240°

EA should be upfront about the lifespan of its online game servers

Which? Convo: Last week, video game publisher Electronic Arts announced its intention to close several online multiplayer servers for titles like Tiger Woods 10 and Battlefield 2. Is it fair to remove a feature we’ve paid for?

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conversation.which.co.uk
Emilio_Estevez4700d ago

They kind of are....It says on every game they can do it as soon as 30 days from launch. It's kind of shady, but there is really nothing we can do about it.

Emilio_Estevez4700d ago

Yup, I was reading about the outrage on neogaf the other day and someone posted a pic of it. It's part of their on-line terms of service you agree to before playing online as well.

techie4700d ago

Link? Guess I could just go have a look my self.

gamingdroid4700d ago

You mean the company that essentially made online passes the standard, the company that has one of the strictes rules for their digital game download service and the one company I on annual basis hear about shutting down game servers. NOOOOO?!

EA is the devil in sheepskin, but it's the industry's darling right now for some odd reason.

Sarcasmology4700d ago

@gamingdroid

Because they're not Activision or Bobby Kotex

evrfighter4700d ago

when buying an online pass is there a ToS? if not it's a lawsuit waiting to happen

-Alpha4700d ago

EA has put out a good deal of new IPs this gen. Activision has not. EA is the lesser of two evils.

Rest assured that as much as they promote Battlefield and BF's "Free" DLC, if they were in Activision's shoes they would be just as greedy. Anybody would. Free money is hard to say no to.

As for this article, I figure that it's hard to determine the life cycle of dedicated servers for games as it depends on how much the community supports said title, I assume

gamingdroid4700d ago

***EA has put out a good deal of new IPs this gen. Activision has not. EA is the lesser of two evils.***

Really? Because EA produces a few extra games, they get a free pass?

Because EA has done stuff that are hurting consumers that now is being introduced by others publisher i.e. they pioneer bad practices.

Activision might be a greedy (just like most companies and they way companies should be as it promotes efficiency and competition), but there is no online pass on CoD. CoD: Elite is introducing extra features and then asking you for money, not removing them, then charging you for it.

If "it" is evil, I would rather know it than have it disguised in sheep skin!

SkittlesLikesPopcorn4700d ago

i agree with gaming droid.

EA is no better than activision. Both should be boycotted but no one else has good devs like DICE and Infinity ward under their belt..

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 4700d ago
Inside_out4700d ago

.
As usual, they will hide behind some disclaimer or small print somewhere.

The best thing you can do is stay far away from schemers like this. Everything money related will be a hassle with these guys.

Wait to you see what they do with Popcap. I'm sure they will lay off a couple hundred people from that company even tho it's making money.

techie4699d ago

Just read the back of my EA box - it doesn't say as soon as 30 days from launch, it says they must give gamers 30 days notice! :) Big difference

lazertroy4700d ago

If less then certain amount of people are playing that game on average then by all means the servers can be shut down. But im not technical they should have a system where each game doesn't have it's it's own server just one big server so games can stay online forever.

CaptCalvin4700d ago (Edited 4700d ago )

Or maybe...i don't know... maybe dedicated servers?

femshep4700d ago

i don't see the problem shutting down servers of games no one plays in order to support new ones....its not like its brand new thing that only ea dose

Baka-akaB4700d ago (Edited 4700d ago )

that's the thing , most of those games are far from empty and lacking people .

It's often just crap to force a new purchase . Now to be fair people should be surprised about it and EA's attitude

femshep4700d ago

true, but if there not feeling that enough people are playing and player count is below lets say 10,000 why waste the money on that when it could be put toward (again throwing a name out ther) battlefield 3 where they will need to back up there servers cause there will be server crashes on the first day like all major releases get first day or two

CaptCalvin4700d ago

If they gave us dedicated servers then there wouldn't be any problems with putting in too much money to run their servers. But that would hurt their milking business wouldn't it?

achmetha4700d ago

i think if they shutdown their servers they should at least have a way in place for people to run their own servers for the game.

Legion4700d ago

I totally agree. There should be a peer-to-peer option in all online games.

