February 24, 2011
From fake protesters to scaring the crap out of your mom, EA has cut loose with some, shall we say, odd marketing choices of late. Oh sure, there’s no such thing as bad press and EA’s games certainly aren’t hurting for attention but irking the people who actually buy your games in addition to the people who routinely lambast them might not be the best move.
The fine folks of The Escapists’ Extra Credits show agree and go so far as to say that EA is holding the game industry and the medium as a whole back with its antics. Give the video a gander and see if you agree.
Extra Credits: An Open Letter to EA Marketing
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Correspondent Andrew Eisen
Comments
Re: Extra Credits Chastises EA's Marketing
"Ugh, just bit the bullet and sent it to everyone at EA I know...I'm going to pay for this next week - JP"
For anyone curious, they did send the video to EA. That is a quote from their facebook page. EC does have a pretty large voice, lets see how this turns out.
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There are only 10 types of people in this world, people who know binary and people who don't.
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There are only 10 types of people in this world, people who know binary and people who don't.
Re: Extra Credits Chastises EA's Marketing
How is this not EA's fault. They hired the marketing company and they approved the marketing plan that said company came up with. No one hires a marketing company and lets them have free range to do whatever they want.
Frankly when I saw the Dead Space 2 commerical I said out loud "Thanks EA for keeping the stereotype alive."
Re: Extra Credits Chastises EA's Marketing
In EA's defense, the whole fake protest thing was not their idea. They hired a marketing company that did it. Now, EA could have kaiboshed it a lot quicker than they did, but it still was not entirely their fault.
Re: Extra Credits Chastises EA's Marketing
Sadly, even if EA sees this, I have a feeling it will fall on deaf ears.
Like the EC guys, I remember too that mission statement from way back in those early days. But I chalk that up as being the product of youg idealism, much like the young Charles Foster Kane and his "Declaration of Principles." And like Kane, as EA grew and eventually became the bloated entity that it is now (and which happens to all business unfortunately, no matter how good-intentioned they start out as being), those ideals and principles fell by the wayside in the face of the reality of how a capitialistic society works. So as much as the EC guys and other would like those days to return, I sincerely doubt they ever will.
Re: Extra Credits Chastises EA's Marketing
I agree, EA marketing these pass few years has beena joke and shameful at the same time.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/