Electronic Arts Ea

2012company / online criticism targetclassic

Electronic Arts, or EA, is an American video game publisher that became a running target of online mockery for its microtransactions, always-online DRM and customer support gaffes. Reddit and the Consumerist blog turned that frustration into a recurring joke, twice voting EA the Worst Company in America in 2012 and 2013.

gamingconsumer culture memesreddit memes2012 memesdark pattern memes

Overview

Electronic Arts, better known as EA, is an American video game publisher and the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue behind Nintendo and Activision Blizzard3. Despite owning franchises like Madden, FIFA, The Sims and Mass Effect, EA is one of the internet's favorite corporate villains, mocked for aggressive microtransactions, broken launches and dismissive customer service1.

The backlash crystallized around a specific joke, that EA is quite literally the worst company in America. Consumer advocacy blog Consumerist held annual reader polls where EA beat out banks, telecoms and airlines to take the title two years in a row12. Reddit's /r/gaming ran with the storyline, upvoting each new EA screw-up into a recurring genre of posts about the company3.

How It Spread

EA repeated as Consumerist's Worst Company in America on April 9th, 2013, with the blog citing the botched always-online launch of SimCity 5 and the divisive ending of Mass Effect 3 as evidence2. A crosspost of that follow-up hit /r/gaming the same day and pulled more than 18,000 upvotes and 2,700 comments in 48 hours, dwarfing the first year's thread3.

EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore tried to answer the criticism on April 5th, 2013 with a blog post titled "We Can Do Better," admitting the company had "made plenty of mistakes" while defending SimCity's always-on requirement and the use of LGBT characters in EA titles3. Days later, CEO John Riccitiello stepped down after reporting a $45 million quarterly loss, feeding the perception that the meme had teeth5.

A parallel joke grew out of EA's live chat support. On December 15th, 2009, Redditor knarf posted a screenshot of an unhelpful EA rep to /r/gaming, and similar submissions kept surfacing, including a November 2011 /r/funny post where a rep ends the session with "this chat has become unproductive and I unfortunately have to end this conversation," which cleared 9,200 upvotes811.

How to Use This Meme

The format is typically a screenshot, news headline or patch note about a new EA misstep, posted to /r/gaming or Twitter with a caption riffing on the Worst Company in America title. Common conventions include quoting Peter Moore's "we can do better" line sarcastically, or replying to any consumer-hostile business decision with "it's EA, what did you expect."

Frequently Asked Questions

Electronic Arts Ea

2012company / online criticism targetclassic

Electronic Arts, or EA, is an American video game publisher that became a running target of online mockery for its microtransactions, always-online DRM and customer support gaffes. Reddit and the Consumerist blog turned that frustration into a recurring joke, twice voting EA the Worst Company in America in 2012 and 2013.

gaming consumer culture memes reddit memes 2012 memes dark pattern memes

Overview

Electronic Arts, better known as EA, is an American video game publisher and the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue behind Nintendo and Activision Blizzard3. Despite owning franchises like Madden, FIFA, The Sims and Mass Effect, EA is one of the internet's favorite corporate villains, mocked for aggressive microtransactions, broken launches and dismissive customer service1.

The backlash crystallized around a specific joke, that EA is quite literally the worst company in America. Consumer advocacy blog Consumerist held annual reader polls where EA beat out banks, telecoms and airlines to take the title two years in a row12. Reddit's /r/gaming ran with the storyline, upvoting each new EA screw-up into a recurring genre of posts about the company3.

How It Spread

EA repeated as Consumerist's Worst Company in America on April 9th, 2013, with the blog citing the botched always-online launch of SimCity 5 and the divisive ending of Mass Effect 3 as evidence2. A crosspost of that follow-up hit /r/gaming the same day and pulled more than 18,000 upvotes and 2,700 comments in 48 hours, dwarfing the first year's thread3.

EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore tried to answer the criticism on April 5th, 2013 with a blog post titled "We Can Do Better," admitting the company had "made plenty of mistakes" while defending SimCity's always-on requirement and the use of LGBT characters in EA titles3. Days later, CEO John Riccitiello stepped down after reporting a $45 million quarterly loss, feeding the perception that the meme had teeth5.

A parallel joke grew out of EA's live chat support. On December 15th, 2009, Redditor knarf posted a screenshot of an unhelpful EA rep to /r/gaming, and similar submissions kept surfacing, including a November 2011 /r/funny post where a rep ends the session with "this chat has become unproductive and I unfortunately have to end this conversation," which cleared 9,200 upvotes811.

How to Use This Meme

The format is typically a screenshot, news headline or patch note about a new EA misstep, posted to /r/gaming or Twitter with a caption riffing on the Worst Company in America title. Common conventions include quoting Peter Moore's "we can do better" line sarcastically, or replying to any consumer-hostile business decision with "it's EA, what did you expect."

Frequently Asked Questions