Just saying EA Games in the gaming community is going to stir up some emotions. While there are many that get excited with the thought of the new Madden or Fifa others feel a hint of nausea thinking of half finished games packed with micro transactions. I have heard more than once that EA needs to just stick to sports but even some sports fans think that it would be best if they didn't.
The YouTube channel Business Casual released a short documentary called The Rise of EA ... And Where it Went Wrong. The short documentary takes us through a history of EA from its founding by Trip Hawkins in May of 1982 all the way up until today. While Hopkins left in 1994, EA continued on to grow into the titan we know today.
While short, the overview of where EA came from and how they came to be such a dominant force in the market is pretty informative. From the way they were able to get past distributors to their foresight to make sports games and buy up the exclusive rights of each, EA made all the right moves. Their ability to be cross platform made it possible for name recognition and branding on every console. They also joined in a common business practice of buying up smaller studios. A lot of companies do this with competitors or companies that sell something that is parallel to what they do.
Here is where things start to get a little messy with EA. I really wanted to avoid turning this post into an EA bashing article because it's not needed and it's just too easy to do. That being said it's hard to not feel some resentment for a company who buys up some of your favorite IPs only to shut the studio down and release a product that is subpar or half finished. In fact, this is so prevalent with EA I don't bother buying the games until they are at least a few years old, all the bugs have been fixed, and you can get all the content in the "game of the year" edition.
Now I know there is the possibility that EA just bought these companies up for talent acquisition but it's hard to believe their structure allows for these programmers to excel. An example is when LucasArts creates one of the best online 3rd person shooters only for EA to later release a bare bones full priced game that looked kinda what we think Star Wars Battlefront should be. I am glad they offered the beta though. Without it, I would have never found out how much I would hate being spawned directly in front of an AT-AT just so I could die again. Apparently level design was done by a board member's child. See I couldn't help myself it's just too easy with EA.
Business Casual also touched up on another sore spot in the world of online multiplayer only games but this is not something they do exclusively and I think I want to tackle this subject by itself because there is a lot to be said.
If you have twelve minutes then go check out the Business Casual's video.(It's linked when I mentioned it.) It's a good watch and you can get some history into a game company that used to be associated with an exciting gift and now is associated with an exhausted sigh as you open your wallet to pay more on top of your sixty dollar game.
The YouTube channel Business Casual released a short documentary called The Rise of EA ... And Where it Went Wrong. The short documentary takes us through a history of EA from its founding by Trip Hawkins in May of 1982 all the way up until today. While Hopkins left in 1994, EA continued on to grow into the titan we know today.
While short, the overview of where EA came from and how they came to be such a dominant force in the market is pretty informative. From the way they were able to get past distributors to their foresight to make sports games and buy up the exclusive rights of each, EA made all the right moves. Their ability to be cross platform made it possible for name recognition and branding on every console. They also joined in a common business practice of buying up smaller studios. A lot of companies do this with competitors or companies that sell something that is parallel to what they do.
Here is where things start to get a little messy with EA. I really wanted to avoid turning this post into an EA bashing article because it's not needed and it's just too easy to do. That being said it's hard to not feel some resentment for a company who buys up some of your favorite IPs only to shut the studio down and release a product that is subpar or half finished. In fact, this is so prevalent with EA I don't bother buying the games until they are at least a few years old, all the bugs have been fixed, and you can get all the content in the "game of the year" edition.
Now I know there is the possibility that EA just bought these companies up for talent acquisition but it's hard to believe their structure allows for these programmers to excel. An example is when LucasArts creates one of the best online 3rd person shooters only for EA to later release a bare bones full priced game that looked kinda what we think Star Wars Battlefront should be. I am glad they offered the beta though. Without it, I would have never found out how much I would hate being spawned directly in front of an AT-AT just so I could die again. Apparently level design was done by a board member's child. See I couldn't help myself it's just too easy with EA.
Business Casual also touched up on another sore spot in the world of online multiplayer only games but this is not something they do exclusively and I think I want to tackle this subject by itself because there is a lot to be said.
If you have twelve minutes then go check out the Business Casual's video.(It's linked when I mentioned it.) It's a good watch and you can get some history into a game company that used to be associated with an exciting gift and now is associated with an exhausted sigh as you open your wallet to pay more on top of your sixty dollar game.
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