EA: The Human Story

Never been so happy to see shares that I own drop.
Another thing thats not been mentioned, EA failed to appear in the Sunday Times 'top companies to work for' list in the UK. In previous years they came in at number 9 & 21.
EA Europe is no better than the US offices.

Hopefully, this is a trend to put companies like EA to shame. Media enterprises - newspapers, magazines, etc. - have a responsibility to report the truth, not to run idiotic contests based on employee surveys often manipulated by sociopathic companies like EA.

Fortune Magazine is the worst at promoting this list/contest "Best to Work For" shit. This past year, Fortune reviewed the practices of Edward Jones, a small financial adviser firm that had placed #1 two years in a row in the "Best Company to Work For" crap-assed award. In 2002 and 2003 Edward Jones placed No. 1, and placed in the top 10 last year. This January, Fortune disqualified Ed Jones from the "contest" because the employee surveys did not match the recent news events. Employees at Ed Jones turned over e-mails that reported long-time corporate abuse, fraud and staff disenchantment generated over these issues.

I'm grateful to ea_spouse for starting this blog. Someone has to shine a light on this garbage. EA is not the company it claims it is. So what if it placed in the top 100 on Fortune's annual "Best Companies to Work For" list a few years ago. EA hasn't placed on it since, and as far as I'm concerned, should never again place on any such "Best to Work For" list in any magazine/newspaper.

These stupid awards about "top companies to work for" only serve the bloated egos of CEOs; they have nothing to do with the quality of life for employees who slave under these CEOs. Such lists are not relevant and, in my view, constitute fraud. Any media that cooks up these contests deceives the public and the employees who are forced to participate.

I'm glad the stock is tanking. EA deserves its crap rating.

Don't buy the company's stock, and never buy the media's hype.

... it might be worth considering that the only 'perk' most EA employees get on top of their basic salaries are share options and bonuses. If the share price plumets then this only makes it worse for the employees.

no way. i own the stock and i'm glad to see it drop. see previous comments as EA is no longer going to be offering up options and such. besides, they never gave many options anyway. it's the really really big guys who are benefitting from options, see mr. probst et. al and the amount of options all of those goons are holding onto. i'm waiting for the stock to drop so i can option myself some puts or shorts on this puppy......all i can say is.....fall, fall!!!

I didn't understand how hard EA pushes everyone... O.o ...It's a wonder how they can do that and get such a little amount of good games...Now I see why everyone hates EA
O.o
I'm thirteen and I actually understood you...yay me! ^_^

There's more here -

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050328/phm038.html?.v=4

"Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all securities purchasers of Electronic Arts, Inc. between January 25, 2005 and March 21, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period).

Specifically, shareholders charge that Lawrence Probst, III and Warren Jenson violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by withholding vital information in their conference call to investors earlier this year.

Um, dude. Isn't this insider trading? Probst, Jensen, and a whole bunch of other higher ups dumped a bunch of stock at the end of January:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=ERTS

I'm a seventeen-year-old high schooler on the east coast. All my life I've loved video games. Although I'm a little ashamed to admit it, I liked to go to other people's houses when I was little just so I could play (my parents wouldn't buy me a system). So naturally I've been looking into careers in the industry as I near college. Reading these entries has pissed me off as well as inspired me. I don't know a whole lot about business or the structure of the software industry, but I think it would kick ass to head up a company where the employee came first. Video games aren't about making money! They're entertainment, as well as art. I've never really been sure of where in the VG industry to insert myself, and I've got a lot to learn, but I certainly wouldn't object to creating an environment where video games, which I love and have been dear to my heart, could be grown, not manufactured.

Same here. I live in NYC and is currently a second year in college majoring in computer arts. A while ago I heard EA NY is holding a summer internship session at my school (they do it every year) I was so excited but it collides with my 3D class so I couldn't go. Later I asked the seniors, and one of them told me:

"Dude, I'm fine with working for EA as an intern during the summer, they don't show you who they are there. But there is no way in hell that I'm going to work for them. I mean, 70 hours a week for 50k a year for the first 4 year totally sucked."

That's not the exact quote but it's close enough. Now hopefully I can find another video game company around NYC.

Wow, after reading this I don't plan on supporting a company like EA by purchasing any of thier products any longer.

If you don't like it don't do it. Great games take time.

The point of this blog being, EA doesn't schedule enough time to make the games it makes. Instead of coming up with a reasonable 1.5-2 year schedule, it schedules games to be made in one year, and then forces the people to work overtime to fit the work within that time frame. Stop trying to give input on a topic that you don't know shit about.

How about we all acquire some Victory Gin and Victory Cigarettes. Maybe then mindless labor wouldnt be so horrible. Wait yes it would. Life imitates art.

Its companies like this one that is a major detriment to all others. They set the bar of slave labor and other up and coming companies think... "hey that seems like a good idea."... In turn they try the same and the rotation begins.

Its a sad day that companies completely disregard an individuals personal life (family, friends, TIME OFF, etc...) and expect you to become that lowly man working mad hours, sporting a pair of coke bottle glasses, working for little to no money and complaining about the loss of his stapler.

Electronic Arts under Investigation

Tuesday, December 17th, 2004 Posted: 9:19 AM EST (1319 GMT)

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA (CNN) – World renowned human rights organization Amnesty International has launched an investigation against popular video game developer Electronic Arts, accusing the company of severe mistreatment of its development staff.

