Electronic Arts wins 'worst company in America' award

Published Apr 5 2012, 09:59 BST  |  By Liam Martin

Electronic Arts has picked up The Consumerist's 'worst company in America award'.

Readers of the watchdog site chose EA for its policy of withholding game content and for releasing inferior and occasionally broken products with the intention of fixing them post-release at a cost to the consumer.



The video game giant was also accused of targeting and taking over small independent developers, who can't afford to compete financially with the mega-publishers.

A little over 64% of the 250,000 voters chose EA over Bank Of America in the final round of the awards.

Referring to the recent Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, the site said that it would deliver its Golden Poo award on one of three different coloured pillows, but that in the end, "it's still the same old Poo".

EA's John Reseburg refuted the website's claims, citing the inclusion of same-sex relationships in games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3 as proof of the company's progressive nature.

"We're sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton are all relieved they weren't nominated this year," Reseburg told Kotaku.

"We're going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide," he added.

Mass Effect 3 developers BioWare are exploring "content initiatives" to address the game's ending.

The game shipped 3.5 million copies worldwide during its first week on sale, making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year, EA would later reveal.

Watch a trailer for Mass Effect 3 below: