EA represents a lot of what is so wrong with the industry these days. The problem is that their focus is more on getting instant gratification for their stockholders. Games are no longer about fun, they are about min-maxing. What's the least amount of effort we can put into a game, and still come out on top in terms of dollar signs? See, from EA's point of view, it doesn't matter if people enjoy your game or hate your game. As long as in the end they make a profit, they are perfectly content.
The worst thing about this is that they will never change. No matter how much controversy SimCity or the next disaster stirs up, EA will only be putting in the minimum amount of effort that it takes to bring their numbers back up. The only real hope anyone has is to start backing real game developers, people who actually enjoy games.
I'm tired of seeing F2P, microtransactions, and other forms of money-grabbing gimmicks. I don't care about how it can benefit certain types of games, how it's destroying games, or how developers design the game to push players to put money into a game touted as "free." I really don't. What I do care about is the fact that nobody seems to care anymore that games have gone from, "How enjoyable is this game" to "How much money can I squeeze out of this?"
Games used to be about having fun. The fun of development, to do something nobody else has done before, of creating the mechanics around it to make it playable. The absolute elation of seeing a growing fanbase of people enjoying your hard work.
Sure there are a few games out there that are plenty popular without necessitating crudely thought up systems to coerce a few extra dollars from you, but as a gamer, can you really say that you like the direction that the industry is headed? I've seen a lot of games that I played growing up ruined by people who simply don't understand what games are, and why you can't just inject money into the formula without consequence.
Personally, I'm done. After the abysmal embarrassment that was Command and Conquer 4 and seeing what they're doing to Generals 2 (sorry, I mean "Command and Conquer"), I'm honestly done. I'm not buying any more EA games. I've realized that game hype is another spawn of the PR machine that works to mask the crap that EA represents, and not playing the next Super-Fantastic-Mega-Ultimate-Shooter-Strategy-Alien-Cowboy-Nukes 6 isn't going to kill me.
I'm not encouraging anyone to go for a refund and never buy another game from EA again, but I am encouraging free thought. I encourage people to get back to the roots of gaming, and to stop defending those who would turn one of our last escapes into a no-fun zone. Games should be about creating something for people to enjoy. It is my firm belief that if a game is made with honest effort and in good faith, success will flow.
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