Online gaming is the most popular and profitable entertainment medium in the world. It generated $120 million across all its sectors in 2019 and shows no signs of stopping.
The console brands that operate at the top echelons command millions-strong player bases and these customers mobilise whenever they release a new title.
You would think, then, with this overwhelming financial backing, that the big names would have a lot of goodwill with their fans.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Gamers have frequently clashed with their favourite developers; Electronic Arts (EA) manage to frustrate consumers whilst maintaining massive profits year on year.
Serves, Security and Safety
EA are one of the biggest online game developers in the world, heading the most played franchises today. Even if you’re not a gamer, you’re probably familiar with some of their titles.
Whether it’s licensed sports games such as FIFA, or galactic adventures like Star Wars, the brand has a hand in virtually every genre.
With the breadth and scope of the products they offer, there is sure to be some difficulties. Still, EA finds themselves swept up in controversy on a near-weekly basis.
From home consoles to stadium-filled esports events
The most common cause of downtime is servers. Online gaming behemoths like EA have placed an emphasis on multiplayer elements in their games. These tend to have a much longer life span and more options for monetisation.
To play online, though, you don’t just need a stable internet connection: servers must be able to handle traffic from millions of players. However, EA’s are notoriously unreliable, with outages and delays a regular occurrence.
The connections have been so bad, in fact, that one of EA’s recent professional competitions had to be decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors.
EA DDOS
This has been exemplified this week by the actions of LizardSquad. The hacking group targets brands by shutting down services through crippling DDOS attacks. They have repeatedly overloaded EA’s servers, leading to mass connectivity issues across all EA games.
Their reasoning? To show how poor EA’s systems are. You would expect players being prevented from accessing their games to focus their anger on the hackers. But they’re not.
Instead, they are being celebrated by EA’s own customers, as many see their actions as merely highlighting an existing problem.
Other brands, like Virgin, have even capitalised on EA’s failings by cheekily offering their help to alleviate customers’ connection woes. This trend of their users rallying against the company is something we’ve seen multiple times before.
eSports Players Speak Out
Recently, Donavon ‘Tekkz’ Hunt – officially the best FIFA player in the world – went on camera to criticise the developer. After progressing through the FUT 20 Champions Cup, he claimed ‘nobody enjoys playing’ the game and that the latest instalment was the worst ever.
Another prominent player in the online gaming and esports community is Kurt0411. He was recently banned from accessing any EA services for comments he made regarding the development team.
The decision was met with intense incredulity by many for the sheer severity of the punishment. While there are often two sides to a story, it is telling that, in nearly every instance, users aren’t backing the brand.
That isn’t great news for the eSports betting community either, which has grown at a rapid rate over the last 12 months. As well as betting on FIFA, many of those punters will also be looking forward to action on the real pitch this summer and the odds for Euro 2020.
England are currently well fancied to go all the way with the semi finals and final being held at Wembley, but they face tough competition at the top of the market from Belgium, who are joint 5/1 favourites with the Three Lions.
Games As A Service
However, in the face of overwhelming negativity, EA still rakes in more than virtually every other company in the industry. One of the biggest reasons for this is the ‘games as a service’ format.
This is, essentially, a continuing revenue business model, with developer’s supporting a game beyond its launch date, adding more features and content over time.
This way, the purchasing potential doesn’t end once you’ve bought the game. They’re constantly looking for ways to keep you investing, extend the customer lifespan and, hopefully, improve the overall user journey.
The tactic has brought fire to the community, resulted in numerous exposés and even prompted governments to question the legality. However, it’s also one that has been immensely profitable.
