Some companies are more evil than others, so I go by each game basis by basis. I don't buy games at launch, so I guess I also have less reason to be angry... I wait until patches are available and the dust has settled. I'm turned off by an online-only SimCity... I don't know if it has a single player you can just login and play... that would be fine. Maxis games usually age really well and I keep playing them years after the fact. However, to be multiplayer 24/7, I don't like that. The other could be patched and fixed somehow even after EA servers abandon it.
I liked Maxis before Will Wright left and it became mainly EA... I "tried" Sims 3 and the feeling from the other games (especially the original) seemed totally gone, so I uninstalled and skipped buying it entirely. I didn't mind buying expansion packs to some degree for Sims 2, by that point I found them for super cheap... but I think Sims 3 felt like less of a game without expansions, so forget it. The graphics drop also annoyed me, though I understand why it had to be done that way at the time... it just didn't feel like a Maxis game at all though.
I think they have to try harder to get our money the more they keep going. I don't think it is about boycotting any company specifically... because not many people are willing to do that to skip over their favorite game series. They really want to push Origin on people and so far, their campaign seems to be really working [/sarcasm]
EA wants to be more in control of where your dollar goes, like a monopoly, and we see how that works for the quality of the games. What I want to know is what it's like working at EA if their business tactics and game development are so good as this...
