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toxicbubble, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...

noone mentioned Amazon because you’ll happily let them destroy the world for 2-day shipping

Krompus, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it
@Krompus@lemmy.world avatar

EA (Respawn) peaked at Titanfall 2 and hasn’t released anything good since. I set them to Ignore on Steam a few years ago.

zaphod,

Jedi Fallen Order was good though (also Respawn).

Krompus,
@Krompus@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah Respawn is a good dev, just a shame they got bought by EA and scrapped Titanfall 3.

real_squids,

And even then they massively fucked up by ignoring all the ddosing for years. It gave us Northstar but it’s a paid fucking game, come on man.

echodot, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it

I mean it’s not like they can make it any worse.

Fedizen, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it

How is this even legal?

okamiueru,

What exactly about it is it you feel should be illegal?

Fedizen,

Foreign country buying a US corporation. Seems like their investment should be capped at like 15%

Blaiz0r,

US companies by foreign companies all the time, look at the food and drink corporations.

This is not a new or strange thing

cecilkorik,

It’s definitely not new, but it’s time to start thinking about how strange it is, and start pulling these assholes off their money-merry-go-round.

titanicx,

It’s a world economy. What are you, some sort of maga twit America first and only bullshit?

cecilkorik,

That is some very black or white, us or them, red team vs blue team thinking. It’s very interesting that you immediately jump to that conclusion when I am not even from the US at all. The answer to your question is absolutely not, and the fact that it’s a “world economy” doesn’t and shouldn’t mean any people are obligated to do business with and accept the controlling interest of literal monsters fueled by oil and oil money. Ethics must also be allowed to control the economy, not just money. The world’s financial systems have consequences beyond just the economy.

lolola,

“Stop being such a fascist and let us do business with these fucking murderers”

titanicx,

I don’t want them to buy it. But there isn’t anything illegal with investors purchasing a company line this no matter where they are from. It’s just business, it really doesn’t matter who owns them, they suck no matter what

Fedizen,

I think its more there is a certain level of baseline public investment in most corporations and it seems dumb to maintain the fiction that people’s livelihoods should be sold as a commodity, especially to a bunch of despots

Bronzebeard,

US Steel is now a Japanese company

Fedizen,

Except many foreign countries have stricter legal frameworks for corporations.

The “corporations are people” legal fiction means they have rights here. Citizen’s United has fucked this country in profoundly dumb ways.

greenskye,

I’d think we’d be far more concerned about critical resource companies before we got to worrying about gaming companies, but we can’t even do that so I’m not surprised.

forrgott, (edited )

You seem to be under some misconception regarding who actually writes our laws. Hint: they’re called lobbyists to get people to ignore the rampant bribery.

titanicx,

Bribery? They are buying a company. That’s it. There isn’t anything special about it. It’s like any other company out there.

forrgott,

And I was talking about the so-called legality of the situation. So, pretty clearly not referring to the headline…

titanicx,

Again, no legal issues.

forrgott,

https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/3d8e96ad-382f-4ff8-a199-b8b05e33c526.gif

How about if you can’t follow a conversation, maybe stay out of it? Like, for real, I didn’t know that else to tell you.

Cocodapuf,

If you’re not talking about the headline, what “situation” are you talking about?

Honestly, I’m not sure you’re talking about anything.

magnetosphere, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it
@magnetosphere@fedia.io avatar

Does EA own any other companies/brands that we should be aware of?

moody,

Yes, they’ve been buying up smaller studios for decades and shutting them down.

There’s an entire wikipedia page about it.

DamienGramatacus,

The only EA franchise I’ve cared about in the last 15 years was Mirrors Edge. Would love another but I’ve long given up hope on that.

Credibly_Human,

Unfortunately they have an exclusive publishing deal with the guys who made it takes two and split fiction.

bystander,
gustofwind, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it
@gustofwind@lemmy.world avatar

If you still buy EA games at this point you better not tell anyone because you’re a braindead fuckwit for sending Saudis your money

poVoq,
@poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

I have bad news for you if you drive a non-electric car 😏

gustofwind,
@gustofwind@lemmy.world avatar

Some people have no choice in what kind of car they can afford to drive.

We all have a very easy choice when it comes to choosing your video games

Allero,

People commonly have a choice not to drive a car in the first place.

Though cultural pressures, as well as some specific areas being genuinely hard to reach, pushes many people towards it anyway. But if you have a choice, choose public.

gustofwind,
@gustofwind@lemmy.world avatar

People do not commonly have a choice here

In America there is near 0 public transit outside of a few major cities

Phil_in_here,

Have you seen North American public transportation?

Yeah, I have a “choice”, but it’s 60-85 minutes on 3 busses or a 12 minute drive to get to and from work.

