4 ms·

>They're buying influence. Buying EA for influence? With the reputation EA has in gaming? They're a joke - they're not influencing anything. Its like buying a

by nick486 2mo ago

>They're buying influence. Buying EA for influence? With the reputation EA has in gaming? They're a joke - they're not influencing anything. Its like buying a violin to fix a flat tire.

ReactiveJelly 2mo ago
They make all the sports games. Have you noticed all the sports and Mr. Beast type slop that's like "Wow and here we are inn Dubai / Saudi Arabia whatever and it's beautiful and luxurious and we're driving in Lambos waooowww" If product placement didn't work it wouldn't be an industry
- rockskon 2mo ago
  Do you think there's a realistic future where the money paid for EA could possibly be recouped with product placement?
charcircuit 2mo ago
>They're a joke They are known for making games that sell to a mass audience and monetizing them well. It's like calling McDonald's a joke. It doesn't take away that they are a successful business affecting many people in the world.
- krige 2mo ago
  If they sold games and were well monetized (not to be confused with heavily monetized), they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
- DimmieMan 2mo ago
  The 'core gamer' bubble has always been bad for this. Sports games sell like hotcakes and have people buy them every year religiously but you never hear about them, sims too. Their other titles were heavy hitters. Their just a seperate audience; EA certainly has influence, just not with people that talk about games.
  - rockskon 2mo ago
    Cultural influence though? Are you going to have MAGA Madden? The Socialist League?
- Morromist 2mo ago
  I agree they're good at making games that sell to a mass audience - but I really think that a lot of franchises have wasted a ton of money partnering with EA, which makes poor quality games that are exactly the same as the one they printed out 12 months ago. I haven't heard anyone talking about an EA sports game since the PS1 era and they seem to have completely missed the e-sports era where DOTA and Fortnight made vast sums of money. Don't get me wrong, they've made a ton of money, but I think they could have made still far more in more competant hands. Fabulously greedy FIFA seems to have realized this and is no longer partnering with them.
  - Jach 2mo ago
    News to me about FIFA. SA has been trying to gain "influence" in sports overall, and their video game endeavors also seem focused on "e-sports" more than gaming as a whole. I frequently hear complaints about them in fighting game circles, which is a more niche segment of "e-sports". EA is a big step up even if it's not DOTA/LoL levels.
    - Morromist 2mo ago
      Yeah. Actually it looks to me like FIFA jumped the gun a bit. They stopped letting EA making their games in 2023, but then choaked and have only released two not-great looking games seemingly meant for low end systems like phones and the Nintendo Switch. I doubt either sold as well as the EA FIFA games. I'll bet they lost a lot of money - I'm sure there's an interesting story about FIFA's efforts to get their own game development up and running. I guess they wanted EA to pay $300 million per year and EA said no, but I doubt FIFA made 50 million on the games they released.
      - danbolt 2mo ago
        It’s also worth noting that the EA studio that makes FIFA has been continuously doing so for over twenty years. It’s not being handed off between studios and rebuild operational expertise over and over. If anything, FIFA was probably getting an incredible deal from EA given the cost of making AAA games today.
- nick486 2mo ago
  Yes, and buying McDonald's to influence anything would be a joke too. In fact EA is the McD of gaming, thats a perfect metaphor. If you want influence, there are waaay better value propositions.
  - sodastar 2mo ago
    actually not. EA is a household name. You can ask every single person with a steam/xbox/psn account if they know ea. i guarantee you, 95% of them heard of EA and id say 80% of those have played an EA game in their lifetime. That being said, influencing happens by mere exposure. There was a time, when Europeans bought up the kit of a bad mexican football club, just because the jersey was hyped on fifa 14. so if someone is trying to influence them, it will happen.
gambiting 2mo ago
>>With the reputation EA has in gaming? Do you think your average EA Sports FC or Battlefield player is even aware of that reputation? These games still sell tens of million of copies. Positive influence in Battlefield alone would be huge.
Yizahi 2mo ago
Buying only a 40% stake in Epic, allowed China to successfully breach Apple's store monopoly and establish a foothold on a previously restricted platform. Will the gable pay off in the future or not, is not exactly relevant. The point is that they can leverage pre-existing western companies for their expansion plans in various ways.

by nick486 2mo ago

>They're buying influence. Buying EA for influence? With the reputation EA has in gaming? They're a joke - they're not influencing anything. Its like buying a violin to fix a flat tire.

