Takeaways from Electronic Arts and the Customer Experience

Let's face it - Electronic Arts hasn't had the best reputation amongst its customers. From putting out half-baked games to nickel and diming its customer base through microtransactions just to get a decent experience, gamers pretty much know what to expect.

This doesn't mean we don't get excited when a new game of the caliber of Star Wars Battlefront 2 is set to be released. I'll admit - I was excited. From watching the gameplay videos to seeing the options for character play (all things that should have been in the original, but like I said, we know what to expect), it was a game I was definitely going to buy and, more importantly to EA, pay the full retail price for.

As always, EA proved to be their own worst enemy.

In a head-scratching move, EA announces that the characters we've been looking forward to playing as will be locked upon purchase of the game, but will be unlockable through purchase via mictrotransaction or through roughly 4,528 hours of play.

In response to the backlash, a spokesperson from EA commented on a Reddit thread: "The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes..." which continues on in an excuse to save face and justify their continued over-charging to their loyal fans.

In less than 24 hours, this comment went to be the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.

EA is now behind the 8-ball in terms of customer loyalty. Fans began cancelling pre-orders and voicing their displeasure through their own social media channels, essentially dragging the name of EA through the mud. Why hasn't EA gotten the idea through their heads that "the customer is always right". Why are they willing to sacrifice their own brand and reputation for extra money?

The bottom line is they don't think it will negatively impact them in the long run. They have dramatically undervalued their customer base and what it means to retain customers. They have emphasized the upsell over the renewal. They would rather bleed their customers dry now instead of keeping their reputation for putting forth solid games intact. Personally, I cannot remember the last EA game I bought.

How will this impact their bottom line? How will this affect them as a company moving forward in 5, 10, 15 years? Their fate is in the hands of a very disappointed customer base. And that is a very scary place to be.