Markus "Notch" Persson says indie games "saving" the industry, while FIFA, Battlefield publisher is "methodically" running it into the ground.
FIFA, Battlefield, and Mass Effect publisher Electronic Arts is "destroying" gaming, according to Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson.
Persson sounded off today via his Twitter feed about EA's newly launched Indie Bundle, which is presently available on Steam. Notch said, "EA releases an "indie bundle"? That's not how that works, EA. Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards."
Persson later said his studio, Mojang, is no longer indie (something he had alluded to earlier) and offered a more damning take on EA.
"Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it," he said.
[UPDATE] After the publication of this story, Persson dispatched a tweet of clarification. He wrote, "I got into trouble on the interwebs again! The games in the bundle are good, I'm not questioning them. I'm questioning EA."
Persson is not the first to speak out publicly against EA. Earlier this year, readers of consumer affairs blog The Consumerist named EA the "worst company in America," following more than 250,000 votes.
The EA Indie Bundle in reference launched this week on Steam and includes DeathSpank, DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, Gatling Gears, Shank, Shank 2, and Warp for $20.98. The offer expires on May 9.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
1 Like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6-u8OIJTE EA is greedy. They sell the game for way too much, and then nickel and dime the people playing the game. EA needs to go. But they have Crysis 3 coming next year, that is probably going to sell a ton, so they aren't going anywhere. BF3 was great, but I have not bought any of the DLC. Crysis 2, I bought it for $9 during a Steam sale, so I wouldn't have to play it through EA Origin anymore.
Gaming is destroying EA.EA CEO Ricitello is wondering why noone wants to buy their stocks and fears for his job: http://www.develop-online.net/news/41363/Pachter-EAs-Riccitiello-fears-for-his-job
It's true. EA is the cancer of gaming.
And those 'indie' games they offer aren't very good :P
1 Like Electronic Arts has been making games since the 1980s.
I don't think they are destroying gaming.
I don't like them much, but they have been doing what they do for a very long time.
I personally think 'independent' games, whatever that is, are not saving anything.
Good Day.
I am glad to see somebody at a high level within the industry confirm (likely in a moment of inadvertent blunt honesty) what many have been saying for years now. The bigger the firm the more the focus on the bottom line. The result is a product that is superficial and lacks depth which they try to make up for with flashy and expensive advertising and gfx in game. Quantity is always traded for quality. The end result is mediocre games that could have been great and in some cases great games like DAO that are gutted to mediocrity in an attempt to maximize profit via the same old formula. The indies arose and are thriving out of this general perception of absent depth in the games to fill in the void. Ultimately the cost of generating high-end gfx will come down while the big producers learn a bit from their mistakes resulting in better products from all of the developers and a happier consumer base..
I will never forgive EA for buying Westwood and destroying the C and C series.... b*stards.
Nonsense,I say!!! EA really respects her customers!!!!Online passes, usually expensive dlcs ,lack of traditional split screen/offline modes, EA's studios & devs complaining about used games...umm maybe not! :P
@Aderdunn_3 You have no clue as to what you're talking about just like a bunch of twits on here. Do you have any idea how many developers EA has bought out to do away with competition, then set unrealistic deadlines on them so when they didn't turn the projected profit, they dismantled these wonderful developers and laid off so many jobs or put them on shovel-ware detail.research the list of Devs they have bought and look at the games those Devs made before EA bought them versus the games they made after the acquisitions and where those companies are today, if they even exist at all.EA & Activision = CANCER! Oh and ORIGIN can suck it! I'll never purchase another game from either publisher, even if I liked the developer before. I will not support monopolies and communistic ideology in an industry I so love.
1 Like These companies gotta understand that WE GAMERS make'em what they are. Without us, they're broken. So they have to give us what we want, NOT to leave us without any option, or else we will walk away or even start to make our own games instead.
The Dev Team for DA3 promised to make it more like DAO. If it is not just lip service, then this represents a step in the right direction.
2 Like Wow, how surprsing to hear an "Indie" publisher say the big companies are ruining things. I was also surprised to find out most teenagers think their parents are ruining their lives. Then I found out socialists think big business is ruining everything. Very stunning revelations. /sarcasm
in truth, capitalism will not survice without socialism, they both serve the same system. the comparison is unfortunate.
@Wango_Tango Yeah dude, but he isn't talkin shit about Rockstar or Blizzard. He's talking about EA Games, which it deserves it, it's a fake moral company censoring their games and I don't remember any other game developer company that big that's so mercenary, there's must be a rule in their office sayin: "NO DLC FOR FREE, EVEN IF IT'S THE LAMEST". They fill the market with stupid spin-offs...
LMAO! "Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it," he said. Then he went and said his company isnt indie anymore... Fail?
"THAT'S what gaming is supposed to be about. Today it's big franchises, super duper graphics, and 100 million dollar budgets. and not a drop of fun to be found"
Yea cos i really loathe BF3. It's such an awful game, it's glitchy, it's boring, it has dull vehicles and combat, the weapons are tedious and poorly made. The game is full of tiny boring maps with little interesting scenery. Game has small tiny player counts per server and is totally useless at having a good romp with some friends in a party.