Known for its best selling Madden football series, video game production company Electronic Arts has been having an extremely profitable year, with hits like Battlefield Vietnam, its NBA and NFL Street series, and its annual reiterations of its classic football, basketball, and hockey series. Coming off a groundbreaking purchase of exclusive rights to the NFL teams, logos, stadiums, and of the NFL players association for the next five years, Electronic Arts was looking to establish itself as one of the dominant forces in modern day gaming.

Now, Amnesty International, an organization dedicated to unveiling massive human rights violations all over the world, partially credited for the investigation that led to the capture of war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, has launched its own independent investigation that wants to further explore rumors of Electronic Art’s treatment of its workers, specifically its development staff . As of this point, Electronic Arts has refused to assist in Amnesty International’s inspections.

Larry Probst, long time CEO of Electronic Arts, was sailing back to American shores on his private cruiser, returning from a recent visit to Eastern Europe. Mr. Probst reported as saying, “Amnesty International’s accusations are completely unfounded. For the sake of the integrity of our products, as well as for the well-being of the consumer, we are not allowing the inspectors to interfere with our highly secretive development process.”

When asked what Mr. Probst was doing in Eastern Europe, “Uh…I definitely wasn’t enticing starving families into working for me, then locking them in cages, and finally, throwing them in this ship’s brig to be sent to headquarters for slave labor. No, definitely not that.” When further pressed as to what was in his ship, Mr. Probst responded, “Not slaves.” After a series of barely audible screams and yells that were heard, seemingly coming from the bottom of the ship, we left Mr. Probst with one final question, “What the **** was making all that noise?!?” To that, he responded, “My stomach…?”

After revealing the contents of our interview to an Amnesty International representative, who chose to remain anonymous, was quoted as saying, “Well, we don’t really care. We’re just waiting for the CIA to stick the next Pinochet in another third-world country so we’ll actually have something important to do. It gets somewhat boring around here if you don’t have a war criminal to pursue. I usually spend most of my time touching myself. Where it hurts.”

It has been revealed that Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, as well as the player featured on the cover of Madden 2004’s package, was one of the “whistleblowers”, whose firsthand accounts of torture on the part of Electronic Arts towards it developers, are the keystones to Amnesty International’s investigation.

“Yeah, I’ve seen these poor starving dudes all over their offices. These guys are underfed and overworked. Freakin’ twenty-six hour days they got over there. No lunch break either. If they don’t work hard enough, they usually get beaten with unsold copies of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.”

CNN's Popi Sen in Albany, New York contributed to this report.

. . . coming Tues. May 3rd; EA is scheduled to hold its conference call with investors who may be curious about the falling stock, labor troubles, numerous shareholder lawsuits, etc. (Rumours are the call will happen tomorrow, Friday, April 29th):

http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/3/55463.html

At this link, Yahoo will keep the audio file for up to several weeks.

EA said in the CC they are opening a studio in China

Hi folks --
I'm the producer of The California Report, a statewide public radio news program that airs on NPR member stations in California.

I'm trying to get in touch with a few "disgruntled" or "not at all disgruntled" game developers -- whether programmers, artists, engineers, writers, etc. I'm interested in hearing from folks who feel taken advantage of, or from folks who love the demands of the job.

We're doing a series on Gaming, and one of the stories centers on Quality of Life issues. I need some information about what it's really like to be a game developer in California -- at a major publisher, or as an independent/freelancer.

I'd really like to hear from anyone who can articulately describe the quality of life in the "game development" world. If you have a perspective on quality of life issues, a unique personal story, or if you know of someone who does, it would be great if you could call or email me. We're on deadline, so I need to talk to folks fairly soon -- even a few minutes by phone will help.

(It can be off the record if you aren't comfortable actually having your voice on the radio.)

As an artist and a writer, I know what it's like to work extra hours because you are passionate about a project and trying to meet a deadline. Sometimes you get seriously taken advantage of, other times it's worth the sacrifice and you don't mind it. Whatever your position, I think it's important to get this story out there and I'd appreciate any information you folks might be able to share.

Our show is pretty reputable, which is why ea_spouse suggested we post here. We are very conscientious in our reporting. www.californiareport.org

Kindest regards,
Stacy Bond
415-553-2346
sbond @ kqed.org

From reading all the stuff here, they don't even get to drive home at normal time. So better try to catch someone who got away from that hell, or wife/husband of people working in EA. No, I haven't worked there, those are just logical conclusions.

No matter how much we hate EA, one thing remains: IF their way of making games is the best ,then they are right. No one wants to hear a bunch of whiners. Most of people thinks that we just want more money or more fame. So the point on which we should base our crusade against them is by letting everyone know that there IS a better way to make games. I think that every project manager and every game programmer should see this link:

http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643

I used to work at EA, I left just a couple of weeks ago. From what I can tell at my new company, and mind you I haven't been there long, things are run MUCH differently. There must be about 4-5 people from EA who came over withing 2 months of me. EA is losing talent, there is no doubt about it. How they will overcome this remains to be seen... but I heard rumors of a crunch in preproduction, if you can believe that. Wow. Did I ever make the right decision by leaving that place.

I left EA recently too and even though I'm still new to my current company I can see a major difference in the quality of my life. I love my work again and making games is fun! EA will continue to lose good talent, but they will have the largest pool of interns to make their games. GO INTERNS!