Minecraft Developer Says EA Is "Methodically Destroying" Gaming
If you were inclined to feel pity for international megacorporations, you might just set your sympathetic gaze on Electronic Arts – because at the moment, no one else is. After EA released a new batch of "indie" games on the PC gaming distribution network Steam, the developer of the incredibly popular Minecraft series had some choice words for the multi-billion-dollar company. Markus "Notch" Persson has become something of a gaming demagogue since Minecraft exploded onto the independent scene, and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that EA was pushing into an area where it doesn't belong.
Here are Notch's thoughts, from his Twitter account:
EA releases an "indie bundle"? That's not how that works, EA. Stop attempting to ruin everything, you bunch of cynical bastards... Indies are saving gaming. EA is methodically destroying it... The games in the bundle are good, I'm not questioning them. I'm questioning EA.
Technically the games in the bundle – DeathSpank, DeathSpank 2: Thongs of Virtue, Gatling Gears, Shank, Shank 2, and Warp – could be thought of as "indie", since they're created by small teams of developers for a tiny fraction of the cost of a major gaming blockbuster like Mass Effect 3. But since they're being published by EA, far and away the largest gaming company on the planet, Notch felt that labeling them as "indie" next to games from truly independent developers was somewhat disingenuous. Obviously, he used some stronger language.
Developers aren't the only ones that EA is upsetting. After the company planned to shut off access to its iOS Rock Band game to focus on other projects, a massive outcry from those who had purchased the $5 game forced them to backtrack. PC gamers have an especially vitriolic relationship with EA, since it's begun to limit its major releases like Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 to its Origin platform (which itself has considerable performance and privacy issues) and denying the games and the shared revenue to Valve's Steam platform. These and many other anti-consumer issues have given EA the infamy of being Consumerist's Worst Company in America for 2012.
[via Tom's Hardware]