The Great Lies of EA and Maxis

This message was edited 56 times. Last update was at 11/12/2008 04:45:20

Keeping Them Honest!

LIE
EA/Maxis lied to the National Geographic

they had been led to believe that the interviews were for a straight documentary about "developmental evolutionary" science
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5901/531b

TRUTH
"I was used," says Neil Shubin, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois, who worries that science has been "hijacked" to promote a product.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5901/531b
http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/10083.page
~ Thank you Poetry

LIE
All people are unhappy with Spore and have major issues with it.

TRUTH
There are people who like this Spore just fine (the demonstration-version Spore would be nice as a seperate release), and have NO aesthetic or technical issues with it.
~ hmspepper

LIE
Install limit increased from 3 to 5. ~ EA
Please Note: This is merely a "half-truth" as not everyone who purchased spore is getting 5 installs ~ See Below

TRUTH

Dairuka wrote:The total installation attempts on the first batch of games released in the month of September have a total of 3 installations. Any other versions of the game released have a total of 5 installations, leaving those of us suckers who bought the game early, SOL.

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/6800.page

LIE
Legitimate users can easily achieve new activations if they run out. ~ Public Misconception

TRUTH
If you believe that, read this...
http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/6800.page

Thanks Dairuka

LIE
Spore Begins With a Big Bang! One Million Games Sold and 25 Million Creations Uploaded
http://www.ea.com/read/20080924-sporemillion.xml

TRUTH
Spore realised sales of 406K units
http://www.pcworld.com/article/152396/npd_xbox_360_soars_past_ps3_in_september_sales.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081017-september-npd-numbers-star-wars-trumps-flagging-us-economy.html

The claim of 25 Million Creations is also greatly exaggerated. Spore uploads every variation of a single creation, add a hat to ur creature, new creation uploaded. ~ Thanks RedLightning777

LIE
“I think that, in general, a year and a half ago EA was pretty well hated -- and I think for good reasons," he says. "Today, you’d be hard pressed to go to a forum and not see a lot of people defending EA and its products.” ~ EA CEO
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20655

TRUTH
You've got to be kidding!! EA is the MOST HATED developer! just google "hate EA"

STRAIGHT LIES
EA: Piracy didn't hurt 'Spore' sales
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10054438-62.html

"Stepping aside from the whole issue of DRM, people need to recognize that every BitTorrent download doesn’t represent a successful copy of a game, let alone a lost sale," ~ Mariam Sughayer of EA's corporate communications department
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20424

TRUTH
Spore: Most Pirated Game Ever Thanks to DRM
http://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/

LIES FROM THE VIDEOS
See this thread for a detail of how we were misled about spore
http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/8654.page

View the videos for yourself here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&ei=K3_5SIqnJ4mwrQLlo4TqDg&q=spore
and
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-394434397798392775&ei=Wn_5SNSAIJycrAK9oozNCg&q=spore

TRUTH
What you have installed on ur system

LIE
“So far, Spore has outsold Sims 2,” he notes. “Commercially, it’s doing very well.” ~ EA CEO
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20655

TRUTH
the updated list shows [Sims 2] in third with a total 534,000 units sold
(*Spore realised sales of 406K units*)
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17129

And that figure was ONLY for the year 2007 and did not include previous years!! The release date was September 17, 2004

LIE
"...now we’re allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate which makes it more in line like an iTunes." ~ Will Wright

TRUTH
Ummm....... Where's this de-authenticate wonder?? Oh yea, it doesn't exist yet o.0 so how are u allowing it now?

LIE
I'm guessing that half of them were pirates, and the other half were people caught up in something that they didn’t understand. If I’d had a chance to have a conversation with them, they’d have gotten it... There are different ways to do DRM; the most successful is what WoW does. They just charge you by the month. ~ EA CEO
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/10/15/ea-ceo-half-spore-drm-protesters-were-pirates

TRUTH
The simple fact of the matter is EA's CEO refused to talk to anyone about Spore's DRM. Even before Spore was released there was a small furor about the SecuROM DRM. At NO TIME did John Riccitiello invite any discussion.

WoW's model is not the only solution to DRM...
see http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170117
and http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/10/02/fallout-3-pc-to-ship-with-simple-drm

The simple fact is that DRM does NOT protect sales or products. It only impedes legitimate users. EA has yet to provide proof to support the contrary, not to mention the common sense to see beyond its greedy nose.

Calling your critical opponents pirates or stupid??? Wow, that's really gotta boost the image of EA.

LIE
"I personally don't like DRM. It interrupts the user experience. We would like to get around that. But there is this problem called piracy out there." ~ EA CEO

TRUTH
SecuROM is not necessary to protect sales...

Sins of a Solar Empire by stardock has sold 500,000+ (surpassing SPORE sales) units with minimal DRM!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20026

SoaSE DRM -
"Here's the basic question that every publisher/gamer/developer could ask: By requiring the CD to be in the drive to play a game, even assuming that protection unbreakable, do you increase your sales?

I ask that because many gamers who are on the fence on a given title won't purchase a game if it requires them to treat their CD like a dongle key. Why? Because let's face it, we lose our CDs eventually. Or we damage them. And so what happens is that people who are on the fence on a given title simply choose not to buy the game.

By not having any CD copy protection, people who are on the fence about our game can see that it's only $40 and once it's installed on their machines (plural) they don't have to fuss with the CD anymore. And we do have a type of copy protection -- free updates for customers."
http://forums.galciv2.com/107193/page/3/

Thanks to Dairuka for this lead. And Pyrion for the correction.

LIE
EA would leave the PC development market if it doesn't get its way. ~ Popular Misconception

TRUTH
EA wouldn't dare vacate the lucrative PC development sector. EA's shear size and profitability is a direct result of its cross platform portfolio. If EA exited PC/Mac development, it would leave a hole in the market which other developers would quickly and easily fill. By doing so, EA would shoot itself in the foot and threaten its own existence. So what if it's games get pirated, EA will still make millions off of the Advertisements that would be downloaded in the games via the EADM.

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No Dissent = No Democracy

On Nov 10, 2008, at 9:41 PM, Maxis, Cactus wrote:

Hi Marx83,

While we encourage feedback, critical and positive, and open discourse in our forums, we also want to promote a positive atmosphere.

We‘re actively listening to forum participants to find ways to improve the Spore experience. If you’re unhappy with our practices, the best way to be heard is to give us constructive criticism on what you’d like to see changed. We pay attention to your feedback especially when you give us specifics, but we request that you be respectful when voicing your opinions.

You recently posted an image in your signature that says, “It’s not fascism when we do it.”

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3412/sporecistto0.jpg

The image depicting a SPORE with a Spore logo violates our TOS concerning objectionable content. We would ask that you remove this image from your signature voluntarily as we have received complaints about it as objectionable.

Sincerely,
MaxisCactus

From: Colyn [mailto:poprocks83@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 12:56 AM
To: Maxis, Cactus
Subject: Re: Your Spore forum signature image

Hello,

I understand your contacting me in regards to the referenced image. You claim that it depicts a SPORE, I disagree. There are no SPORE symbols or insignia visible anywhere in the image. On the contrary, it depicts a man holding a red flag with the spore logo. As the image does not depict a SPORE, I'm sure you'll agree this issue is resolved.

Thank You,
Colyn a.k.a. Marx83

On Nov 11, 2008, at 1:46 PM, Maxis, Cactus wrote:

Hi Colyn,

Thanks for understanding. Our forum guidelines ask that you respect the decisions of our moderators and staff.
http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/4.page

The image you posted is an altered version of one copyrighted by OLD American Century, found here: http://www.oldamericancentury.org/image_gallery/image_gallery2.htm

All images in the galleries are copyright 2004-2008 Project for the OLD American Century, however you have full permission to post them wherever you like so long as the images are not altered in any way other than resizing them.

Please remove the image as it constitutes copyright infringement which violates our TOS.

Thank you,
Maxis Cactus

From: Colyn [mailto:poprocks83@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 12:13 PM
To: Maxis, Cactus
Subject: Re: Your Spore forum signature image

Hello,

I appreciate your reply. The image does not constitute copyright infringement under the law. The image, in whatever original form has never been registered for copyrights. The image you reference at old american century has rights pertaining to THAT version of the image. In other words, the image is public domain and its usage as I have it has no copyright and does not constitute copyright infringement. Please see http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ for copyright law.

Thank You,
Colyn a.k.a. Marx83

As the image has been changed from its original intended meaning, it is now considered "derivative work"

On Nov 11, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Maxis, Cactus wrote:

Hi Colyn,

Still, we expect you to respect the decisions of the moderators and staff.

