EA: It’s Just Business

The Escapist has an opinion piece that appears to be a kind of half-hearted defence of EA, as the behemoth rolls over BioWare and Take-Two.

Gaining even more attention from gamers was the company’s reaction to a blatantly false Fox News report on Mass Effect, which claimed that the game featured “full digital nudity” and graphic sex. In response, EA sent a letter to Fox News producer Teri Van Horn, pointing out the numerous errors in the report and requesting a correction of the record. And despite their widely held antipathy toward the EA empire, gamers across North America responded by lining up behind the company, expressing their support, gratitude and occasional surprise at the publisher’s willingness to stand up to the Fox monolith.

The jury is still out over whether all this frank talk and pro-industry behavior represents a true sea change for EA or just hot air in the face of stiffening competition from Activision and Ubisoft, but the mere admission that the company’s efforts have flattened out while the industry as a whole continues its phenomenal growth is worth taking notice.