Electronic Arts might be the worst company in the world. It is, if you listen to what the people say. But they continue to ruin game after game, series after series and franchise after franchise. It’s heartbreaking for true fans of video games since EA has some of the biggest names in entertainment and sports to design for. How is it that they screw up so much, so bad? Greed. Playing to their stockholders instead of their customers.

Here exists a living, updated list of games Electronic Arts has absolutely ruined, in my opinion of course. If you want to add a game to the list, just reply! If I add it, I’ll credit you with the suggestion!

Battlefield 4 – The launch diamond-jewel of next-gen turned out to be a cubic zirconia. When it first launched for PS4, it actually wouldn’t play! The game crashed at the MAIN MENU. LOL. Not even during a game (although it would crash then too), but during the opening text of the game! The quality bar was set extremely low and Electronic Arts promised to fix BF4 and make it a priority! Which is why a year later, another Battlefield game is coming out. Right.

Battlefield Hardline – It’s going to suck. The beta is already so laggy, it’s unplayable for anyone without zen-like patience. Give it a chance? No. I gave BF4 a chance and it cost me $120 bucks for Premium and the game. This game won’t be bought if it’s game of the decade.

Burnout – One of my favorite racing games because it took a new approach to driving games. EA got it’s grubby hands on Criterion in 2004 and this series has gone absolutely no where since.

Dead Space – The first Dead Space was awesome! It took chances, was scary, had a great story and was generally interesting! So what did EA do? Ruin it. Microtransactions, dumbed down game and what you generally would expect from EA have this game series on the rocks. Too bad.

EA’s UFC – Junk junk junk. This could have been so much and it ended up being nonsensical. A terrible submission system, a weak roster, a really weak create-a-fighter with the least customizable created character in modern gaming and many other reasons cause this game to be a major letdown. Read all about it here. 

Mass Effect 3 (or the series) – Mass Effect ended up being one of the rare times EA did something right. It was a very deep and exciting space RPG that was also a third-person-shooter. We got the first two games and they were simply good. A job well done. Mass Effect 3 comes along and plays well, upgrades graphics and attacks and generally, just improved the game. Even a fun multiplayer was added. But the ending? The ending of this game and the series were bland. You have three real endings and that’s it, despite three games worth of choices. I am not getting into the details or spoilers for those that haven’t yet beat this wonderful series but you can’t get to that last moment, in ME3, and not be let down if you’ve played the whole series.

NBA Live 2014 – What a joke! This ended up being a bit humorous because EA had to go up against 2K and 2K showed why it is a superior brand. This game actually has ZERO positive reviews on Metacritic. The average reviewer score is 41/100 (which makes you wonder about some reviewers). But the average user score? 2.7/10. That’s really bad. As for why this game sucks, I never have played it and don’t actually plan to. As Gamespot said, “NBA Live needs serious work in just about every aspect in order to raise its game to a respectable level.”

NEW: Need for Speed – A series once looked forward to every several years as something fun to explore and play is now constantly cashed-in on with mediocre titles unappealing to mass audiences. Hot Pursuit ruled because it was fun chasing people as a jerk cop. Then, the ideas started becoming lamer. A glimmer happens once in a while but it usually gets worse and worse. Just look how many have been made!

1 The Need for Speed (1994)
2 Need for Speed II (1997)
3 Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998)
4 Need for Speed: High Stakes/Road Challenge (1999)
5 Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed/Porsche 2000 (2000)
6 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)
7 Need for Speed: Underground (2003)
8 Need for Speed: Underground 2 (2004)
9 Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
10 Need for Speed: Carbon (2006)
11 Need for Speed: ProStreet (2007)
12 Need for Speed: Undercover (2008)
13 Need for Speed: Shift (2009)
14 Need for Speed: Nitro (2009)
15 Need for Speed: World (2010)
16 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
17 Shift 2: Unleashed (2011)
18 Need for Speed: The Run (2011)
19 Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
20 Need for Speed Rivals (2013)
21 Need for Speed: No Limits (2015)

Plants vs. Zombies – The first one was pretty fun! I will admit, I didn’t like it all that much but I had my time playing it. However, EA is so stinking greedy, they filled the sequel with microtransactions to the point that you have to pay for individual plants.

Sim City – Another game I couldn’t wait for!! I was glad they dropped the numbers and just made me a fun little Sim City, modern day of course. Then, I bought the game. So did my best friend. We both got home, stoked about building our cities and working together to do great things. And the game wouldn’t work. Why? EA chose to have 4 servers for the entire United States, at launch. None were connectable because “so many players” were playing. For days, we couldn’t start a game, because Sim City was ONLINE ONLY! (it’s since been updated, an admission of wrongdoing). EA gave us an online only game and put 4 servers up at launch. Fans revolted and I got a refund on it.

NEW: Sim City: Build It – Part of the Sim City franchise. An iPad game that is a total piece of shit. First, the focus is entirely on these phony coins (that you can buy for insane amounts of cash). Or, there is in game cash (Which is even more expensive). You must build things like vegetables, hammers and pieces of wood to build houses. Eventually, some hidden formula makes them desire to upgrade. It gets old incredibly fast and I just don’t find it fun.

NEW: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – It occurred to me after including “The Old Republic” below that I should add Knights of the Old Republic here, because EA killed it in order to make their shitty poor-man’s World of Warcraft, with a Star Wars theme. Why not make a third Knights? Oh yeah, because you guys suck.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – This should have been a great and lasting experience for Star Wars fans. Instead, we get another run and deliver MMO that looks like a crummier version of KotOR. We also never got a KotOR3, because of this. And it’s reported that EA spent around or more $400 million to make this game. The game dropped to a free to play model, signaling something bad.

The Sims – One of the greatest games of all time was The Sims. So what did EA do? Start chugging out a new Sims every few years. What was wrong with the first one? Even if they did make a single sequel to it, making a third sequel was ridiculous. The DLC is excessive, the game has microtransactions and if you think I’m even a little excited about Sims 4, sorry. Not.

NEW: Ultima – (Submitted by Infinite) “they took a shit on it (Ultima 9 & 8)” I researched this and read that EA pulled the team off of Ultima 9 to finish Ultima Online, effectively killing 9. I never was into this series but from what I gather, fans of it often agree that they were screwed over by EA.

To be continued…

Updated 2/12/2015