1. Indefinitely? Yes, EA is a bunch of evil monsters who want their customers to parish. They totally aren't actively trying to resolve the situation, and just want to pile in the money and laugh at their customers (  http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/07/ea-adding-more-simcity-servers-over-next-two-days/  )

2. You have a warranty / license agreement. If you brought your TV home, opened it, and installed custom software on it... you would void the warranty and would not be able to bring it back. Same scenario, he violated the terms.

3. Pre-order, $10 credit / off for  5 games. Again its an unfortante situation. But it was out of EA's hand, he should have read. He would have gotten a refund had there not been an activation.

None of that matters.

He pre-ordered a game to work.

EA fucked up and the game does not work.

He has a right to get a refund. He didn't install custom firmware or other ish to break or potentially break the device. That part of your #2 is frankly, stupid and no where in line with this discussion.

He should get a refund minus the $10 credit.

If I bought anything including games from a retailer. Took it home. Simply didn't live up to my expectations. I can return for a refund. If I got $50 gift card or some other shit with it and couldn't return that too... typically they just take that value out of the refund.

In this digital content version... its even easier as there is no impact to anyone. Nothing "open boxed" that must be sold for less later. Its a win-win.

Right now its a ... "oh sorry but fuck you. Deal with it and wait for us to get our shit together."

You're very very wrong. Give it a try, go buy a game from gamestop. Open it and play it. After a day, try and return a open game and get $60 back. You will not.

The game also is not broken. the point about custom software is that you violated terms of refund. The fact is though my point was still to _fair_ to the customer. He didn't violate the refund terms, he never actually qualified for a refund.

I'm going to sound grouchy, but get over the sensationalist entitlement. It's a fair point to be annoyed about online drm... That is entirely valid.

It is not valid to jump over EA, over this guys rant. He never qualified for a refund, the game is not defective, and he comes off as an entitled-prick.

1) I'd get another game. Same difference. Point is I'd get to keep the value of my money in a different product.

2) can they play the game? No. Then its broken.

3) He should qualify for a refund because EA is not holding up their part of the contract. They have not delivered a working product on the date they said it would work.

EA made a promise when they took his pre-order. That promise said they'd deliver the game he was saying he was buying. They instead gave him a worthless download. All of them who don't want to wait, should be allowed refunds minus their pre-order bonuses if applicable. This not expecting anything beyond what is appropriate consumer protections.

.. No actually... You can't just take one stance, and then take the opposite and say "SAME THING!!" In one instance you get $60 back, in the other you do not... even if you get some type of game. (Pro tip: Check out reddit, there are plenty of people who have done what you suggest + actually get a refund.)

Yes the game can be played. You wait in a queue, you can still play. I'm sorry you can't "GIVE ME NOW"

Question, when steam servers go down and a game that utilised steam servers stops working, do they now get a refund? Is Steam the evil empire? Why not? In that instance the game literally doesn't work, there is no queue.

Again. All those people are getting refunds, it was this Ass who decided not to read.

You can see where this is going, now....

EA believes that by using your previously purchased games as leverage, they can ban you from playing them if you question their business practises. The more games you own on Origin, the more likely you are to keep taking the big, corporate dick in fear of losing what you already own....

My mind is made up. I was beginning to cave into buying SimCity, but no...never having that problem ever again...

I searched on Google Images expecting to find funnier, but this is all I got:

So un-original and boring. EA aren't Devil Babies.

Eh, more like they know 99% of gamers are all bark and no bite. "I won't buy any more products from X! Except for A, B, and C! And anything that comes out from them in the future that interests me! That'll learn 'em!"

My last EA game was either Battlefield 1942 or SimCity 4, so I'm confident in saying that I wont have any troubles with this...

Oh this is rich....

So if a company puts in their EULA "We reserve the right to no refunds if the game doesn't work for you", you believe that would hold up in a court of law?