How does EA get all those games out on time?

I never really liked EA, but this is pretty evil. I'm sure some of you have seen the PA links, but in case you haven't, here's this and this.

I'm scared. o.O

That's the way the business works.

Uhh, no. Thats the way greedy buisness works. There is a difference.

REVOLUTION! WHEE

Not terribly surprising. There are many big companies similar to this.

People don't have to stay of they don't like the way the company works them.

The last EA product I bought was Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of World War II. The last product before that was SimCity 3000. The last product before that was Wing Commander: Prophecy.

As you can tell, I couldn't care less if EA went under. As for how they treat their workers...? These are two of how many?

I remember reading somewhere that EA is the most lucrative out of all the other game companies and that it is the largest.

Welcome to the world of corporate America.

EA is indeed evil and harrasses their workers nonstop. It's horrible how they treat them.

Right. Because they can just up and quit, let their family scrounge for food, whilst they get a job at one of the great game companies where you work 40 hour weeks and never, ever have crunch time.

Hang on! I forgot we're in the real world! Where those good companies DON'T EXIST because EA is part of an oligarchy!

I just love how so many people are fans of capitalism until it means it's the corporations that are getting screwed. Then suddenly it's, "They should quit". No, if the corporations are BREAKING THE LAW (which is what the suit is about), then the corporations should pay up! EA earns BILLIONS of dollars a year, and works their employees 12 hours a day, six (or SEVEN) days a week, until they're so burnt out they quit (and they aren't paid for this overtime, either, which is what the suit is about). At which point they're replaced by a fresh-faced college grad who's enthusiastic and willing to do anything to make a game.

In fact, EA is now trying to fill 70% of its positions with people JUST OUT of college. Why are they doing that? Because of the mature, experienced people you get straight out of college? No, because those people are less likely to know their rights, and are more malleable to doing what the corporation wants.

Frankly, this is why I like Steam, despite the annoyance of online activation. The sooner these monolithic corporations go away, the better the industry will be. I was reading an article published ADVERTISING EA as Slashdot, in which it was flatly stated that:

a) an average game "on time" is better than a great one a couple of weeks later.
b) games are canned if they won't make "enough" profit.
c) Innovation is suppressed, because innovation makes games late.

I don't play EA games. I think the last one I got was Need For Speed Underground with a pizza, and that wasn't very good. EA just doesn't make (or publish) good games anymore. And this is, I bet, a large reason why.

*bites back a tirade of socialist argument*

And that's why LucasArts' games makes EA's games look bad- LucasArts makes THEM look like Girl Scouts selling cookies.

Are you saying LucasArts makes better games?....

>.<

Well, when EA stops making good games I'll feel bad, but until then, he's an American worker, he cant complain that he's overworked and overstressed because almost every professional these days is. 2 weeks vacation, 4 max? come on people. France gets like a month off.

These guys are working 84 hour work weeks. That's 12 hours a day, seven days a week. These are salaried folks, so they're paid expecting to work traditional 40 hour weeks (you know, the ones that the Unions fought for a hundred years ago at the dawning of the modern age?); they're not paid overtime. This is illegal. Thus, there is a lawsuit. It's not frivolous in the least.

That's capitalism. If they don't want to work in those conditions, leave. And no, it's not illegal. They are voluntarily doing it. They only are required to work what is specified in their contract. Kudos to whoever is making the millions, more power to them.

Henry Ford did this. He worked people long, he worked them hard. You're too slow, you're fired. You don't meet quota, you get caught standing around, you look funny, you're fired. Howver, he paid them well. Extremely well. Because of this, there was a large supply of labor, so he could fire and hire as he say fit. It's the way the market works.

People need to stop whining.

What people fail to realise is that the company (any company) exists solely to produce profit. Not to provide good jobs, not help the public with goods or services, not to let people have fun, not even to turn a good product, have high sales, or more a larger clientele. Their sole purpose for existence is to make money , by any means necessary, within bounds of the law (usually). Whatever makes money. Call it evil, call it unfair, call it whatever you will, but it's real name is Capitalism, and it's how our nation and most of the devolped world functions. Get used to it.

They are not voluntarily doing it. Did you even read it? During cruch time the MANDATORY hours were 9 am to 10 pm. Do you know what mandatory means? So yes, it IS illegal...

Stop whining? Your a punk little kid with no CLUE. Do you have any idea what working an 84 hour week would be like?? Literally, your life would be to wake up at 8, go to work, come home at 11, go to sleep, repeat, for weeks on end with no break at all. For ****s sake man...that is pure slave labor no matter how much they get paid.

Good job, personal insults always win the argument.

No, I don't know what it's like to work 84 hours a week. 79 hours, yes, but not 84. There' this month called "December", when things get busy. Sorry. I'm also a third year economic student in University, working nearly 65 hours every week, and going to school full time., I'd be willing to wager I know more about "business life" than you. But enough of that, I won't be dragged down into your cesspool of ignorant attacks.

While it may seem mandatory, I assure you, it isn't. It would be largely illegal, and OSHA would be all over their asses in a heartbeat. And if is in the contract/agreement due to some loophole of other oddity, it's their fault for signing the paper. Read before you write, or you get screwed. The employees are ignorant of applicable laws and their contracts or employee agreements. They are required to work their contract/agreement, and anything else they can choose to work as they see fit.

The problem here is that they're NOT being paid well at all, and receive no compensation for being heavily overworked... Or so I gleaned from the "disgruntled spouse" blog.

Only disgruntled cause there's office bone going on, you know what i'm sayin, you know what i'm sayin....

you cant say they dont have some good games though

nfsu
bf142

^ off the top of my head

Ok, so you have worked an 80 hour week. And did you make money for every one of those hours? Probably. How would you like it if you only got paid for half of those hours?

As for the rest, I don't know what to say...You clearly think employees are made to be exploited and even tricked if possible, so I'm not sure I should be argueing with you on this.

You have to seperate salried employees from hourly employees. Salaried employees work until their work is done. If that means 80 hour weeks, it means 80 hour weeks. I really doubt these guys are hourly employees.

They are not...Still, salaried employees have a set number of hours they are meant to work. A few hours unpaid overtime to get the job done is fine, but doubling the work hours with no compensation is not. It's illegal!

It's not illegal, as far as I know. It sucks, but I'm pretty sure it isn't illegal.

"The interesting thing about this is an assumption that most of the employees seem to be operating under. Whenever the subject of hours come up, inevitably, it seems, someone mentions 'exemption'. They refer to a California law that supposedly exempts businesses from having to pay overtime to certain 'specialty' employees, including software programmers. This is Senate Bill 88. However, Senate Bill 88 specifically does not apply to the entertainment industry -- television, motion picture, and theater industries are specifically mentioned. Further, even in software, there is a pay minimum on the exemption: those exempt must be paid at least $90,000 annually. I can assure you that the majority of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these practices are not only unethical, they are illegal."

Hey, it is. In California you must be paid overtime as a salaried employee unless you're a manager, and they aren't. They weren't getting overtime, thus the illegal.

Capitalism is NOT "the rich get to do what they want with their money, while the poor suffer it". It's "EVERYONE gets to do what they want with their money". And there are regulations. Unrestrained capitalism is evil. Full stop.



Contracts cannot stipulate that which is against the law. If they do, they are void.

Here's a good article on this ridiculous "the rich deserve to exploit everyone argument:

http://www.zompist.com/libertos.html

Some choice quotes:



Capitalism is not some God whose altar at which we must worship.

It's quite Capitalizt.