EA: Grinding Geeks

[Kangy]

"Work, bitch! I want FIFA 2005 on my desk IN 5 MINUTES!"

Wow, this totally puts me off of a career with EA.

Ever.

 

[nutcrackr]

What a bunch of jerks

85 hour weeks
No overtime paid
No toil
No vacation or sick days

What a disgrace.

 

[JFry]

I think she is being a bit dramatic. Yes it's hard, but that is the norm for a dev studio in crunch time. The no overtime thing is pretty whack, but I think they just signed a new law in california to change all that. She seems to be making an assumption about the no comp time thing, but if that is true then that is pretty bad business on EA's part. Seriously tho, I'm sure Valve or any other reputable developer is similar. At least that guy has a loving wife eh! /envy.

 

[Steelwind]

I have a hard time believing that. There's no way someone would NOT file a lawsuit against EA for those actions she describes. It's required to pay overtime. If they are not compensated in ANY way that division of EA would be shut down until such wages were applied. If this is in fact going on, the employees are letting it happen.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Work conditions for game developers are absolutely ****ing shocking. Overtime is required, if you're not willing to work hours and hours over time for weeks at a time you're gone. Not enough employees + deadlines = pain and suffering. These companies seriously need to increase employee numbers, even it means sacrificing a few million in profits for the CEOs.

 

[Neutrino]

The EA Mambo, paired with other giants such as Vivendi, Sony, and Microsoft, is rapidly either crushing or absorbing the vast majority of the business in game development. A few standalone studios that made their fortunes in previous eras -- Blizzard, Bioware, and Id come to mind -- manage to still survive, but 2004 saw the collapse of dozens of small game studios, no longer able to acquire contracts in the face of rapid and massive consolidation of game publishing companies. This is an epidemic hardly unfamiliar to anyone working in the industry. Though, of course, it is always the option of talent to go outside the industry, perhaps venturing into the booming commercial software development arena. (Read my tired attempt at sarcasm.)

I think this brings up an interesting point about large corporations in the game industry.

I think there is something fundamentally wrong with them and the way they make games. I almost always enjoy games from smaller studios more than I do from big corporations. When I think about the games I've enjoyed or am looking forward to a few come to mind:

id
Valve
Bethesda
Crytek
GSC Game World

Now that's not to say big companies haven't put out plenty of good games too. But overall I think the smaller developers are better at creating in depth and innovative gaming. I just hope they don't get swallowed up by the corporate world.

 

[h00dlum]

EA is the game distrubitor i hate the most. They are almost like the gaming version of Microsoft!

 

[Asuka]

Interesting.

 

[B.Calhoun]

I hate EA for one reason: They ruined the line of 007 games....

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

I hate EA for one reason: They ruined the line of 007 games....

they love ruining franchises, and selling bullshit, and treating employees like shit.. I've always hated them.

 

[outpost]

I hate EA for one reason: They ruined the line of 007 games....

Moment of silence ;(

 

[OCybrManO]

What happens if Valve starts teaming up with other big relatively independent developers like id Software and gets some more muscle behind the Steam network... allowing other developers to skip the publishers and go straight to the profit?

id
Valve
Bethesda
Crytek
GSC Game World

Now that's not to say big companies haven't put out plenty of good games too. But overall I think the smaller developers are better at creating in depth and innovative gaming. I just hope they don't get swallowed up by the corporate world.

I guess you must have missed this.

 

[Neutrino]

I guess you must have missed this.

Aww, crap.

There goes the neighborhood.

 

[operative x]

i have always hated EA becuase of the lack of creativity, originality, and innovation in their games, seeing them make the same game for 4 different platforms (which was an obivious attempt for EA to try and make all the money they can from the game) has always proven to me time and time again that EA is a piece of shit company and i would never let them get a hold of ANY creative ideas of mine or let them profit from me at all. I hope EA crashes and Burns.

 

[falconwind]

EA doesn't even employ game designers, i bet. They just spy on other developers and if they like something they see, they buy the company.

 

[blackeye]

i have always hated EA becuase of the lack of creativity, originality, and innovation in their games, seeing them make the same game for 4 different platforms (which was an obivious attempt for EA to try and make all the money they can from the game) has always proven to me time and time again that EA is a piece of shit company and i would never let them get a hold of ANY creative ideas of mine or let them profit from me at all. I hope EA crashes and Burns.

Ill will be happy to burn EA. I couldnt have said it better myself. I never liked them because they dont seem to put that polish in the vidoegames that I expect.

 

[oldagerocker]

and they stop support for games really quickly, a game that could have been good and needed the online cheat protection suffered, R.I.P C&C Generals.

 

[Maxi]

I hate all of EAs games, they are all consoly shits that are produced wayyy to fast. Never again am I buying an EA title, EVER!

 

[Kyorisu]

Those dirty bastards.

 

[StardogChampion]

These guys probably get paid £25,000+ per year, they deserve to do some hard graft!

 

[Neutrino]

These guys probably get paid £25,000+ per year, they deserve to do some hard graft!

£25,000 is about $46,000 USD?

That's not all that much really. Not when your working 12 hour days. You have to remember that they are salaried and not payed hourly wages, so it doesn't matter if they work 8 hours or 12 hours in a day, they get the same amount of money.

 

[Eg.]

yeah, EA is like the blob, it abosrbs all and leaves a trail of unsatisfying goo. westwood was dammed good, and EA took over and made the C&C series more cartoony, and it sucked.

EA are mass produced, like certain other developers/producers ex:

star war battlefront, i got the game, and i like it. yes its a copy of bf1942, but it could have been so much more if...

they added vioce chat, al ot of mp based games dont have this

better vehical controls, they are a little clunky

made the games last longer (by default)

but all i can see them fixing are minor bugs and the such, and not adding vioce chat for that true massive battle feel to it, or making the cintrols a little easier.

 

[Gray Fox]

What did you expect form EA, this didn't absolutly come as a shock to me. When you look at what kind of a corporation they are, you can see they have no hart and soul, but they are not microsoft, cause unlike what many people beliefe microsoft pays their workers extreemly well.
Oh yeah and the author mentiones blizzard as an indy studio, recently I read an article on www.gamematters.com saying that blizzard is now owned by VUG.

 

[NeptuneUK]

Football games really do suck, they release new ones every year, all being almost identical except the graphics are ever so slightly better, and they make the team's colours accurate to the tim eof publishing.... same as FIFA 95... just better graphics.... ah good times...