From our guidelines:
Guidelines - Posting etiquette
• Work out differences politely
• Be respectful when posting about religious, political, or otherwise controversial content

Behavior – Help keep the forums a fun place to discuss Spore

Moderators and Staff – We’re here to help
• Respect the decisions of the moderators and staff

This has been reported to us by other forum members as offensive, and we are asking you to remove it.

Thanks,
MaxisCactus

From: Colyn [mailto:poprocks83@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 1:50 PM
To: Maxis, Cactus
Subject: Re: Your Spore forum signature image

Hello,

I understand that you have labeled the image as "offensive". I truly do not see how anyone could come to that conclusion. Could you please advise me as to how the image is offensive?

Thank You,
Colyn a.k.a. Marx83

On Nov 11, 2008, at 5:30 PM, Maxis, Cactus wrote:

This is offensive to us because it links Spore with Fascism, an ideology that we don’t support. The issue is not up for debate.

You are required by the forum guidelines to respect the decisions of the staff. I ask you to remove the image by the end of the day today. If you are unable to respect the forum guidelines, your forum privileges will be temporarily suspended.

Thanks,
-MaxisCactus

Hello,

Yes, the image does link Spore with Fascism. I ask that you take a step back and analyze this situation. In the Spore universe you have the "power" and can exercise that power as you see fit. Regardless of the medium used for my expression, you are exercising your "power" to limit my rights as an individual. This by the very definition is Fascism, you see the image as offensive because it represents your desire to limit my free will. I had hoped that this dialog would have progressed in a more positive fashion, but I see now that objective is impossible.

I will not concede my rights as an individual, you will have to strip them from me. You've proven that you are willing to take the first step towards Fascism and have lost every shred of respect. I pity you, and hope that one day you'll regain your humanity.

Best Regards,
Colyn a.k.a. Marx83

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Other Things You Should Know!

In-game advertising is in ~ http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10065899-52.html
"The quick answer is, of course we would partner with them and anybody else who would write us a check."
What about all the customers who write you checks every day?? Aren't they partners?

In-Game Advertising
Our games may incorporate dynamic advertisement serving technology offered by Massive Inc. or IGA Worldwide Inc. (“Ad Providers”), which enables advertising to be temporarily uploaded into the game on your PC or console, and replaced while you play online. Ad Providers only log information that is needed to measure presentation of, and serve advertising to the appropriate geographic region, and to the right location within the game. Logged data may include Internet Protocol Address or player’s user name, in game location, length of time an advertisement was visible, size of the advertisements, and angle of view. Your game may be assigned an id number, which is stored on your PC or console, and used by Ad Providers to calculate the number of unique and repeat views of dynamic in game advertising. The id number is not associated with any personal data. No logged information is used to personally identify you. The servers used by the Ad Providers may be located outside your country of residence. If you reside in a Member State of the European Union, the servers may be located outside of the European Union. This ad serving technology is integrated into the game; if you do not want to use this technology, do not play the game while connected to the Internet. For more information concerning Massive Incorporated, please visit http://www.massiveincorporated.com. For more information concerning IGA Worldwide Inc., please visit www.igaworldwide.com.
http://legal.ea.com/legal/legal.jsp?language=en

Sims 3 To Have In-Game Advertising ~ http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/1000252/iga-scores-more-in-game-advertising-for-sims-3/

What happens when a developer asks pirates "Why?" http://www.sakuafk.com/2008/08/17/yar-a-game-developer-talked-to-pirates/

Check out the GAMERS BILL OF RIGHTS, championed by Game Developer http://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=1095

EA Creates Revisionist History on Wikipedia

EA's Rip Off Report

EA's Abysmal Record from the Better Business Bureau

EA/Maxis was asked if they with held content to sell as expansions. To date, no response has been given.

Stand for your rights as a player! Show your support!

To get this awesome sig made by Finnical insert this code into your sig line

Will be updated as I find/research more... PM me with anything u find, and i'll add it to the list.
Found an error? PM me and I'll correct it.

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The following is purely a theory which attempts to explain why EA would push the issue of SecuROM (even tho it knows SecuROM is a failure) and to extrapolate further including EA's stated future plans. Again, please note that this is just a THEORY, albeit a very plausible one.

Conspiracy Theory

So, i've been thinking about EA's recent moves, and have come up with a possible theory... First, the facts -

EA will make the EADM required in all future games.

SecuROM requires a "phone home" re-authentication every 10 days or your game stops working. EA has since recinded this requirement, thanks to all the complainers

EA has begun implementing in-game advertising.

