EA/Bioware in Full PR Damage Control Mode *UPDATED 3/22/12, 5:28 PM UTC/GMT -4 hours*

Listen, I couldn't give a damn what they label me, but if a group gets enough negative publicity, people will feel justified in not listening to them. Even if that negative publicity comes from EA itself through hired trolls, they could still use it as justification for not listening to us. That's why we have to be civil in the first place and fight those labels. We just need to figure out how to express our continued disappointment without playing into those labels. It's just something we need to keep in mind, alright? And by the way, flipping the chessboard over doesn't win you anything other than a mess you have to clean up.

But like I was saying before we've already been labeled as whiners by the media before. No matter what we do we will always be viewed upon as entitled whiners. Now I understand we have to be civil, but that doesn't mean we have to be submissive in order to appear that way. If we do, then what's the point to all of this? Why have a movment if we're constantly afraid of what other think? We can't let the opinions of others deter us from demanding what we really want.

No, I don't think it's a case of accepting the DLC with straight face and thank you no matter what's in it. I myself see the job as being holding Bioware to the standard. Why are we here? What motivated us all? It's because we have come to count on Bioware to provide us with a well written and enjoyable entertainment experience. If we honestly believed that they had held up their end we wouldn't be here.

I want better for them as a studio, god knows they've done better. And I darn well want better for me as a consumer. We nudge them and remind them of how great they have been. That if they want to settle for far less they can certainly do that, but as passionate loyal fans we will fight that tooth and nail. We bring up the logical story points that don't make sense, we remind everyone of all the b.s. that the parent company has done over the years. We say we want to believe them and we hope for a great outcome, but considering the track record we're justifiably skeptical.

I understand the seriously pissed feeling, I'm not too far removed from it myself. Nothing is more frustrating than being dismissed. Never doubt that there's been name calling and gnashing of teeth at EA/Bioware that puts all of ours to shame. They planned on ramming this half baked ending down our throats and trotting off into the sunset of DLC and Mass Effect 4. So much for that plan.

We hold more cards than we think. They aren't going to be able to move anything out of Bioware until they wash off the stink from this mess, and that means making all the dismissed angry fans happy.

The expiration date is the release window for the next console generation.

You're right we don't have to take this lying down, but those labels of being entitled whiners died down once as the movement gained numbers, good publicity, and whatnot. Now those labels have a chance to be used against us again. Of course we aren't going to let that stop us, but keeping it from becoming an obstacle in the first place will make everything that much easier. Honestly, maybe it's not that big a deal, but it never hurts to have all the bases covered.

Thanks for the reminder, Luke (and jonthurtell). I did read the analysis, I promise. Just scatterbrained right now - don't know if it's from the BioWare yo-yo or all the meds. :\

No probs I think we've had a lot of information to process over the past 24hrs so it's understandable. I recommend a nice cup of tea, a stroll/run then a long relaxing bath.

Anyways I need to head to bed, gotta be up in a few hours for Beer Festival w00t. night all

Good Morning, Afternoon, and Evening (here) All,

Been spending the last couple hours reading up on EA’s latest move. Some quick PR thoughts.

First, even if you fix something, you’ll probably never admit it was broken. The extent to which EA will rework the ending is anyone’s guess, but even if they plan to craft new endings, they wouldn’t admit it. EA just doesn’t want to go on record admitting they are overhauling an inferior product (And to be fair most companies would be the same). Apparently Ms. Merizan tweeted a while ago that the enhanced endings will contain at least one possibility of being reunited with squad mates (something that seems to fly in the face of disjoined clips of you in a pile of rubble and your squad mates taking a header off world). But they’ll just claim that was their plan all along and not “new”.

Conversely, could the “expanded endings” be a placebo which allows EA to claim they listened and deliver no substantial content? Absolutely. Bottom line, however this turns out, the message we got today was probably as good as EA was probably ever willing to give regardless of what they ultimately deliver.

But here’s the notable stuff. Remember those EA PR guys who I thought all got eaten at SeaWorld? Well at least one of them made it back alive and has been quietly doing his job. No matter what EA releases this summer, the reality of the here and now is that said EA PR guy looked at PAX and saw a bad (and uncontrollable) storm on the horizon. While folks may not be as vocal as they were two weeks ago, things simply have not calmed down (the 160,000 vote win by EA in the “Worst Company” contest is the latest factoid in that analysis).

The announcement today was done solely to diffuse what EA saw as a potential public PR disaster. To that end, Retakers can take solace that they forced EA to move a piece based on a genuine concern EA had that tomorrow was going to be embarrassing. In short, EA PR finally surmised that there was no way to insure control of the dialogue in a public forum, so they released the statement today and then followed it up with a post from Ms. Merizan detailing that the ending discussion was off limits tomorrow. The ultimate hope is to continue to control the rage within the less publicly accessed BSN forums, deflect things tomorrow, and try to get their terribly derailed PR/marketing message for MP, etc back on track.

Moreover, I haven’t confirmed it, but my understanding is that Mr. Hudson (the EA poster child for this fiasco) now won’t be appearing at PAX. This would make for a very good PR move. He is a lightning rod right now and the extensive quotes he made regarding ME3 pre-release would simply be indefensible in a Q/A. I wouldn’t be surprised if the indomitable Ms. Merizan isn’t in attendance for moral support as the most human face EA still has on the field at the moment.

