Posted: Wednesday July 29th, 2015
by
While dragging my feet through less than gripping gaming news, I tripped over an article by Polygon's Colin Campbell explaining, ostensibly, how EA lost its soul. [more info] It scrawls a deep line in the sand between the ideals the company was founded on and what the company has become. Well, I'm far too cynical to tap dance around the issue taking the position, rather, that the answer is a much more narrow in scope.
The article is a good read, if a bit long. It's a history lesson that illuminates early days of EA and the disparity between a heady focus on game development, and the unrelenting advance of power of sales and marketing; artists versus franchises; all while reminding us that, if you really wanted to, you could blame this all on the 3DO or naivety on the part of Trip Hawkins. I know; I know. But, I'll leave you dig through and make your own peace with EA's resting place. Just keep in mind that after being voted as the worst company in America in 2012 and 2013, EA has made a concerted effort to turn the corner yet again.
The current CEO, Andrew Wilson, is pushing "Think Players First" idealism, putting customer satisfaction over money-driven release dates. It's a move to step away from pure data parsing to actually talking directly to gamers. I'd like to think there's some kind of altruism behind it. But, the fact is, we consumers have company information always at our fingertips now. And we user that information to force transparency and reward honesty. That cynic in me that sees EA selling its soul to the Robot Devil for a dollar doesn't exactly accept this move by EA without question. I'm inclined to assume the endeavor is motivated by necessity.
Ultimately though, the key reasoning doesn't matter to me as long as we, the players, are reaping the benefits.
Now, let's see if it sticks.
[ discuss ]