Our buddy Johnny (EA's CEO John Riccitiello) has said he's going to implement in-game advertising in the near future so he can make more money. Johnny needs to make sure that the infrastructure for such a system exists before rolling the program out. Johnny knows that people don't want advertisements in their games, and if he moves to fast, he'll loose everything.

Under the guise of "piracy", Johnny installs SecuROM on all his players systems. To make sure players sign on to download new advertisements for their games, he makes sure your game becomes unplayable after 10 days offline. Johnny knows that this is probably the hardest hurdle to cross over, so he picks the game title most likely to penetrate the market. Johnny chooses Spore, knowing many want this game and it's backed by one of the industry leaders, Will Wright.

Johnny was prepared for the backlash against SecuROM, it's his most necessary component to success. Johnny began a dehumanizing campaign against those who opposed SecuROM by labeling them Pirates. He hopes this strategy will divide the players as they squabble against themselves, distracting them from the big picture. To hide the EADM, Johnny chooses the best practice, hide it in plain sight.

EADM is released with SecuROM and goes largely unnoticed. All the while the EADM is downloading content into players games. Little does anyone know, that this same EADM will be the source for all future advertisements. By tying EADM into the game, Johnny ensures that players cannot block out the advertisements without damaging their game. The second piece of the plan is put in place, quietly and successfully.

Johnny's still worried that if players succeed in damaging the most critical component, the SecuROM, his entire plan falls. So he plows over his opposition by releasing 2 blockbuster hits into the market, both carrying his advertisement dreams. Sims 3 and Red Alert 2 are both poised to be downloaded and installed on millions of computers world wide. Johnny thinks to himself, there's no way anyone could stop 3 trains.

One Year Later

Johnny's plan was a huge success. He now has advertisements running in all games and millions of extra dollars rolling in ever 2 weeks. Johnny smiles to himself as he mulls over his genius.

JohnnyPie wrote:Previous to this theory, EA decided to back down from the 10 day re-authentication program.
http://games.slashdot.org/games/08/05/09/2318229.shtml

My thanks to JohnnyPie for announcing this victory

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 10/18/2008 04:56:31

Nice find!!! Congratulations....

There was another article on the artstechnica site you posted that I found interesting though off-topc.. yet relevant.

EA is suffering some major PR problems. The company has enjoyed plenty of positive coverage over games like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge, and it has announced deals with talent like Grasshopper Manufacture, ID software, and Epic that have made its portfolio even more impressive. But the invasive and controversial DRM included in Spore and the upcoming Red Alert 3 is causing some gamers to swear off the company's work entirely. Unfortunately, the politics of piracy prevention are now hurting both EA and the gamers that want to support quality titles, and it doesn't look like there will be a happy resolution in the near future.

The part in bold .. is horrible. Why doesn't EA JUST FREAKING LISTEN! RULE #1: Keep the Customer HAPPY.

posted this on another thread but it's even more relevant here because it comments directly on the above figures.

If Marx86's sales figures are correct, they have not come close to breaking even. I understand that the total Spore development cost approached 45 million.

Supposedly, roughly 400,000 units have been sold. At a cost of $50 per unit, that only equals $20 million GROSS which leaves them at a 25 million dollar shortfall. And THEN you have to consider the additional costs of marketing.

According to this article
http://www.romow.com/games-blog/is-spore-the-mother-of-all-video-games/
the total cost to bring Spore to market was around $75 MILLION.

That means that they're looking at a FIFTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR SHORTFALL, and that doesn't even cover the fact that the money they make per unit is far less than what BestBuy et al charge, and then you have duplication costs, cost of manual and packaging, etc which is fairly trivial but adds up. How much are they actually profiting per unit sale? $30?

I wonder how hard they are getting hit by the current economic depression. Say hello to Kondratiev winter.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/18/2008 05:03:39

Im betting RA3 will be a SPORE game.
Cause I couldnt play CC3 Kanes Wrath cause stupid bugs and off balanced units.
Before making a new they have to clear bugs off old ones...

If you click GDI chooper with a nod soldier it will take you aboard and your guy stay in that chooper forever.
One GDI soldier squad equal to 2 nod militia and a rocket squad.
Reedemer Super Nod vehicle could destroyed by two orkas...
GDI Zone Raider Squad could destroy anything within a sec.

4 months passed Non really working patches.

And about RA3 they used all the old voices of units.Funny

PS: THQ forever...

