April 2013
| Business World Magazine | 11
EA... EEEYUK!
For the second year in a row, the gaming software giant
Electronic Arts has earned acclaim as the Worst Com-
pany in America following the results of more than
250,000 votes logged on the consumer affairs blog The
Consumerist. EA, producers of games played by more
than 300 million people throughout the world (such as
The Sims and Madden NFL), secured 64% of the vote,
surpassing even Bank of America, Chase and CitiBank,
to capture the not-so-coveted “Golden Poo” award.
Prior to the announcement this month, EA COO Pe-
ter Moore released a statement questioning consumer
rationale in an era which has seen seemingly
more contemptible missteps
in
banking,
weapon manufacturing and oil production. “Are we re-
ally the ‘Worst Company in America?’” asked Moore.
He went on to acknowledge company mistakes in server
deficiencies, pricing models, errors with the launch of
the new edition of SimCity and the company’s produc-
tion of games that failed to live-up to consumer expec-
tations. “We owe gamers better performance than this,”
said Moore. As true as that may be, reports have also
surfaced that groups like the Florida Family Association
led a campaign
protesting the company’s recent
inclusion of same-sex relation-
ships in its Star Wars: The Old
Republic game. That factor,
along with gamer demand to
change the outcome in the
third installment of EA’s
Mass Effect, has been attrib-
uted as the reason behind
some of the ire garnered.
The rank as “worst” has
resulted in widespread
commentary in tech cor-
ridors about corporate
values and capabilities
in escaping consumer
scrutiny. In the words
of one analyst, “The
banks will surely have to step up
their gouging, fee fleecing and non-communicating
in order to regain such a coveted crown.”