Allero,

Yeah, North America and US specifically is one of these hard to reach places

Also, 12 minutes drive is a biking distance - if you have any semblance of bike infrastructure, that is. Surprisingly though, even American cities have that sometimes.

alk,

I’d have to ride several blocks on a 4 lane stroad to go anywhere outside of my neighborhood. It’s so depressing.

Allero,

Feel you - hope you’ll have safer ways to bike in the future! Maybe there are some kind of bike advocacy groups in your area?

jaybone,

This thread is peak Lemmy.

Anivia,
@Anivia@feddit.org avatar

Also, 12 minutes drive is a biking distance

My 15 minute car commute would take over an hour with a bicycle, lead me over multiple busy and dangerous country roads, has three mountains with over 20% elevation that I have to pass, and would be incredibly unsafe in the winter even with studded tires.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually do take my bicycle when I’m not in a hurry and the weather is right. But it’s a huge time sink and doesn’t absolve my of my dependency on a car.

The same commute takes 2 hours with public transport btw so that’s even worse

And this is in Germany, not north America

Allero,

Sad to know!

postcapitalism,

As much as I hate the ruling family of Saudi Arabia… get off it:

bts.gov/…/us-petroleum-use-domestic-supply-and-ne…

reuters.com/…/how-much-crude-oil-does-us-import-b…

Your information is dated. We are net exporters of crude oil for the past 15-years with majority of import from Canada and Mexico

But for what it’s worth - fully believe renewables are the way forward for geopolitical and ecological stability. This is the more important narrative

poVoq,
@poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

Because there exists only one place in the world and that is called US of A? 🙄

Saudi Arabia is still the biggest oil exporter in the world (as of 2024). If you drive an internal combustion car anywhere, chances are high that you paid the Sheiks at least some money for doing so.

postcapitalism,

Touché 😅

EddoWagt,

We are net exporters of crude oil for the past 15-years with majority of import from Canada and Mexico

Damn, I didn’t know the Netherlands exported any crude oil!

umbrella,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

that’s an improvement over sending the usians our money.

barely but still.

Test_Tickles,

Wait, you think the Saudis buying EA have anything to do with profit? EAs profits and earnings are meaningless to them.

tidderuuf, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it

Oh good, I can continue not buying EA games.

seathru,
@seathru@quokk.au avatar

No, but I may pirate a few now. Just to seed them as a tiny middle finger to the saudis.

wilmo,
@wilmo@lemmy.ml avatar

I’d have to check but I think the only EA game I even care one iota about would be Dead Space. But I already got the remake for free on PS5 and I pretty highly doubt they’ll remake the other two so… I’m good

Xerxos, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it

The Evil Ampire gets bought by an evil empire. Huh.

DaMummy, do games w It turns out Saudi Arabia will own 93.4 percent of EA if the buyout goes through, which is effectively all of it

Effectively all it? That’s 93.4%, that’s more than 90%, and almost 95%, which is almost 100%, which would be all of it!

ivanafterall,
@ivanafterall@lemmy.world avatar

This guy maths.

motor_spirit,

But they’re not equal, hence the phrasing

pennomi,

They are saying it’s redundant, and therefore unnecessary.

nogooduser,

Yeah but it isn’t really redundant (even if it could have been worded better). Someone might believe that the other shareholders have some say in how the company operates when they won’t.

So, as far as control over the company is concerned, the Saudis have 100% control even though they don’t have 100% of the shares.

Fondots,

If you haven’t noticed there’s a lot of people out there are incredibly dumb, and don’t understand basic math, let alone how a company like EA works.

I can guarantee you that there are more dipshits out there than you’d think who would look at that number and say “well it’s less than 100 percent, so they don’t have total control, so what’s the big deal?”

Now as for whether any amount of clarification is enough to convince those idiots that that’s not how things work, that’s a fair question.

Cowbee, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...
@Cowbee@lemmy.ml avatar

Yea, no. EA is bad, but isn’t nearly as bad as companies like Palantir.

moody,

Nestle is arguably the worst company in the world. EA sucks, but it isn’t even close.

PanArab, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...
@PanArab@lemmy.ml avatar

“Arab country bad”

PowerCrazy,

Saudi Arabia is absolutely bad. I’d go so far as to call them the EA of Countries.

mech, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...

I wouldn’t call EA anywhere close to the worst company in the world.
Serious contenders based on their overall effect on humanity would be Monsanto, RTX, Aramco, UnitedHealth and Nestlé.

apfelwoiSchoppen,
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

Exxon, Philip Morris, Boeing, Northrop Grumman…

TachyonTele,

Do they make video games?

apfelwoiSchoppen,
@apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world avatar

If you follow the comment I replied to, they mentioned non-gaming companies.

cerebralhawks,

It’s from PC Gamer, so I think it’s safe to say they mean worst gaming company in the world. They could have said that though.