Especially those games that really only exist in their online gameplay. I.e. Shadowrun, Battlefield 2:MC, Unreal Championship... etc.

fooxy4700d ago

What do you mean one big server ? Servers are build out of clusters if u have tons of games that get less than 1% attention on some monthly based stats u simply scale severs down (if possible) or shut em down to save money. I bet any of us would do the same thing if u would own the company, and u can compare it kinda to shutting down air conditioning unit in a room nobody stays in :>, on the other side thats why I never buy any sport games since they come every 12 months with new version

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80°

There are no "thoughtful" ads in video games, EA

There are no thoughtful ads in Video Games, EA. Leave them be.

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videogamer.com
northpaws15d ago

I think the only type of games that can gets away with it would be sport games, having those sponsors ads on the side like on real life.

But don't put freaking Doritos ads in Star Wars or something, it breaks the immersion. If it is a pop-up ads, then big no.

Hofstaderman15d ago

EA can thoughtfully eff themselves.

Makersbreath215d ago

EA coming back for the crown of being perceived as the worst company in gaming.

Chocoburger14d ago (Edited 14d ago )

One of my favorite series is the THPS franchise, and it was packed with ads, but it didn't bother me. Posters for skateboard companies, JEEP, and Nokia phones. It did sort of fit in with the game world, but that was the past, these days ad would be intentionally intrusive or unskippable loading screen type of imagery. Ugh, I know EA would do it in a horrible fashion. Screw them.

300°

Report: Sexual Misconduct Investigation Conducted at EA, Suspects Named and What They Did Revealed

EA senior staff has been investigated for sexual misconduct involving female coworkers, and these said people have been named publicly.

isarai20d ago

Aye just call Phil, i mean he somehow made Bobby Kotick's scandal disappear and gave him a few million dollar high five on the way out.

Cacabunga20d ago

I wonder if it will be censored with some in game ads.

MrBaskerville18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

Microsoft did, Phil Spencer played a minor part. He instigated the buyout that led to Kotick escaping all his controversies while getting a golden handshake.

Someone on Twitter calculated that the people hired in Tango and Arkane Austin could get a decent salary for roughly 17 years for the money Kotick was paid.

InUrFoxHole17d ago

Yeah some thing tells me Kotics $ was already guaranteed before MS made the deal. As for the studios... Let's be honest here... none of those studios made system sellers.

XiNatsuDragnel20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

EA about to go down like Activision and then Phil saves the day saying.this is good for the industry and consolidation will help create competition. /s.

MrBaskerville18d ago

Then they shutdown Codemasters and studio behind Jedi Survivor.

Atleast they could hardly do much damage that EA hadn't allready done. EA has shut down most of their studios by now.

ravens5220d ago

What's up with all these horny creeps. You gon be horny, fine. Just not at work take care of that shit before you go in. Rub one out if you have to. Don't be a creep at all. ESPECIALLY at work. But don't be one AT ALL.

Extermin8or3_20d ago

I mean part of the issue is that things transpired outside of work....

MrBaskerville18d ago

That's the thing he mentioned about not being a creep at all.

KwietStorm_BLM20d ago

You think deviants care where they are? Work sometimes makes it an even better situation for them because they can abuse their power.

mudakoshaka19d ago

Nerds think they are Gods when they are making video games.

NotoriousWhiz20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

"it seems that according to EA, given the events transpired outside of work between two adults, and the fact that once investigation has started that the alleged perpetrators didn’t do it again, the investigation is considered closed. [...] The victim still has to work with the people that harassed her."

Yep, EA is disgusting.

Extermin8or3_20d ago

I mean the fact stuff happened outside of work puts EA in quite a difficult position legally. These women don't seem to have reported the matter to the police which kinda ties EA's hands on what they can do. If they don't file reports of the crimes then yeah from EA's perspective it is stuff that happened outside of work. The only exception is the guy that apparently referenced things in the slack channel for work, spending on what he said proving it may be very hard and he may well be able to get away with plausible deniability. I don't like EA and I think these people need to be dismissed but without any legal action being taken, EA can't really do much without risk of being sued themselves for unfair dismissal etc.

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90°

EA to Spend Billions Boosting Share Prices After Mass Layoffs

EA has announced it will engage in a shareholder-pleasing share buyback program just a couple of months after mass layoffs at the studio.

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techraptor.net
Yi-Long24d ago

Well, anything to make those shareholders happy, I guess. They're all that matters in this industry nowadays.

badboyz0923d ago (Edited 23d ago )

EA stocks haven't been profitable in over 5yrs. They better hope Take-two don't get the FIFA license lol.