Oh wait, no it isn't, it's awesome.
If indie is for you so be it. However, i find Minecraft dull and tedious and is just digital lego. Yawn. It's not creative since the players do all the work on it. YAWN.
Bethesda meanwhile with Skyrim have created a fantastic modding wonderland of creativity and fun!
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@Alexanderone You apparently can't read as he was being sarcastic and said "Oh wait, no it isn't, it's awesome".Please read completely before you post and create a no necessary flame war...
@andrew_ribbons If i didnt scroll down to read all of that I was about to cut you up hahahaha I was like everything hes saying about bf3 is the opposite! And then it was :P
it's all true. the only spark of creativity and fun in gaming anymore comes from games like Limbo, Journey, minecraft and other small but addicting games.
THAT'S what gaming is supposed to be about. Today it's big franchises, super duper graphics, and 100 million dollar budgets. and not a drop of fun to be found
I like Notch and all, but how a few of his tweets can be considered a news story is beyond me.
It is capitalism that is destroying gaming, not one company, EA sucks, but the reasoning is both more complex and simplistic at the same time, the simpler truth being, Capitalists must, at all times, work to gain more capital, they almost have no choice in this.
1 Like One of the downsides of capitalism is also it's strength. The primary purpose of a capitalist system is to have firms compete with each other in order to lower the final cost of their products. The result is more people buying your product, and more profit. The result of that is more people buying your stock resulting in more capital to expand or put in your Swiss or Carribean bank account. But most of the wealth generated goes to workers and then the local population. So there is always pressure to cut costs which means cut corners on the quality of the product. Of course if you cut too much quality from your product the consumers may shun it. But firms will always try to cut the quality of their prodiucts in favor of quantity and profit. The big firms are well-oiled machines and will do this much faster and more notably than smaller firms.If you do not like what they are doing to their product then stop buying it and buy from someone else who is doing the right things. It won't take much time before the big firms come around after they see their profits go down.
5 Like Congratulations on posting the stupidest thing I've and quite possibly will ever read.
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@Alexanderone The only QUALITY games EA makes are the games strictly developed IN-HOUSE. All their undersigned, subsidiary developers struggle to meet EA's disgusting deadlines and desires.
1 Like Well i don't agree with his comments on Indie Games, but it's true EA is certainly not the Company i grown to love over the years. In fact they just got awful. I remember my brother playing the original Medal of Honor Demo back in 99. At that time my only experience in gaming was Pac Man and Atari years before. Well that game knocked my socks off and i have been playing games ever since.
Unfortunately, EA in my view got too greedy over the years, and their games show it as far as quality. The downward quality trend of their Sports Franchise Games, as well as Medal of Honor and the Battlefield Franchises make it apparent that their priority has now become "hype and advertising" rather than the quality of their games (see Call of Duty as another example and quite frankly the biggest culprit in my view). EA used to be by far my favorite gaming company. Unfortunately, that is now far from the case.
1 Like @zakaweb Do not discount the importance of Indie games.
The largest game companies - EA, Activision, Nintendo, etc. - have to answer to shareholders, so they're more likely to release sequel after sequel in a franchise (Starcraft II, Diablo III, Crysis 3, Sports Title X 2012, DiRT Showdown, etc.) or leverage existing intellectual property for "new" games (Mario & Sonic Olympics, Sonic Colors, etc.) because it's low risk with predictable revenue. You can't really blame them because players buy them. However, it leads to incremental changes in game design rather than truly novel gameplay, and that's where Indies come in.
Indies take big risks in design because they have to in order to be noticed in a crowded marketplace. This is good for gamers: Most of the best games of the past five years have been Indie games. Super Meat Boy, Limbo, Bastion, Fez, Superbrothers: Swords & Sworcery EP, The Binding of Isaac, Botanicula, Skullgirls, Braid, Capsized, Jamestown, Journey, Frozen Synapse Lone Survivor- and I'm not even scratching the surface.
The only games I'm looking forward to in 2012 are Indie games. Airmech, Antichamber, Mark of the Ninja, Torchlight 2, Firefall - good Lord Firefall looks good - Crowman & Wolfboy, and Monaco is Mine.
I actually like indie games I just don't think they are as important as Notch is making them out to be. I can't wait for Torchlight 2 but have no knowledge of the others on your list. I'll take a look. I still prefer the big budget games over the small indie games, just my preference and I would argue the preference of most gamers. Indie games are great for gaming but to say they are "saving gaming" is an bit too much.
1 Like @zakaweb Indie games are more sought after than recent "AAA" games lately. I also think they are saving gaming due to most of em are more innovative or creative than most "AAA" title games.
I don't think you can say they are more sought after by gamers in general. Maybe you and alot of others but I would bet the majority of gamers are more interested in non indie games. I'm all for indie games I just think Notch is being a bit big headed in his statements.
I don't need to do research. Nothing you've said changes my opinion. Your opinion is not a scientific presentation of facts either. As I said, I like Indie games and think they are important I just don't think they are "saving gaming" and I don't buy into the EA is the devil trying to detroy gaming either. So I will comment my opinion as much as you will and you can agree or disagree. That's what this is all about.
