Electronic Arts Lowers 2009 Forecast, Will Cut Jobs

[Saraswati]

This is why it is important to not only NOT buy SecuROM, but to stigmatize and ridicule anyone who DOES! Just as people who actually respond to spam are as much The Enemy, if not more so, than the spammers themselves, PEOPLE WHO BUY SECUROM ARE THE BIGGEST PART OF THE PROBLEM. They must be scorned, mocked, and ridiculed!

That approach has been picking up speed since Spore got released.. I noticed a change of attitude among the posts I saw, and it was a lot more common for the posters on the big forums to understand the issues involved, and understand them really well.. Which is why EA didn't really get away with the nonsense of increasing the activations from three to five, people KNEW it was a token gesture.

[justso]

I have been public enemy no.1 since I refused to buy spore.  Thank god for the release of Fable 2.  All thoughts of spore are now forgotten, at least for now.

[SoggyFox]

Well, and also its a loud of crap, whther its 3 or 5 or 50....its still a limit on something -you- buy, and with money so tight right now, people won't stand for it.

[Saraswati]

actually that hadn't occurred to me, but of course that would be part of someone's buying decision when they don't have large amounts of cash to spread around..

By the way, EA screaming "one million sold" of Spore was a bit of hogwash.. what it was was more like 400,000 on PC and the rest made up from platforms like mobile and DS.. which don't cost as much. And considering The Witcher's sold a million and Sins of the Solar Empire sold at least half a million by now, it's hardly the mega-hit they hoped for.

[Skadi]

And Pirate Mushroom doesn't pay for her DS games either 

[SoggyFox]

actually that hadn't occurred to me, but of course that would be part of someone's buying decision when they don't have large amounts of cash to spread around..

By the way, EA screaming "one million sold" of Spore was a bit of hogwash.. what it was was more like 400,000 on PC and the rest made up from platforms like mobile and DS.. which don't cost as much. And considering The Witcher's sold a million and Sins of the Solar Empire sold at least half a million by now, it's hardly the mega-hit they hoped for.

Not to mention Fallout 3 just came out, with an Oblivion type engine...

[silver]

What I would like to see ... what makes me truly curious ... would be to see EA's sales figures since 2001, which was the last time that the US economy was really terrible, before the alleged "recovery". (Yeah. Tell that to the people tossed on the street who spent months and even years looking for a job that MIGHT pay the rent. For some reason, some politicians don't seem to realize that a job is NOT a job is NOT a job. A Wally-world job usually doesn't pay anywhere near a good manufacturing job. But I digress.)

I do have sales figures from 2007/2008 from a Wall Street Journal article. If the projected income from late 2008 was/is even WORSE than they expected, many more employees should be afraid. Be very afraid. According to this article, EA was betting very heavily on Spore to bail their butts out. Guess Spore wasn't quite the saving grace they thought it would be.

And STILL, they won't listen to their customers and at least consider using Steam. They will happily blame pirates and the economy, but not their own stupid business practices.

Anyway ... found a chart on this page:

http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t39684.html


According to the article I have, 2008, though, seems to be a year of steady losses, with losses of over 400 million forecasted in the last fiscal quarter of this year. But that was as of September 2, 2008. If EA is seeing even more losses, eek!

This was the best I could come up with:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122539935362185471.html

Hmmmmmm ........


P.S.
Off-topic, slightly, I was trying to find a copy of that article I have, since it has a huge grease spot on it, and reading the chart could be difficult, and came up with these articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091400885.html
http://voices.allthingsd.com/20080909/gamers-fight-back-against-lackluster-spore-gameplay-bad-drm/

and:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/riccitiello-investors-don-t-give-a-sh-t-about-quality

Reading about EA IS entertaining!

[lexilove]

*snippety snip*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091400885.html

That article makes me laugh every time! XD

I have bought every Sims 2 EP except for Pets, and I purchased Spore for my birthday. Yes, I was aware of SecuROM, but I figured it wouldn't hurt my computer (it didn't). But so many people are having computer trouble right now because of that sucky DRM that EA thinks is going to stop Pirates. If they haven't noticed, people are illegally downloading their games left and right; it obviously hasn't stopped anyone.
Spore runs extremely slowly on my computer, and yes, my computer has better specs than required to run the game. Now the game won't even start up, and I just uninstalled it about 5 minutes ago. Now I'm going to join the masses and write a 1-star Amazon review. 

Anyway, I'm glad EA is suffering for what they did to their consumers by putting SecuROM on their games.

[Paden]

Go to RYG or the PRISM to see how to check for SecuROm and removal instructions, just in case.

[SnarkyShark]

Reading about EA IS entertaining!

Probably more so than their SecuRom infested games. Maybe their next release should be a strategy game called Sim-EAssholes. The goal could be to buy as many successful software companies as you can and figure out all kinds of unique and creative strategies for destroying them, all while increasing your own salary and cutting your workforce.

[Saraswati]

Snarky, have I told you I love you again this month..

[Nightmare]

Reading about EA IS entertaining!

Probably more so than their SecuRom infested games. Maybe their next release should be a strategy game called Sim-EAssholes. The goal could be to buy as many successful software companies as you can and figure out all kinds of unique and creative strategies for destroying them, all while increasing your own salary and cutting your workforce.

QFMFT

[SoggyFox]

*steals Snarky for another brother* Your dry wit is such a comfort right now.  You can be part of my shark brother collection - I just hope you don't mind hugs and kisses on the cheeks from females.

[missangelica]

*steals Snarky for another brother* Your dry wit is such a comfort right now.  You can be part of my shark brother collection - I just hope you don't mind hugs and kisses on the cheeks from females.

[ChaosInAMinor]

*steals Snarky for another brother* Your dry wit is such a comfort right now.  You can be part of my shark brother collection - I just hope you don't mind hugs and kisses on the cheeks from females.

*Bunny/Pancake Macro snip*

Don't YOU have a shark brother collection? All the cool kids do.