Even limited to gaming, EA, Ubisoft, and Activision have always been pretty much tied for it. Now Activision is part of Microsoft, and I think with both Activision and Bethesda and the shit the latter has caused lately, I think we can bump Ubisoft out. And I think when Copilot gaming rolls out, whatever they’re calling that, they’ll be worse than EA was before. The problem with EA isn’t so much what they were before though, it’s what they’ll be under SA leadership.

Gaming by megacorps has never been good for gamers, and it’s going to get worse. And yet people keep supporting them.

ZeroHora,
@ZeroHora@lemmy.ml avatar

Wtf is copilot gaming?

cerebralhawks,

It’s an AI assistant in your game that will help you, tell you where to go and whatnot by using Copilot to help by analysing your game.

Doesn’t sound too bad, I mean who cares if they see what you’re playing or how (bad) you’re playing? It’s just weird. Like the generations after mine used GameFAQs, or asked on Reddit, or watched YouTube videos. My generation read Nintendo Power, and shared tips on the playground or at school, whether we read it in a magazine or discovered it on our own. There were 1-900 numbers you could call, but no one I know called them. Maybe the rich kids did? I was forbidden from doing so (by my parents) and I never did. But that was actually another option. Like, Nintendo operated one. I think some of the third-party gaming magazines may have, as well. You could also write in, and maybe they’d publish your letter and a response, but that would take months.

ZeroHora,
@ZeroHora@lemmy.ml avatar

The only way I can see this shit working is like a search engine that do AI summarizing. They can’t trained Copilot to “learn” about the newest game. This shit looks more like marketing bullshit than anything, any AI that can search the internet will do just fine.

I think some of the third-party gaming magazines may have, as well. You could also write in, and maybe they’d publish your letter and a response, but that would take months.

LOL, I had some of these magazines but at the time internet was already a thing, sounds painful to wait months for a response on how to beat X game.

cerebralhawks,

That’s my thought as well, that it will just source IGN and other sites and scrape the data.

Also, people calling EA the worst company in the world seem to forget that EA published the Mass Effect trilogy. I just noticed that yesterday, their copyright is at the bottom but the EA logo isn’t shown when it (the Mass Effect Legendary Trilogy remaster) boots up. Just the Mass Effect-themed Bioware animation.

EA also published the Rockband games, trying to save the rhythm gaming industry from Activision, which tried to kill it after the developer (Harmonix) left. They got Neversoft (of Tony Hawk games fame) to repackage Guitar Hero 2 with more songs and limp along after it, but once Rockband came out and they added vocals and drums, Guitar Hero was basically done… so Activision flooded the market with slop. I’m not saying EA did anything heroic, they just gave the rhythm game developer a platform to publish on. I don’t think Rockband was ever profitable, but they all damn sure tried. Rockband 3 is also one of the reasons you have mods on console at all. It was part of the pilot program for Microsoft’s XNA, which brought user content to Xbox users. Games too, but most sucked. The real kicker was that anybody could put songs in Rockband, and some indie bands converted their entire catalogue. PC game modding had been a thing long before, but console users getting fan-made content in a game was simply not a thing before then. Even today, people make custom songs for the modded Rockband 3 Deluxe (which requires a modded console, adds a bunch of quality of life features) or computer ports like YARG (Yet Another Rhythm Game).

When I was a kid, EA published a paint program, Deluxe Paint, on the Amiga. Not really gaming related, but it was an awesome paint program and did stuff you still don’t see in drawing/paint programs in 2025, paid or free (DPaint was paid; my father bought it on floppy disk in a cardboard sleeve with a manual and everything).

So yeah. Way worse companies out there. But I’m not gonna excuse the shit EA got into. I do think Microsoft is worse, between Copilot stuff, Activision, and Bethesda.

PanArab,
@PanArab@lemmy.ml avatar

Aramco and not Raytheon or Lockheed Martin or Palantir or Blackrock?

mech,

Raytheon is now called RTX.
They’re the ones who are so evil they keep having to rename themselves.

Grapho,
@Grapho@lemmy.ml avatar

DuPont

OldQWERTYbastard,
Pechente, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...

With lots of new EA titles requiring kernel level anti-cheat, I don’t see what could go wrong here /s

OldQWERTYbastard,

If I need to install their client to play a game, I just don’t play it.

dukemirage, do gaming w When the worst company in the world couldn't get any worse...

Nominating EA for “worst company” always has been ridiculous. Gamers need to touch some grass.

ea6927d8,

In a world where big tech, Nestlé, and Monsanto exist, the OP is way out of touch with reality.

OldQWERTYbastard,
SlartyBartFast, do games w This Minecraft map that recreates [Kowloon Walled City], one of history's most notorious slums made me reconsider what's important in 3D level design

Pretty cool! Wish I could have seen it when it still existed!

SkunkWorkz,

You can still see this one youtu.be/fo14gDswZeg

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