A response I wrote to this article can be seen below it:
EA Shuttering 3 Facebook Games June 14 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Electronic Arts's recent struggles seem to have trickled down to its social gaming platform. The company today announced that three of its Facebook-based games will shutter in two months, thanks to a drop in user activity.
By rights the game should still be available for players to log into and enjoy what we paid for, players don't mind if the game is not updated weekly, we just want to play with the items we painstakingly bought, collected, traded, saved for, worked for, and received as gifts from friends. The work the Playfish team put into designing the thousands of items in the game was deeply appreciated and loved by millions of players, indeed that's why we were prepared to pay real money for them, even when EA acquired the game and made items bought with real money non-giftable so they couldn't be traded. Just pure greed it was on their behalf, and that greed effectively cut off a large portion of players who didn't have real money to spend but who had managed to play and enjoy the game by trading with other players like me who did have access to real money. The fact EA didn't bother making the playfish cash cards available in many countries to cater for players who had cash money but not a paypal or credit account (and you need a credit card to open a paypal account in many countries) only served to further disenfranchise another portion of players, such as the ones who were too young to have bank accounts, people who conscientiously chose not to have credit cards, and people who did not wish to keep their money in bank accounts for security reasons.
Inevitably these greedy choices EA made led to a drop in player numbers, so what does EA do to attract new players or old ones back? It hikes the prices up of cash-only items in the game, and increases the quantity of cash-only items!! Sure, that's really going to draw in more players....not. So another wave of players drifted away after growing tired of paying so much each week for items that were fast losing quality yet were getting higher and higher in price. Another factor EA is responsible for- the dismal treatment of their employees and the increasingly tight deadlines and work demands they made on their shrinking workforce.
EA Shuttering 3 Facebook Games June 14 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Electronic Arts's recent struggles seem to have trickled down to its social gaming platform. The company today announced that three of its Facebook-based games will shutter in two months, thanks to a drop in user activity.
As of June 14, EA will retire Playfish Facebook games The Sims Social, SimCity Social, and Pet Society, according to a blog post. EA acquired Playfish in 2009 for $300 million.
"After millions of people initially logged into play these games, the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off," EA wrote.
The oldest title of the trio, Pet Society launched in Aug. 2008, according to Polygon; The Sims Social was released in Aug. 2011, before SimCity Social opened to Facebook players in early July. Pet Society is a Playfish-developed title, while the two Sims games were co-developed with Maxis.
As Joystiq pointed out, these were the last three Playfish Facebook titles standing; the rest have been shut down already, or are scheduled for closing. Only Madden NFL Social, developed at EA Tiburon for iOS and Facebook, managed to escape execution...
..."Retiring games is never easy," according to a Playfish forum message, which urged users to spend the remaining balance of SimCash (The Sims Social) or Diamonds (SimCity Social) before the game shuts down in June; unredeemed Playfish cash cards should also be spent before time runs out.
"For people who have seen other recent shutdowns of social games, perhaps this is not surprising," EA admitted in its blog post.
In an effort to appease fans, EA/Playfish said they will announce "a special offer to thank you for playing our game," and encouraged users to watch the gaming site for more details. (yeah-they sent us an email offering some free coins for use on their popcap games!?! That is a 'special offer'?!!! More like a giant slap in the face -Cindy)
The news comes a week after EA earned Consumerist's title of "Worst Company in America" for the second consecutive year, thanks in part to the disastrous SimCity release. Meanwhile, company CEO John Riccitiello left the company at the end of March, less than two weeks before Electronic Arts laid off a reported 160 employees from its Montreal-based mobile studio.
Post Script: The confidential internal memo is now public: Video game industry juggernaut Electronic Arts is laying off as many as 1,000 employees.
Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/03/ea-layoffs-show-darwinism-at-work/#rLty4cg7zpjCXiIf.99  |
| Pet Society Closing 14/6 |
Typical EA, at it again. Worst company in America 2 years in a row, scandal after scandal concerning dismal customer service, treatment of their employees, and rip offs, closing games without considering selling them to other companies or making offline versions available, despite the fact customers have paid and paid and paid for items in these games only to have them 'repossessed' without any good reason other than the costs to them. They keep our money, we get no refunds or restitution. Buying an average of $25 in-game cash a week, I spent just under $6000 on Pet Society from 2008 when the game was introduced until now, and that figure does not include the hundreds of playfish cash cards I purchased for use on the game by trading them with other players who didn't have in-game cash (which costs real money, as do the cards). What will I have to show for all the thousands of dollars I spent? Not even an opportunity to see all the items I paid for in a preserved offline version of the game. I will simply have to swallow that my paid-for items will be unjustifiably taken off me because of EA's ineptitude and greed, as will thousands of other devastated players....
Inevitably these greedy choices EA made led to a drop in player numbers, so what does EA do to attract new players or old ones back? It hikes the prices up of cash-only items in the game, and increases the quantity of cash-only items!! Sure, that's really going to draw in more players....not. So another wave of players drifted away after growing tired of paying so much each week for items that were fast losing quality yet were getting higher and higher in price. Another factor EA is responsible for- the dismal treatment of their employees and the increasingly tight deadlines and work demands they made on their shrinking workforce.
This was evident in the quality of item's designs dropping in the game as well as being widely reported on in the media. What was left of the previously millions of pet society fans was a core bunch of loyal players who had integrated pet society into their daily lives in such a way that it served more purposes than just regular gaming entertainment.
Given the social aspect of the game, many friendships, relationships, even marriages, had come about through interaction in the game which evolved into offline interaction. Others used pet society as a strategy to relax and unwind from the daily problems they faced in their lives, while others with disabilities and/or limited mobility were able to socialise and make friendships they would not otherwise have the chance to.
Pet Society offers a unique experience vastly different from most other games on facebook, it's non violent, doesn't promote gambling, sexism, competitiveness, misogyny, isolated gameplay or any of the other common issues often cited in the media as being detrimental to kid's development and adult's mental health. Instead it encourages creativity, math skills, sharing, socialising and peaceful gameplay that is non- pressuring, not time-limited and allows players to socialise with one another at their own pace. People are consequently attached emotionally to pet society in ways that are not possible in other games for these reasons, among others. Therefore our outrage at the imminent closure is not just about the financial investment we have lost to EA, it's the very real and tangible way this will legitimately traumatise many people who have been involved in the pet society community for the last five years.
In taking this decision to cull pet society without any regard to these factors, EA prove further still why they have earned the title of 'worst company in America', 2 years in a row. Indeed EA have treated paying loyal customers with nothing but contempt and greed.
It is crystal clear now that EA's future has a big black cloud hanging over it, and I for one will be one of the many who will never again buy a product with the EA logo or any other connection to EA, no matter how remote. Bearing in mind I have 2 children who each have various gaming consoles and computers, it will not be only my gaming dollars going to other companies, it will be those dollars I will spend on games for my children too. Never again EA.
