EA has secured a new milestone that the company surely is not proud of.
Last year, there was significant negative criticism aimed at Electronic Arts. Particularly, the pay-to-win scandal surrounding Star Wars Battlefront 2 stayed in the minds of many players. A listing from Wall Street now shows that this negative criticism has special consequences.
EA in 5th Place among the Most Hated Companies
Based on factors such as major events, customer surveys, employee reviews, and more, 24/7 Wall Street compiled a list of the most hated companies in America.
In 5th place, behind the NFL (National Football League) and the University of Phoenix, is Electronic Arts. They have previously won the title of “worst company” more than once. Regarding the latest ranking, Wall Street writes:
“Electronic Arts, or EA, has been creating particularly successful video games for many years. EA has produced many successful franchises such as ‘The Sims’, ‘Battlefield’, or ‘Need for Speed’ as well as the annual titles ‘Madden’ and ‘FIFA’. They had a significant role in shaping the face of gaming, but the company’s reputation has suffered greatly. There are many examples where EA acquired smaller studios due to a particular game and then either took away the originality of the game or drove the studio into the ground.”
Furthermore, Wall Street addresses the issues with Star Wars Battlefront 2 in their description: “EA released an early access version of the game which immediately caused a lot of anger. Players discovered that unlocking popular characters would cost more than 40 hours of gameplay or several hundred dollars [for in-game purchases]. The public outcry over the perceived greed prompted the studio to temporarily disable in-game purchases.”
After the scandal surrounding Battlefront 2, EA disabled microtransactions in BF2 and even in Need for Speed. While fans did not criticize the in-game purchases in Need for Speed, EA likely wanted to act preemptively here.
Now EA stands in 5th place among America’s most hated companies. Do you think this is justified?
The top spots:
- In 1st place is Equifax, a financial services company
- In 2nd place you find the film production company Fox Entertainment Group
- In 3rd place is the NFL (National Football League)
- In 4th place is the University of Phoenix
You can find the complete list of America’s most hated companies here at 247wallst.com
Perhaps EA can win over the fans with new gameplay. Because somehow they feel spurred on by the success of PUBG
