Bank of America, the runner-up to this year’s Worst Company in America poll (run by Consumerist), was notorious for horrendous customer service and was even sued by the friggin’ federal government. That’s a pretty bad year for any company and despite their terrible performance, videogame mega-publisher EA still managed to suck in the majority of the votes (around 78 percent!) in the duel between the two. This makes it the second consecutive year that EA has been voted as America’s most hated company among voters this year — now that’s just…impressive?
The most recent sting of EA’s more-than-botched launch of SimCity undoubtedly had a huge role in gamers and consumers overwhelming amount of dissatisfaction and deep-seeded hatred for the company. After all, the game sold well over a million and with an absurd amount of gamers not being able to even boot up the game and the horrible customer service surrounding the title, it’s no wonder the animosity is strongly present.
It doesn’t matter how much COO, Peter Moore claims it isn’t for DRM reasons, we all pretty much know that actually is the reason. SimCity will go down — which we pointed out — as a key reason why we absolutely do not want an always-online infrastructure for games that can easily be developed around offline gameplay. Not only that, it will also be mentioned as one of the worst software launches in recent memory.
Dead Space 3‘s focal shift to co-op play, the lingering franchise-souring ending to Mass Effect 3, the continuously sinking Titanic that is Star Wars: The Old Republic, and microtransactions/day-one DLC abuse are also no-brainer factors in their “victory” as the worst company (again). It’s just a shame that EA doesn’t realize any of these as actual negatives to their reputation. Instead, they like to attribute their repeat Golden Poo run to their choice for the cover athlete of Madden NFL 13 and for their inclusion of homosexual characters in their games such as Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3.
After thoroughly searching through forums about the topic, I can safely say that not one of the hundreds of pages I’ve read mentioned any of these self-proclaimed reasons. If EA hopes to avoid a three-peat of the Golden Poo award, then they better start appeasing to their consumers at least a little bit more.
Personally, I think Bank of America, with all their little stupid surcharges and fees, are number one in my heart. As Forbes pointed out, this Golden Poo poll is more about what brand is immediately more annoying rather than the actual worst company in America. In the grand scheme of things, I just don’t see how EA beats out any of these other companies that have an actual impact on how daily life is carried out. Sure, EA is a huge player in a huge industry, but it’s ultimately an optional industry for most people. So seeing it as the most hated company in America is a bit of a stretch but hey, it’s just a poll.
Would you give a Golden Poo to EA? Let us know what company you’d gladly squat one out for in the comments below.
