EA's Patrick Soderlund has spoken to MCV about what the publisher is doing to improve how gamers view it after being voted the worst company in America for the second year a row – the first firm to receive that dubious distinction.
“I don’t believe for a second that we are the worst company in America, but I do believe when something like that happens, you have to sit down and ask yourselves ‘Why are people saying these things?’."
"We did that and we started to realise that we are doing things that people don’t like.”
He says that reflecting on the choices they've made and aiming to please players is part of EA's new outlook heading into the new console generation.
“We looked at something as simple as the Online Pass. People were telling us they didn’t like that. So we weighed up the pros and cons and went ‘Ok. We will remove it.’ These decisions need to be driven by what consumers want and tell us, and that is where we may have faltered a bit in the past.
“If we continue to do those types of things, then we will earn people’s trust and respect. We don’t want to be bad, we have no desire to be voted the worst company in America. On the contrary we want to be voted the best.”
While he admits that it's impossible to please everyone, especially given the huge volumes of gamers playing titles like FIFA and The Sims, he says they can try harder.
“Well you are bound to make mistakes, but when you do, just be clear to communicate that you agree it was a mistake, and you are taking the appropriate actions to fix them. Not a single person or company will do everything perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect.”
Back in June, EA executive Frank Gibeau said the company wants to stop being "hated" and is working to turn around its image. Gibeau also claimed that Online Passes were "flat out dumb".