Ultimately, EA decided that a public confrontation at PAX was just too risky and has taken PR steps to ignore the elephant in the room. In retrospect, I doubt they thought this would be a problem when they originally committed themselves to the panel. To that end I agree with LukeE’s comment that this is a bit of desperation on EA’s part to get control of their current predicament.

Unfortunately, no matter what EA releases in the summer, one thing is pretty clear from anyone with any PR background at this point. The relationship EA/Bioware has with many of their most ardent fans has been seriously compromised and altered from March 5th, 2012 for the worse. Is that damage irrevocable? For some, yes. For others, no. Some will, at the very least, never pre-purchase EA products again no matter how sexy the marketing.

So, has EA ultimately “won” even if they do a bolt on ending? From a PR standpoint, hardly. EA’s stock has not been helped by this mess, they have been hiding in a bunker for most of the month after a flagship release, their game price is down across the board, their forums have been a crater-filled battlefield for the last three weeks, they’ve been savaged by bad fan reviews, won a horrible corporate honor, and have lost untold thousands of sales and loyal customers who have simply walked away.

It’s kind of like the U.S./Soviet nuclear strategies when I was growing up called M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction). The concept was that if one superpower started the last war, they wouldn’t be around to finish it. Creating a bad product then throwing down with your customers over it pretty much assures pain all around. The customers (i.e. us) didn’t want this fight, but anyone who has not shied away from it can hold your head up as you’ve held the line. As I’ve said repeatedly, this whole episode will end up as a cautionary tale to the gaming industry.

Everyone in the Retake movement (and even those opposed to it), have to date been part of something so unique. EA does what EA has done to date because they look at their customers as ever-forgiving, ever-suffering gaming addicts that will pay to play (and to date the gaming community let them work virtually unopposed within that paradigm). Many gamers lived with the illusion that companies like Bioware were less like a corporate entity and more like a friend who would never betray them for something so base as profit. It is my personal hope as an old gamer that ultimately EA will learn that there is a line that will be held against unchecked corporate profiteering and conversely that many gamers can see themselves not only as fans who can love a company like Bioware, but as consumers who have a right to express their dissatisfaction with a failed product and see through the PR smokescreens at times used to manipulate them.

So what about PAX? Regardless of Bioware’s position, I still think it is perfectly legitimate to ask any civil questions as conscience dictates. Bioware can say they won’t discuss the endings, but the players are customers and as customers you still have the right to express yourselves. Maybe they will ignore you, but it will let them know in a public forum that you still have inquiries, are still dissatisfied, and that you intend to hold them accountable.

Ok, that is one long wall of text. My apologies.

Stay well, stay civil, stay strong and use your voice! As for me, just typing away on my C-64 and…

Holding the Line

Mr Atghunter... I wish you wrote more and longer. I absolubtely LOVE reading what you have to say on these issues. (I also read it in Duncan's voice lol)

Glad to see you received an answer. My apologies, I was typing and researching.

Hold the Line

No sir. No apology necessary. You are a lifeline to me (and many others I'm sure) in these trying times. Thank you for everything you do for us.

What do you think of this article? http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/05/mass-effect-3-extended-cut/

It seems a little bit of a slap in the face in the last paragraph or two to be honest.

Every PR statement from them feels like a slap in the face. Then we have individuals like Jessica Merizan on twitter saying things akin to "Don't worry. Just trust us. We won't hurt you again." I know it's going a bit overboard to say, but I feel like I'm in an relationship with an abusive spouse right now.

Why did you make them hurt you? It's all your fault.

Really it's just PR bluster. If my company's stock was sitting at a 14 month low and I knew I had to go announce that I was having to produce a free product to address my customer-business disconnect rivaling the breadth of the Grand Canyon and it involved a flagship game, I'd put on a brave (and perhaps a bit defiant) face too then go back to my office and slump into my chair while i reached for some antacid.

Hold the Line

We are very lucky that atghunter is here clearing the fog of war and calming the storm a bit.

Sadly, this is a very old (and particularly nasty) PR tactic. It's kind of a version of "good cop/bad cop" to instill both a confused state in a consumer and to try and elevate one member of the PR team to a "trusted" status who would then be used to spearhead communications as the "trusted" emissary of the company.

You are not going overboard btw. Ultimately, this gambit plays on many of the same emotions involved in an abusive relationship. The strategy works to use dedication to a company by a customer (love and loyalty) mixed with anger over a particular incident to create a sense of guilt on the part of the customer towards the "trusted" emissary thus preserving the corporate core. The win for the company is to get the customer to return to a “dedicated” state and somehow feel that the brunt of the disconnect was their (the customer's) fault to begin with.

Sorry, some of this PR stuff is pretty dark.

Hold the Line

Nami from facebook (dunno if they post here too) gave this link. Im gonna paste the text here anyways.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rIaLq_UjE8cR96OdXdgY9zB8HyHbx-LAXsjvwH_vG-A/edit?pli=1

Of course none of us knows for sure how history will remember this, but given the extensive negative impacts on EA to date, my best guess is that no one at the Bioware/EA bunker will look at this as a successful endeavor. In fact, its been pretty much a PR version of nuclear meltdown. The bad game ratings, the mems, the bad blood with consumers won't just disappear. They may claim this was planned all along to save face, but few people will ever believe it. The fallout will be around for some time.

Hold the Line

How many times would a trick like this work, anyway? Okay, Bioware says they planned it all along, the next game that does it, we're going to know what's up.

And if they try to spin it as, "Oh, we made a genuine mistake" and then another EA subsidiary does the same thing a few years later...well...fool me once...