ReactiveJelly 2mo ago

They make all the sports games. Have you noticed all the sports and Mr. Beast type slop that's like "Wow and here we are inn Dubai / Saudi Arabia whatever and it's beautiful and luxurious and we're driving in Lambos waooowww" If product placement didn't work it wouldn't be an industry

rockskon 2mo ago
Do you think there's a realistic future where the money paid for EA could possibly be recouped with product placement?

charcircuit 2mo ago

>They're a joke They are known for making games that sell to a mass audience and monetizing them well. It's like calling McDonald's a joke. It doesn't take away that they are a successful business affecting many people in the world.

krige 2mo ago
If they sold games and were well monetized (not to be confused with heavily monetized), they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.
DimmieMan 2mo ago
The 'core gamer' bubble has always been bad for this. Sports games sell like hotcakes and have people buy them every year religiously but you never hear about them, sims too. Their other titles were heavy hitters. Their just a seperate audience; EA certainly has influence, just not with people that talk about games.
- rockskon 2mo ago
  Cultural influence though? Are you going to have MAGA Madden? The Socialist League?
Morromist 2mo ago
I agree they're good at making games that sell to a mass audience - but I really think that a lot of franchises have wasted a ton of money partnering with EA, which makes poor quality games that are exactly the same as the one they printed out 12 months ago. I haven't heard anyone talking about an EA sports game since the PS1 era and they seem to have completely missed the e-sports era where DOTA and Fortnight made vast sums of money. Don't get me wrong, they've made a ton of money, but I think they could have made still far more in more competant hands. Fabulously greedy FIFA seems to have realized this and is no longer partnering with them.
- Jach 2mo ago
  News to me about FIFA. SA has been trying to gain "influence" in sports overall, and their video game endeavors also seem focused on "e-sports" more than gaming as a whole. I frequently hear complaints about them in fighting game circles, which is a more niche segment of "e-sports". EA is a big step up even if it's not DOTA/LoL levels.
  - Morromist 2mo ago
    Yeah. Actually it looks to me like FIFA jumped the gun a bit. They stopped letting EA making their games in 2023, but then choaked and have only released two not-great looking games seemingly meant for low end systems like phones and the Nintendo Switch. I doubt either sold as well as the EA FIFA games. I'll bet they lost a lot of money - I'm sure there's an interesting story about FIFA's efforts to get their own game development up and running. I guess they wanted EA to pay $300 million per year and EA said no, but I doubt FIFA made 50 million on the games they released.
    - danbolt 2mo ago
      It’s also worth noting that the EA studio that makes FIFA has been continuously doing so for over twenty years. It’s not being handed off between studios and rebuild operational expertise over and over. If anything, FIFA was probably getting an incredible deal from EA given the cost of making AAA games today.
nick486 2mo ago
Yes, and buying McDonald's to influence anything would be a joke too. In fact EA is the McD of gaming, thats a perfect metaphor. If you want influence, there are waaay better value propositions.
- sodastar 2mo ago
  actually not. EA is a household name. You can ask every single person with a steam/xbox/psn account if they know ea. i guarantee you, 95% of them heard of EA and id say 80% of those have played an EA game in their lifetime. That being said, influencing happens by mere exposure. There was a time, when Europeans bought up the kit of a bad mexican football club, just because the jersey was hyped on fifa 14. so if someone is trying to influence them, it will happen.

gambiting 2mo ago

>>With the reputation EA has in gaming? Do you think your average EA Sports FC or Battlefield player is even aware of that reputation? These games still sell tens of million of copies. Positive influence in Battlefield alone would be huge.

Yizahi 2mo ago

Buying only a 40% stake in Epic, allowed China to successfully breach Apple's store monopoly and establish a foothold on a previously restricted platform. Will the gable pay off in the future or not, is not exactly relevant. The point is that they can leverage pre-existing western companies for their expansion plans in various ways.