More problems are knocking on EA's front door as a result of the various bugs and glitches gamers have been enduring from Battlefield 4 on all platforms. The publisher is now facing a lawsuit claiming that EA was well aware of the game's problematic issues, and misrepresented the game to investors.
This may sound familiar, as we reported a similar story last week. Oddly enough, this suit is being brought forth by a completely different law firm, that of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. This firm is citing similar reasons for the suit as Holzer Holzer & Fistel had given for investigating EA in the first place, namely, that the misleading statements made by EA and its officers / directors were misleading, and a violation of federal securities law.
Sorting through the claim's legalese, you wind up with the following: EA convinced investors Battlefield 4 was the tits, when the company knew all the while it was hot garbage. When the game was released and all the bugs and glitches came to light, EA was stuck with trying to fix a shoddy product, so much so the company had to halt work on all future projects, leading to a giant drop in stock, and pissing off investors. Now, they'd like a refund. Simple enough, right?
For this latest atrocity, and many others, right or wrong, EA is widely regarded as having one of the worst reputations of gaming publishers and developers today, managing to win Cosumerist's "Worst Company in the Country" poll for two years in a row. But DICE made the game, so who's at fault with the atrocity that is Battlefield 4?
According to an alleged former DICE staffer going by the Twitter handle Stormonster, the problem is "higher than devs." Exactly who the Twitter user is isn't known, other than that he claims to have been a Gameplay Designer at DICE for the Battlefield franchise, but has since moved on to become a Game Designer at Rovio Stockholm.
"Thing is - for consumers, it doesn't matter where the problem lies. But yup, corporate level and dev takes a hit :(" he/she commented amongst a field of similar themed tweets.
PixelEnemy first covered the tweets, and feels they're indicative of rumors that EA was pushing to get Battlefield 4 out before its FPS rival, Call of Duty: Ghosts. While it accomplished that, all the glitches and bugs that came with it didn't result in nearly the advantageous position EA was hoping for.
EA's response on the whole matter? It plays out like the traditional five stages of grief you could read about in any psychology book. You have denial and anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Granted, it's a little out of order, but it's all there.
But EA's thought on the latest development, the lawsuit, that's a bit harder to say. It seems the company is currently occupied with building a tank. That's not an expression, I mean that literally.
In the midst of all the problems the company is facing, the execs pick now to hide down under, and build a tank to promote a broken game. Brilliant...
Of course, it's not the sort of tank you'd expect to find rolling through Jalalabad, rather, it's tank meant for gamers. According to DualShockers, EA has made "an armored troop carrier with six extremely beefy PCs inside." Sounds kind of cool, right? Just one problem. Since this thing was built to promote Battlefield 4, that's the game that they're running. Even at the "highest settings," EA will find it difficult to sell a product when they'd rather run an bafflingly stupid PR campaign, instead of doing the one thing that will REALLY sell it: fixing the game.
On a side note, while a lot of us are shivering here on the East Coast, it's currently 74 degrees in Australia, with 69% humidity. Cram six gamers into an enclosed vehicle with PCs pouring out heat, and I can only pray for the next crop of gamers that the tank has some kind of air conditioning system. This...thing...will be rolling around Australia starting next year. Take a peek at it in the video below.