I'm torn between Konami and EA but I think Konami might have done more bad stuff, company size considered.

After EA just tweeted that gamers are "arm chair developers", I believe they have confirmed what we already knew...

Choosing only one publisher isn't enough. There are at least 3 ugly ducklings in the industry nowadays: Activision, EA and Ubisoft. All three think little of gamers (which they see as consumers and nothing more) and all 3 are gearing towards the model of games as a service rather than as a product and this is very bad for gamers.

As far as I'm concerned I haven't really been affected as I pretty much don't care about Activision and Ubisoft games. And I only care about EA games that have not been destroyed by their microtransactions/lootboxes BS such as Mirror's Edge or Dead Space. But I don't have much hope for the good games as EA now is shifting towards games for the masses rather than games for the hardcore gamers. I never liked COD, Battlefield, FIFA or Tom Clancy stuff so if people are dumb enough to fall for the "games as a service" model, it's not my problem...

... As long as the other publishers, the ones with the good quality AAA games (The Last of Us, Dirt Rally, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, The Witcher 3 etc...) as well as all the great Indies (Sonic Mania, Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice, Limbo, The Witness, The Talos Principle, The Binding of Isaac and many more) don't give in to the horrible idea of making their future games, services rather than products. But when I hear how much money lootboxes/microtransactions rake in for the 3 evil ones (EA, Ubisoft, Activision) I worry that the others might not resists the temptation for much longer. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

At this point it would be better to do a thread for companies that are not scummy, yet.

green_sky said: At this point it would be better to do a thread for companies that are not scummy, yet.

So, a CD projekt red thread?

It is a bad thing, that I cannot quite decide who is the worst.
I am just gonna go with EA for now.

Ubisoft has a charm to them, that I cannot quite put my finger on.
Activision, they are easy to ignore.
WB is a pig in human clothing, so I don't really care all too much about them.
Take Two is overshadowed by Rockstar, so anything they do seems irrelevant by comparison.
I deeply respect Nintendo.
I don't care for; yet do not dislike anything Sony is doing.
Microsoft does not do anything that annoys me(too much), as I do not care for their IP (aside from AoE).
Square Enix commits no major sins(IO Interactive walked away just fine), and they release a range of decent to quality titles.
Capcom is making a AAA Monster Hunter title, that will be on PC.
Sega released two Sonic games this year with an average Meta score in the 70's so they are doing okay.

I don't have any major negative feelings towards any companies in the pole. I'm probably most upset at Ubisoft for their bad PC ports, but then again EA is just as bad with any launch on any console. I feel like I deeply respect Ubisoft's ambitions and output ... even if I've only played Far Cry 3

This is tricky, only because of Konami.

EA, Activision, Ubisot, Warner Brothers and Take Two are The Gluttonous 5, but Konami is it's own breed. The Gluttonous 5 follow the money making trends and genuinely don't give a shit how you feel.

Konami on the other hand bears a personal, intimate, zealous open hated for every single one of it's consumers. If it weren't for corporations out there that genuinely don't care for human life being destroyed(Big Pharma, insurance companies), Konami would be literally the worst thing in the world.

EA. Never should have been given the rights to Star Wars. I'd rather it go to even Activision. EA is the fucking worst

Oh god, does an 11 way tie count?

Activision- Up until recently, I wouldn't say they were particularly worse than their competition, but oh god, that matchmaking patent...
EA- Do I need to explain?
Capcom- I get the feeling that they DESPISE Switch owners, and will stop at nothing to rip them off to an unbelievable degree. Seriously, I'm not buying Street Fighter II AGAIN for $40, only for you to still "wait and see" after it does well.
Warner Bros- Releases broken, buggy games? Not so out of the ordinary. Refusing to fix them in favor of focusing on DLC? Screw that.
Nintendo- In some ways, they are actually improving. But this doesn't change the fact that they're pretty much the Antichrist when it comes to anything internet-related, whether it be actively seeking out fangames to destroy, youtubers to screw over, or having terrible online services.
Sega- Aside from Sonic Mania (and even that was heavily banking on nostalgia), their latest games are just... not good.  Also, the Shining Force copyright strikes incident.  NEVER FORGET.
Bethesda- Stop trying to make paid mods happen, please? You're gonna destroy one of the biggest advantages to PC gaming.
Ubisoft- Never ever ever ever ever ever buy a PC game from these scam artists. On console, you should be fine.
Konami- Once again, do I need to even explain?
And finally, Microsoft and Sony- Whenever they reveal a new console, one of them is gonna end up with egg on their face, garanteed. Then one generation later, the other is gonna outdo them in anti-consumer crap. Whether it be the legendary PS3 reveal or the even worse Xbox One reveal, you know you're gonna have a great time.

In conclusion: If you boycott companies easily, just find a new hobby.