EA shrugs off ‘worst company in America’ gong

EA have been voted ‘worst company in America’ in a bracket-style competition run by consumer affairs site Consumerist.

250,000 voted in the competition, which saw finalists EA and Bank of America square off for the 2012 ‘golden poo’ award.

"Consumerist readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA, which is supposed to be making the world a more fun place, is worse than Bank of America’s avarice, which some would argue is the entire point of operating a bank," said the site on its blog.

But EA don’t take the ‘award’ too seriously.

"We’re sure that bank presidents, oil, tobacco, and weapons companies are all relieved they weren’t on the list this year," EA’s Corporate Communications senior director John Reseburg told Gamasutra.

"We’re going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide."

The blog argues that people shouldn’t take the contest lightly just because "somthing non-essential" like a games company won, claiming that this is just the attitude which allows EA to ignore complaints.

The Consumerist cited the rising cost of games and customer complaints about EA holding back content for later release as paid DLC as possible reasons EA won this year’s competition.

"There have even been numerous accusations that EA and its ilk deliberately hold back game content with the sole intent of charging a fee for it at a later date," said the Consumerist.

"It’s one thing to support a game with new content that is worth the price. It’s another to put out an inferior – and occasionally broken – product with the mindset of ‘ah, we’ll fix it later and make some money for doing so.’"

For the Consumerist, the message to EA and the rest of the games industry should be clear; "Stop treating your loyal customers like crap."