"EA provides candid response to its nomination as 'The Worst Company in America'"
I'll just say the same thing I did last year: while I do think that EA is definitely the worst game company, I don't think they're the worst company out of all companies.
That said, however, Peter Moore is definitely not doing his company any favors with this "candid response" of his.
Now for some responses of my own to some of the points made in the article.
"Many continue to claim the always-on function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer: it’s not. Period." EA empty suits can repeat this lie all they want, but they're never going to convince me or most anyone else aside from rabid EA fanboys (yes, they do exist, believe it or not) that it wasn't intended as DRM. I don't care what they say or how they say it or who says it. It is DRM. Period.
"Some people think that free-to-play games and microtransactions are a pox on gaming." And, indeed, they are. Simple as that. "Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games." Well, that just means tens of millions have incredibly poor taste in games, that's all. In such a case, I actually blame them more than I do EA, honestly. EA and others are merely taking the quick and easy route by pumping out a bunch of trash games to cater to the lowest common denominator. *shrug*
"We’ve seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really." Okay, that one is pretty dumb, given that there are plenty of legitimate reasons to vote for EA.
"In the past year, we’ve received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America." This is one of the few cases where I'm on EA's side. As much as I may dislike EA, I dislike homophobic fundie conservatives even more, for reasons just like this right here. The fact that these awful people may get a sense of vindication by seeing EA named "worst company in America" kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth. However, with that said, the more I think about his statement, the more this just sounds like Peter Moore saying, essentially, "Hey you guys, we like gay people and we put gay people stuff in our games, which means we're totally not like those guys over there who don't like gay people! You hate those guys, right?! So that means we're totally an awesome company! You guys buy that, don't you?! Clearly, I'm trying to imply here that if you hate EA, that means you hate gay people too!"
(EDIT)
And here is a Forbes article on the same subject. I am (mostly) in agreement with Mr. Kain.
(/EDIT)
That said, however, Peter Moore is definitely not doing his company any favors with this "candid response" of his.
Now for some responses of my own to some of the points made in the article.
"Many continue to claim the always-on function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer: it’s not. Period." EA empty suits can repeat this lie all they want, but they're never going to convince me or most anyone else aside from rabid EA fanboys (yes, they do exist, believe it or not) that it wasn't intended as DRM. I don't care what they say or how they say it or who says it. It is DRM. Period.
"Some people think that free-to-play games and microtransactions are a pox on gaming." And, indeed, they are. Simple as that. "Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games." Well, that just means tens of millions have incredibly poor taste in games, that's all. In such a case, I actually blame them more than I do EA, honestly. EA and others are merely taking the quick and easy route by pumping out a bunch of trash games to cater to the lowest common denominator. *shrug*
"We’ve seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really." Okay, that one is pretty dumb, given that there are plenty of legitimate reasons to vote for EA.
"In the past year, we’ve received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we’re seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America." This is one of the few cases where I'm on EA's side. As much as I may dislike EA, I dislike homophobic fundie conservatives even more, for reasons just like this right here. The fact that these awful people may get a sense of vindication by seeing EA named "worst company in America" kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth. However, with that said, the more I think about his statement, the more this just sounds like Peter Moore saying, essentially, "Hey you guys, we like gay people and we put gay people stuff in our games, which means we're totally not like those guys over there who don't like gay people! You hate those guys, right?! So that means we're totally an awesome company! You guys buy that, don't you?! Clearly, I'm trying to imply here that if you hate EA, that means you hate gay people too!"
(EDIT)
And here is a Forbes article on the same subject. I am (mostly) in agreement with Mr. Kain.
(/EDIT)