@zakaweb Indie games are taking a larger chunk as a whole of the pie every year from people like EA. The growth and attention they have been given on the Mobile platform is reason why people like EA are doing Mobile games now, when a few AAA developers said Mobile gaming was just a phase. The best selling Mobile games of all time are in fact... indie developed games. Some of the best selling on Steam are are also Indie games as well as XBLA. Do research before you comment please.
1 Like While I know it isn't realistic to completely avoid playing EA games, I know how many I play has slimmed down so much.
1 Like To everyone that is ripping on EA.Please never play any game with the EA logo ever again. No EA Sports games, no Bioware games, no Dice games, No Sims games, no NFS. None of them. It's your own loss.
I've grown up playing games from EA and I will continue to buy and play EA games. They publish some of the best games around. I like Minecraft and all, but it's in no shape or from "saving games" . Notch is in no place to talk trash about the big guys yet. Get over yourself.
@Canuckian3k Keep telling yourself that. I've already stopped buying EA games over a year ago, I will not buy another, though I do beta test to see certain developers like Funcom and The Secret World. I used to play almost nothing but EA games and loved them15 years ago. Companies change, their methods change and if you can't see that, then your as blind as a bat. Your loss (of money to half ass unfinished games) not mine. Don't cry when Bioware gets shut down like EA has already done to many great devs they have bought out. BioWare just laid off many people from their SWTOR Austin office 2 weeks ago and is now going FTP after losing 400k subscribers in the past 2 months. Be my guest and stay a fan, but I jumped ship long ago before when it started to sink... FUCK EA!
12 Like This is why I dislike EA, its like they bought my favourite cake store and then charged me double and added on a bit extra for the fork, napkin and plate I used. That's also because now I have to eat the cake in-store and can't take it home. (which by the way there's another charge for the amount of minutes I spend in the store)
6 Like EA has consistently run a number of gaming companies into the ground, which is probably enough to justify persson's statement already. add to that their propensity for yearly releases, their ongoing ruination of beloved RPG company bioware, and a series of recent PR kerfuffles and i have to agree the EA really aint doing any good for the industry. sure, some of their massive scrooge mcduck pool of money goes to fund decent games, but that kind of stuff is either hum drum business that any other publisher could do, or deliberate attempts to draw attention away from their less civic-minded investments. they also love to reinforce a completely f**ked up development cycle that has turned games into a mad dash to cram as much HD graphics onto a disc as fast as humanly possible with little time or effort left for anything substantial.
but the thing is, if they were gone, activision would fill the vacuum, and that would be WAY worse than anything EA could do. its like the bush presidency; we couldnt get rid of him because it meant cheney would take over. what we really need is more indie stuff and more publishers as competition, because as it stands we have 2 behemoths so secure in their power that the only thing they feel the need to improve is the quality of childish insults they sling at each other over who has the most profitable FPS series.
3 Like Indie developers are saying alot of filth lately but I actually agree on this story. EA are making a bunch of stupid decisions that seems to irritate the customers, me included.
I'm no EA apologist, but, but if they're throwing some of their marketing muscle behind Indie developers like Klei Entertainment, I find it hard to fault them. If the Indie companies that fall under EA are just off-brands, then that's another thing, but so far as I know they're independent shops with EA partnerships.
I'm on the outside, so I don't know the details, but would be interested in the nitty-gritty. It sounds like a catfight is about to commence in the Indie space.
2 Like I love Crysis 1, 1½ and 2, the same goes Mass Effect.
But I do not like EA, and the way they work.
When NFL 2K was superior, EA bought the NFL rights because they can?t stand seeing other making better games than themselves.
Well back to Notch, he ruined GRAPHICS, just look at minecraft, people around the world are going blind, just by playing for more than five minutes
2 Like I find myself liking Mr. Persson a lot more now. Indie companies are at least bringing some initiative and creativity to the industry, instead of releasing the same old rubbish with a new coat of paint every year.
1 Like EA get bashed because of their philosopy.
They personify all that is bad about a massive conglomerate - greed, running studios like sweat shops and burying them when they've finished with the franchise.
It's no secret about how they operate.
Good games or not, I know a lot of people who have boycotted their games because of this as a form of protest.
Add to this the shit Origin system they seem to have absolutely no interest in fixing and you start to understand what EA is all about.
It's not just about publishing a couple of good games, it's about selling the corporate image, encouraging people to have a career with them and building credible and solid company core values.
All I see is a greedy, manipulating machine eating up everything in it's path at whatever cost.
Hmmmm i dont know why people bash ea so much.....
mass effect 3
battlefield 3
fifa
crysis 2
medal of honor
the sims 3
ssx
the old republic
just some of the games they relesed in the last year or 2....
i bet probley all of you have bought one of theses games.....
by publishing these games what have they done wrong? when ea first came along they where awful but over the last few years they redeemed them self if u ask me. unlike Activision who just publish anythink this day and age and reselling the same game over and over with a new skin and a 5hour campaign
blah u guys would miss all the games ea bring to us belive me!
4 Like @boosey36 I wonder how many of those IPs they bought and which ones they created themselves, hm?
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