Electronic Arts

Working in the games industry. Working for one of the best teams and game series within the EA umbrella. One of the few times in the games industry where overtime wasn't a serious issue. Talented, hard-working members of staff. Laid-back studio culture. Visited the development team we worked for at their location.

• Working remotely from the development team meant that there was a major disconnect between us and the development team we were working for.
• Low chance of progression. When the opportunity to progress manifested, it was too late.
• Being a contractor at EA was super weird. I went through an agency even though I applied directly for a job at the company.
• There was a definite divide between the permanent members of staff and the contractors. There was a feeling of being treated like a second-class citizen.
• Typical treatment by a big publisher, which has been seen by a host of companies in the industry. Restructuring - sending all of the jobs to the cheapest parts of the world so that the publisher can make all of the money.
• Not given the equipment to work effectively as a tester.

I'm going to switch out some words from the Carlsberg advert with Mads Mikkelsen, which will give my current opinion on Electronic Arts' leadership direction. "EA pursued being the biggest, not the best, and the games suffered."

The backlash the company has received over all the years I have worked and left there has been justified. It is upper management cost-cutting staff and trying to squeeze consumers with questionable business models, like loot boxes and microtransactions, which gets them sent to hearings and studios shut down at an alarming rate.

EA jumping onto the live service model bandwagon has resulted in a studio previously known for world-class game series, such as Knight of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, becoming a laughing stock. Even though a proportion of the blame deserves to be at BioWare's feet, I can't believe that EA's greedy influence completely absolves them.

I have no advice for upper management at EA because they will not read this, and if they do, they will not change. I do not trust EA as an organization. Even though they still have world-class studios such as BioWare, Respawn Entertainment, EA Canada, and DICE, there is a possibility they'll join the ranks of Westwood, Bullfrog, Maxis, and Visceral.

I'll refuse to join the current version of EA, as this company is the antithesis of Iwata's Nintendo, which was humble, responsible, and corrected its course when it took missteps.

It is now a quest for profit for these guys; quality is far in the distance, disappearing from sight. If they can refocus and change course, then they can rediscover what made them a force in the video game space. However, just like their quality bar, they can fade into nothingness too.