With its head held high, EA has again won the Consumerist's poll for "Worst Company in America," and the illustrious Golden Poo along with the title. The company went up against Bank of America in the final round of voting, walking away with close to 78% of the vote.
When you're voted as the more hated company than what is considered one of the worst banks in the country, you know you've pissed off your audience. Wrote the Consumerist's Chris Moran, "EA has repeatedly failed at three core requirements of running a consumer-friendly business: 1. Provide a Product People Want and Like, 2. Sell Your Product at a Reasonable Price, 3. Support the Products You Sell."
The list of reasons that got EA in the running in the first place were the same that's been gone over endlessly in various blogs, and other videogame sites lately: microtransactions, always online DRM, and a crippling hold on sports games due to deals with sports leagues like the NFL.
If you pay enough attention to the news, you'll surely find companies who are responsible for far worse than making poor games, which begs the question, is EA really all that bad? In all liklihood, probably not. But as the Consumerist puts it, "When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA's business practices that so many people have - for the second year in a row - come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?"