After failing to come to terms with a coalition of 11 video game companies, including big names like Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., thousands of voice-over actors are now officially on strike. [More]
electronic arts
Supreme Court Will Not Hear EA’s Appeal In Madden NFL Case
By 3.21.16
No, the First Amendment does not give one of the world’s largest video game publishers the right to make money off the likeness of professional athletes without their permission or compensating them. Or at least the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t want to hear anyone argue that it does. [More]
NFL Players’ Lawsuit Over Use Of Their Avatars In EA’s Madden Games Gets The Go Ahead
By 1.7.15
It isn’t just former college football players upset with video-game maker Electronic Arts for using their likenesses in games without getting paid for it: A federal appeals court judge has just given another lawsuit against EA the go-ahead, this one brought by former NFL players who are ticked off that EA used their avatars in the Madden NFL series without proper compensation. [More]
EA Decides Maybe Buying Every Gaming Studio On Earth Isn’t Path To Success After All
By 12.4.14
Video game company EA got left in the dust on the road to this year’s not-so-coveted golden poo. In previous years, though, Consumerist readers decided they were the worst company in America not just once, but twice. Since then, new leadership has vowed to turn the company around. And one step in that process seems to be pressing pause on an old, not-very-effective strategy of buying every other studio under the sun. [More]
EA CEO: We Don’t Want To Win Worst Company Award For 3rd Time
By 9.5.14
In 2013, video game giant Electronic Arts became the first business to be named Worst Company In America twice by Consumerist readers (a feat that has since been matched by Comcast). EA made the brackets again this year, but narrowly lost out to Time Warner Cable in the early rounds. And if relatively new EA CEO Andrew Wilson had his way, his company would never be up for WCIA consideration again. [More]
Only Way To Play New Madden NFL Before Release Date Is To Pay For EA Access On Xbox One
By 8.11.14
For a decade, fans of EA’s wildly popular Madden NFL video games have been able to try the game out for a couple of weeks before its release via demo versions made available on Xbox and Playstation consoles. But in an apparent effort to get people to sign up for its new $5/month EA Access service — currently only available on Xbox One — the video game publisher (and two-time Worst Company In America winner) doing away with the publicly available demo and instead dangling the carrot of being able to play the game fives days early through Access. [More]
EA To Pay College Athletes Up To $951 Each For Stealing Their Likenesses
By 6.2.14
What are you worth? Or rather, how much would you want to be paid to have your likeness used in a wildly popular and profitable sports video game? According to video game giant (and two-time Worst Company In America winner) Electronic Arts, the price tag for a college athlete’s face is just shy of one thousand bucks. [More]
EA’s Worst Company In America Reign Comes To An End With Loss To Time Warner Cable
March 24, 2014
Video game giant Electronic Arts stepped into the Worst Company In America nonagon of unpleasantness this morning crowned with two Golden Poos and with the confidence that the tournament’s only two-time winner deserves. But in the end, it wasn’t EA that was carried out of the arena in victory — it was Time Warner Cable. [More]
EA Server Hacked, Websites Replaced By Phishing Scam
By 3.20.14
From the Mass Effect 3 debacle to last year’s disastrous SimCity launch, things always seem to go badly for video game goliath Electronic Arts around the time of our Worst Company In America contest; perhaps that’s why EA is the two-time reigning champ. The latest gaffe involves a hacked EA web server that appears to have been used by scammers in an attempt to steal folks’ Apple ID credentials. [More]
One Year Too Late, EA Finally Rolls Out Offline Play For SimCity
By 3.18.14
Part of the reason that video game goliath Electronic Arts won its second Worst Company In America title in 2013 was its disastrous launch of the highly awaited new SimCity game, a title that forced users to be online in order to play (but for which the company failed to provide enough server support, meaning no one could play because everyone was trying to play). Now, a full year and another WCIA nomination later, EA is finally letting users play the game without going online. [More]
EA Doesn’t Really Want People Sharing Negative Game Reviews Where Someone Might Read Them
By 2.10.14
It’s almost time to start thinking about this year’s Worst Company In America tournament, which can mean only one thing — two-time reigning WCIA champ Electronic Arts is once again making a final push to be hated by its own customers. This time, the video game giant has been caught apparently trying to game the Google Play review and ratings system. [More]
EA Finally Decides You Don’t Need To Be Online To Play SimCity
By 1.13.14
When reigning two-time Worst Company In America champ Electronic Arts released the hugely anticipated SimCity game in April 2013, it unleashed a hornets’ nest of bad publicity by not only requiring that players be online in order to use the game but also grossly underestimating its ability to deal with all of those users trying to play the game at the same time. Many owners of the game were unable to play for weeks until EA resolved the issue, but the company stood by the ill-advised decision to require an Internet connection. Now, ten months and ten updates later, it’s finally relenting. [More]
Consumerist’s Most Popular Stories From 2013
December 31, 2013
2013 ends in a few hours, and in the year since we last popped champagne corks and pretended to know the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” we’ve posted more than 5,000 stories to Consumerist, covering everything from Wall Street to Capitol Hill to the drive-thru lane. Some of these posts attracted a few more readers than others. [More]
Is EA Due For A Third Worst Company In America Crown?
By 12.30.13
We haven’t even begun to ask for nominations from readers for the next Worst Company In America tournament, but some are already making the case for once again giving the Golden Poo trophy to reigning two-time WCIA winner Electronic Arts. [More]
Digital Delivery Allows Companies To Ship Broken Products Without Refunds Or Returns
By 11.19.13
Not so long ago, if you bought a book with missing pages — or a DVD that skipped, or a CD or video game that wouldn’t play — you took it back to the store and got an exchange or a refund because obviously the manufacturer did not intend to provide you with an incomplete or broken product. The relatively new era of digital media delivery has improved upon this by allowing content providers to patch files and fix errors, but it’s also allowing companies to knowingly release inferior and/or broken products, often without giving the consumer any way to seek redress. [More]
EA CEO Says Winning Worst Company In America Title Was “Wake-Up Call”
By 11.6.13
For two years in row, Consumerist voters have awarded video game publisher Electronic Arts the title of Worst Company In America. Unlike other WCIA champs, EA has publicly responded to news of its wins, but often in a dismissive tone that only made things worse. But new CEO Andrew Wilson is now claiming that the company is listening to angry customers. [More]
EA Ditches Plans For College Football Game After Settling Lawsuit With Former Students
By 9.26.13
For several years, reigning two-time Worst Company In America Electronic Arts has been fighting a lawsuit filed by former college athletes that accused the video game publisher, along with the NCAA and a third-party licensing firm, of illegally profiting off the likenesses of student-athletes. Now that it looks like the case could finally go to trial, EA has reached a settlement with the plaintiffs — and has ditched plans to put out a college football game in 2014. [More]
Another Former College Football Player Sues EA For Using Athletes’ Likenesses In Video Games
By 9.5.13
In the midst of a right to publicity lawsuit (which is part of a larger antitrust lawsuit) currently underway against video game publisher Electronic Arts, another athlete has lawyers filing a proposed class-action suit claiming that EA’s use of college athletes’ names and likenesses in its games is “blatant and unlawful.” [More]
