EA Launches Its "Biggest Sale Ever," Some Gamers Aren't Happy
by Harry Monogenis, posted on 02 July 2011 / 8,388 Views
EA recently announced what they're claiming to be their "biggest sale ever" with a special set of deals in celebration of the July 4 American Independence Day holiday. The sale includes price cuts on "almost 50" EA titles on the App Store, including Dead Space which is now just $0.99 for both iPhone and iPad versions.
The main attraction of this sale is the games that have been discounted on EA's recently released Origin online service. These include:
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 ($11.99)
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ($17.99)
- The Sims 3 ($23.99)
- Mass Effect 2 ($11.99)
- Dead Space 2 ($17.99)
- FIFA 11 ($23.99)
- Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed ($29.99)
These prices haven't been pleasing many gamers, however, and some have taken to the comments over where the sale was announced and expressed their views, showing that EA's offering are still higher than some retail prices, as user "Kimtastic" explains (all following comments have been left unedited):
If anyone working at EA reads this pay attention please. Your sale prices are more expensive that retail prices. Should be ashamed to call this a sale. You changed your name to Origin to compete with Steam. The main way to compete is price. With these prices you have no chance of overtaking Steam.
For reference, Bad Company 2 is currently $5 on Steam, and $4.99 on Amazon US. Kimtastic then posted another comment which reads:
Also not releasing *** for Hot Pursuit on the PC is a disgrace. Shows that you aren't thinking of the customers. We have the money to spend, give us a reason to spend it here.
What seems to make things more troublesome for EA is the fact that their "biggest sale ever" is only available to those living in the US, prompting outcry by those living in places such as Europe.
Responding to someone stating that the reason why the sale is only available to US residents because it's a US holiday that's being celebrated, user "Komedy1971" had this to say:
Then don't declare it as "the biggest EA sale ever" if only part of the world can take part. Also can we not In celebrate along with America.Seriously this is why Origin will NEVER EVER Challenge STEAM. The marketing and PR people at EA are clueless. In the EU there are millions being spent on games over at Steam and the EA dummies have missed the boat by limiting this "largest sale ever" to the US. /facepalm EA
Another user, Solo-Dragoon, points out the sort of deals that Steam is currently offering:
Wrong. These aren't sales. Even in the U.S. Sorry EA but your going to have to do better with your "origin" to compete with steam. Example: Complete Valve pack is currently 50$ for about 10+ games (and includes portal 2). Not to mention all the other awesome deals going on. Why would we buy anything through Origin? Seriously would suggest a better marketing measure for Origin if you ever hope to get into Digital Distribution the 'right' way.
You can take a look at what EA is offering as part of their "biggest deal ever" via the source. Be sure to let us know what you think of the prices. Are they good for you? Should EA have discounted them further?
