19 Nov, 2011
EA hasn’t been sitting well with the gaming populace. After the debacle with forum bans affecting Origin accounts, EA turned around and threw another wrench at gamers. This time, fans weren’t going to sit and let that wrench hit them in the face.
What is the uproar all about? A copy of Battlefield: 1943. Sounds silly, but the core issue here is holding a company to its promises, and EA’s back-handed responses to fans aren’t earning them any more respect. Following the release of Battlefield 3 in late October, PS3 fans didn’t get that copy of 1943 like they were promised. No download code, no extra disc, nothing.
Angry fans began asking questions, prompting a short response by EA through Twitter on launch day. EA stated that PS3 players would get early access to “all BF3 expansions” instead of that copy of Battlefield 1943.
However, as Kotaku noticed, the news for having early access to free DLC was already announced a month before the game’s release. There’s no “in lieu” in this case, and this is what has fans infuriated.
The class action law suit against EA alleges that the company “misled and profited from thousands of their customers by making a promise that they could not, and never intended, to keep.” Because EA announced the deal change after the game was already in player hands, PS3 players were duped into buying a copy for their Sony console, as opposed to the PC or Xbox 360.
Battlefield 1943 would be a great incentive to buy it for a particular console, especially if players were unsure on which platform to play on. Hence the law suit — EA pulled consumers towards one particular platform, under false pretense and by promising something that they weren’t going to go through on.
Some are probably sitting and rolling their eyes, telling PS3 fans to grow up, and it’s simply a free game. However, the core complaint here is this: EA pulled many gamers towards picking the game up on the PlayStation 3. They might have wanted to play on another platform, but the idea of having Battlefield 1943 was a good deal. To then pull out of that promise has left many gamers high and dry.
That’s like having your friend call you half an hour after they were going to help you move and say, “Oh, I had something else to do.” Nice of them, huh?
Edelson McGuire has been called upon to represent PS3 fans in the case against EA. They hope that EA will give fans what they want, and we hope that courts agree, and that this will be a harsh lesson to never make empty promises.
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