The worst game developer and/or publisher...

[easytarget]

Then don't buy it, there is no gun pointed at your head. I am not interested in most of what they release either, I don't like sportsgames and racers (except Waverace, Nintendo ffs make a new one). But you can hardly blame a company for releasing things that make money.

The logic here is a simple one tis true. The larger problem it ignores is this: we are not dealing with unlimited development capacity. So, when you say don't buy it, you can smugly feel comfortable in the fact you believe you've said something irrefutable, while in reality you've just missed the bigger picture here. Happens to the best of us.

So, mobile gets big, your response: don't buy it. Casual gets big: response: don't buy it. FPS bloated Goliath's COD and BF waddle their fat butts down the aisle yearly like a subscription based game series that won't ever die: Yep, there it is again, don't buy it.

This industry does not have unlimited budget, unlimited developer talent. Squeeze the balloon and resources once committed one place go another.

Oh, and as a side note: the idea that we can't blame a company for what it makes because it makes money is is also awfully weak. Not only do I blame cigarette companies, for example, for making profits off killing people I have no qualms saying I consider them inherently evil. That doesn't mean I consider EA in the same league, it merely demonstrates the point that saying because a company makes money on something it's free to do as it pleases is absurd.

[Fragony]

Best publisher, I hereby nominate Nintendo. Mario-Kart WiiU already is a huge game with graphics that put the PS4 and Xbone to shame. But DLC this generous, 11 new tracks, that is really really good value. Knowing Nintendo they will all be awesome and polished to a mirror shine. Nintendo is for consoles what Valve is for pc, they are maniacs when it comes to perfecting their stuff. Talking about Valve, I once read that level-designers and artists had to read short stories that are unrelated to the game but take place in the area to make the area's more convincing. How crazy is that.

[Husar]

Husar,

Not sure you thought this out much before posting it, you can't blame a company selling something for what is done with it once purchased. If that were the case we'd have a party holding gun manufacturers and alcohol producers strictly liable for what is done with their products.

Then why do McDonald's's coffee cups say that the coffee is hot? Wasn't that because the company was held liable when someone didn't just drink the coffee but tried to bathe in it?

If someone sells his company to EA and thus directly contributes to monopolization of the gaming industry and doesn't care what EA will do with his company, you think he is absolutely blameless? In that case EA is also completely blameless because they also just do what is in their own best interest.

[Sir Moody]

EA's business practices are pretty despicable but it only gets worse when you have a look at how they treat their employees... there have been numerous insider articles that show EA treats most of its developers like dirt forcing them to work massive overtime at very little pay - they are a terrible company in every sense...

[easytarget]

Then why do McDonald's's coffee cups say that the coffee is hot? Wasn't that because the company was held liable when someone didn't just drink the coffee but tried to bathe in it?

If someone sells his company to EA and thus directly contributes to monopolization of the gaming industry and doesn't care what EA will do with his company, you think he is absolutely blameless? In that case EA is also completely blameless because they also just do what is in their own best interest.

Funny thing about urban legends like the mickey D one, the award was reduced ultimately to about 1/10th the original judgement, of course that doesn't make as interesting a story so the press never follows up. Either way, you've failed to make any point beyond a jury awarded a plaintiff a settlement against them for selling coffee at temperatures that were deemed unsafe and later reduced.

As for your straw man you followed up with, really no need to even respond, but here you go, sure, I hold EA responsible for what EA does, not exactly a tough concept to grasp there.

[easytarget]

EA's business practices are pretty despicable but it only gets worse when you have a look at how they treat their employees... there have been numerous insider articles that show EA treats most of its developers like dirt forcing them to work massive overtime at very little pay - they are a terrible company in every sense...

Here's the thing though to keep in mind about EA, as bad as they are, the fact that they get voted the worst company in America is really a bit absurd. It has more to do with the fact they are in an industry producing a good consumed by people who are hyper-connected through forums like this one so they organize easily when it comes time to vote.

That's not to say I don't dislike them, it's just that let's get real here for a moment about who some of the other options are that have a wider impact on everyone, a few come to mind that imho dwarf EA, like Acher Daniel Midland, Comcast, Monsanto, every wall street firm in existence all of which played a hand in flushing trillions down the toilet in 2008, Walmart, BP in their America operation that trashed the Gulf, and that's just a few I thought off the top of my head here.