• buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Private Equity 101, “buy” a business using borrowed money, put all the debt on the company you “bought”, slash costs, sell off assets, have the company declare bankruptcy and take all the debt with it, rince and repeat… Profit.

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        And as if that wasn’t an insult to the middle class, people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can borrow against their stock holdings as if they were real assets, yet never be taxed on the value. But if you borrow against the value of your house, YOU get taxed on that value.

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    My hot take: people are too hard on EA.

    Everything from Hazelight (split fiction, it takes two) is amazing. The Star Wars game is good and not MTX filled, and the next one looks promising. They’ve also published a few cool indie games over the years.

    They… basically killed dragon age. Yeah…

    Mass Effect isn’t dead yet though, and I always thought Andromeda got more hate than it deserved, especially given the development dysfunction and the massive improvement after the post-launch patch.


    But my main point is: if you buy Madden or Sims at this point, WTF do you expect? They are going to shank you, like the last dozen times. They’re predatory casinos churned out on autopilot at this point; I consider that a whole separate division of EA, like iOS/Android divisions of other studios.

    And I’d argue Battlefield has fallen into this bucket too.


    But then go look at something like Activision Blizzard, whose entire portfolio wreaks of enshittification without exception. Or Ubisoft and take two, who just keeps sliding down.

    EA has at least tried to improve the “not predatory” part of their portfolios.


    …Though I guess we will see which part they fire.

  • FreddiesLantern@leminal.space
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    4 days ago

    In this whole ordeal that has been EA … I can’t remember a single instance where they tried to do the right thing by listening to the consumer, or employees for that matter.

    It’s amazing they are still around even. Die quicker pls.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      They’re not a game company anymore. It’s getting the Toys R Us treatment. They’re a debt vehicle. They’re gonna borrow against its value, place all the debt into EA while pocketing the cash, and let it die.

      If we’re lucky, they’ll sell off the studios and IP before cutting it loose.

  • D_C@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    People are still buying EA:s unfinished games? Wow.

    I admit that they got me a few times, but I quickly learned not to buy from them again.

  • Donebrach@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Oligarchs oligarching. Every “publisher” and “developer” is firing everyone and are gonna very quickly vanish once it’s remembered that perpetual motion is impossible.

  • arotrios@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    I just realized I haven’t played an EA game in over a decade. SW Battlefront II was the last one, and it felt like a downgrade from the 2005 version.

    I mean, are there any of their titles that have made an impact in the last decade? I can’t think of any other than sports and racing games.

    • adhdsergio@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Battlefield 6 is a new one that comes to mind - heard good things, might try it in the “perpetual demo” mode

      • caut_R@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I was looking at that recently as well, but saw the reviews are at mixed now…

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      It Takes Two and Split Fiction were published by EA.

      I also played Titanfall 2 which was a great little campaign.

      That’s about it for me.

      • mudmaniac@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Once upon a time when Infinity Ward’s founders left Activision because of “Activision”, and formed Respawn with EA, I felt EA were still the good guys in the industry. The Titanfall games were amazing.

        After APEX Legends came out, I feel EA used up most of their Good Karma that they had built in the past.

    • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I got Madden last year so I could get my kid into football. Figured if there was a video game, he’d be interested in learning more about the game, and it worked. Having said that, I’m not buying any new ones for updated rosters, so they won’t be seeing another dime from me.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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      4 days ago

      The Star Wars Jedi games are genuinely good self-contained no bs single player games.

      I can’t comment on anything else.

      • FippleStone@aussie.zone
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        1 day ago

        They are incredible, but they came out two decades ago and everyone who worked on them is long gone, nothing morally gray about pirating them…

      • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        Self-contained? Don’t they require a verified online account and an internet connection?

        • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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          4 days ago

          I’m referring to the way the game lets you earn everything. There is no upsell after you buy the game. If you want something from the game, you get it by playing.

        • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          I don’t believe so, but don’t quote me on that, haven’t played either in a very long time.