>I've never understood the cynical way certain people view EA from the outside. EA is a large business (~30B market cap) and subject to the same sorts of challenges of any business at that scale. From my perspective EA is a federation of mostly autonomous studios trying to "find the fun" in an increasingly competitive entertainment landscape.

Maybe you should listen to what those outsiders are saying. EA ships half baked games for full price and loads them with the most scummy and deplorable monetization models in existence (looking at you too Activision.) I haven't heard wonderful things about the working conditions come crunch time either. It's not difficult to understand.

And let's not forget the now (in)famous "surprise mechanics" debacle. EA deserves every bit of their current public image.