was developed by BioWare and the reason I mention this at all is because this adds more validity to my comment from earlier that EA isn’t run by consumers it’s run by business men and women. Furthermore, Mass Effect 2 stepped away from the already well written and compelling story of the first game to delve more into the lore of the universe. Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and for some people (like myself) this is an incredibly good thing. In fact, expanding on the already compelling lore allowed for the introduction of new characters such as: Mordin, The Illusive Man, and Thane. However, Lore has nothing to do with story. I wouldn’t have minded an expansion on lore if it tied itself more seamlessly into the actual plot but it never does. Additionally, The story takes a very different direction from the original story entirely only briefly referencing the original plot and allowing you to have a few of your squad mates from the first game.

Now, don’t get me wrong game play wise both games are fantastic, Mass Effect one may be a little out dated by today’s standards with games like Vanquish and Warframe revolutionizing the futuristic third person shooter genre for today’s audiences. Nevertheless, Without Mass Effect one those games probably wouldn't exist and the second game continued to improve upon that already compelling formula even more solidifying Mass Effect’s well deserved popularity.

Even so…. Now we must talk about the dreaded final game of the trilogy: Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 3 was the game that split the gaming community right down the middle. Once again mentioning game play (because that’s basically the only good aspect of this game) it was fantastic. Yet the rest of the game was basically a husk of what it originally was. There are two major reasons for this: 1) EA began to see nothing but dolla’ signs from their beloved Mass Effect franchise, so much so that they began to even further interfere with the development of the series leading to the next reason why the game lost it’s identity. 2) Some of the most important developers, writers, and voice actors left after the release of Mass Effect 2 due to creative differences with EA. Now do you remember earlier when I told you to keep in mind the fact that EA owns BioWare? It was that fact that lead to EA becoming basically an overly intrusive parent in a way. Causing some of the great minds of the first game to become frustrated enough to leave. Despite, the formula BioWare was originally building and trying to maintain being very successful EA wanted to change that direction of the series in hopes of reaching even more players and making even more money. Even so, The third game COMPLETELY DESECRATED THE ENTIRE SERIES!! From the horrible marketing strategy toward new players (although this was the final game of a trilogy NOT being published to a new console generation),to the complete rewriting of already beloved characters and finally the dreaded ending. This game is still one of the most disappointing games of the 21st century and also the beginning of the gradual destruction of one of the most influential game developers of all time.

The saddest part of all of this is, this isn’t the first or even the last time EA has done such ogreish things to beloved games and game franchises. For example, Since as of the time of me writing this article Quarantine is still undergoing in my country I have been beginning to play more video games with my obscene amounts of free time. One of the games I began to play was The Sims: Freeplay. I absolutely LOVEEE The Sims! The Sims makes everyday life some how some way much more fun and simple than life in the real world. Nevertheless, The Sims: Freeplay is a free to play game for phones & tablets. When playing free games (or games in general for that matter but that’s a topic for another day) micro transactions are very common one of the most hated practices implemented by game publishers today. Anyway, I was playing this game religiously trying my best to make deadlines for fun rewards you earn as you complete tasks within certain time periods. One of the missions in particular was called Love & Treasure and if you completed the mission within five days you won the island the majority of the missions took place on. I was super excited and tried my best to make the deadlines but the game was INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO FORCE YOU TO SPEND MONEY. Each task in said mission took hours, the game never sent me notifications when the tasks in regards to that mission finished, and the only way you would be able to finish the mission within the time frame was by basically playing the game 24/7 which is impossible for anyone living a normal life quarantine or not basically it was forcing players to grind for their rewards when video games shouldn’t be about grinding it should be about having fun. When I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make the deadline I furiously uninstalled the game because I was so angry at how blatantly I was shown I wasn’t cared for as a consumer.

Finally, I’m not the only one with a story similar to this one. Search through Youtube and even Google for that matter and you’ll find plenty of stories similar to mine about EA’s horrible business practices. From Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, & Plants vs. Zombies 2, EA is ruining our treasured gaming industry one game at a time. Now so much so that other gaming industries are starting to partake in these business practices day after day in hopes of also earning obscene amounts of money. The only thing we can do now is continue to voice our opinions and also boycott EA products in hopes of change. Anyways, for now live life and play on my fellow gamers!! Just not EA games though……..