I actually thought Kane's Wrath was all right but mainly because I liked the prepurchased brigade play with no base building.

No way am I buying RA3.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/18/2008 05:25:26

The sales figures if true are highly troubling.

Any hope of the game improving rests on spore being profitable to them and if they actually swallowed a $55 million loss.......

Also EA stock got hammered this month but then again what didn't

ghadis wrote:posted this on another thread but it's even more relevant here because it comments directly on the above figures.

If Marx86's sales figures are correct, they have not come close to breaking even. I understand that the total Spore development cost approached 45 million.

Supposedly, roughly 400,000 units have been sold. At a cost of $50 per unit, that only equals $20 million GROSS which leaves them at a 25 million dollar shortfall. And THEN you have to consider the additional costs of marketing.

According to this article
http://www.romow.com/games-blog/is-spore-the-mother-of-all-video-games/
the total cost to bring Spore to market was around $75 MILLION.

That means that they're looking at a FIFTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR SHORTFALL, and that doesn't even cover the fact that the money they make per unit is far less than what BestBuy et al charge, and then you have duplication costs, cost of manual and packaging, etc which is fairly trivial but adds up. How much are they actually profiting per unit sale? $30?

I wonder how hard they are getting hit by the current economic depression. Say hello to Kondratiev winter.

Even less now, you can buy SPORE for $35 on Amazon now.

They integrated MANY ads into the sims 2 even.

numbers don´t lie.... EA is gonna crack... it might be very soon if it keeps on this path...

if Maxis isn´t smart enough to try and satisfy their playerbase, they´ll just go down with that ship

they underestimated their customer´s intelligence, by dumbing-down the game, and breaking it up to sell it to us in pieces (aka expansions)... that´s a MAJOR foul in ANY line of business....

no wonder it´s going downhill

Moach wrote:numbers don´t lie.... EA is gonna crack... it might be very soon if it keeps on this path...

if Maxis isn´t smart enough to try and satisfy their playerbase, they´ll just go down with that ship

they underestimated their customer´s intelligence, by dumbing-down the game, and breaking it up to sell it to us in pieces (aka expansions)... that´s a MAJOR foul in ANY line of business....

no wonder it´s going downhill

A major foul indeed, add that to the many other major fouls, and its a strikeout! Not sure if there's anymore strikes left at this point.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/18/2008 05:47:56

numbers don´t lie.... EA is gonna crack... it might be very soon if it keeps on this path...

if Maxis isn´t smart enough to try and satisfy their playerbase, they´ll just go down with that ship

Nah, their stock is comparatively OK considering, and I think they've got plenty of cash on hand. Plus, they wouldn't be expecting full return on investment two months after launch I wouldn't think. However, they are going to be scraping hard to get more. Expect another parts pack shortly after Cute and Creepy.

Just think, all this was completely unnecessary. They should have just listened to their LEAD DESIGNER WHO HAS MADE NUMEROUS MULTIMILLION DOLLAR GAMES. Will Wright might be responsible for a billion dollars in sales over the years.

It feels like sometimes on these boards we're being critical of a presidential candidate instead of a game company.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/18/2008 05:57:58

shinu1729 wrote:It feels like sometimes on these boards we're being critical of a presidential candidate instead of a game company.

Take into account how many potentially great games EA has destroyed over the years, and you'd understand our hate.

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
Alien vs Predator
Army of Two
Black & White 2
Dungeon Keeper 2
Majestic
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Sim City Societies
X Squad
Hellgate: London
Battlefield 2
Ultima Online

... Thats just the ones I can remember.

EA spams the market, and buys out anything that shows any hint of creativity that could pose as a competitive threat to their base. Then they ruin every series by firing skilled talent; over-bearing existing talent with lame draconian producers and executives who take over and go so far as to cut funding the moment a game is released making post-release support for free a pipe-dream.

Wow, Hellgate London was an EA property?

What a complete and utter failure that piece of garbage was. Horrible, and I'm astonished Roper allowed it to be released in the condition it was in.

Unless...

Unless he didn't have any say in the matter.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/18/2008 06:01:44

ghadis wrote:Unless he didn't have any say in the matter.

Bingo! Flagship took the flak, and EA walked off with all the money earned on release.

Just like they're doing with spore.

Just like they're going to do with Mirrors Edge.

Just like they're going to do with every other game...

And the consumers don't matter. Only the share-holders do. Gaming is just a business to EA. We're just pawns.