Any gamer could provide you with a list of reasons why they hate EA. Be it the release of an unfinished game (Anthem), or them calling micro transactions as ‘Surprise Mechanics’, almost everyone associated with the gaming industry thinks that EA are the ‘Bad Guys’.

While EA earns huge with its sports franchise like NFL and FIFA, their attempts to use the Star Wars video game license have been criticized by almost everyone. With such hate and disappointment pointed at them by the fans, EA would naturally want to change the perception that the entire gaming industry has of them.

During an interview with GamesIndustry.biz ,Matt Bilbey who works at EA as the company’s EVP of strategic growth talked about how EA is not always the bad guys. He said:

“25 years at EA and I still struggle with the external perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys. We love making and playing games. Unfortunately, when we make mistakes on games, the world knows about it because it’s of a size and scale.”

Matt Bilbey also talked about the the EA Originals and what EA is actually trying to do with it. For those who aren’t aware with the EA Originals, it is a program within Electronic Arts to help support independently-developed video games.

“As we got bigger, there is the concern that we had become disconnected from new talent coming through. EA Originals is our opportunity to connect with that talent and those smaller ideas. When you are part of a big company, it’s too easy to fall into the trap where when you see a game concept… it has to be big. The notion of actually coming up with small, unique game ideas… We know from the work that we’ve been doing on our subscription business that gamers will play a FIFA or a Fortnite — they have one main franchise — but then they want breaks from those games to play something that’s maybe five or ten hours long.

The interview makes it pretty clear that EA is aware of the negative perception that people have of them. Maybe EA can change things this year with their new Star Wars game, which according to them does not have any micro transactions. And even though micro transactions aren’t the only thing wrong with them, removing them would be a step in the right direction.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz