EA Faces Third 'Battlefield 4' Lawsuit; Analyst Suggests Franchise Is Tarnished

[Bravofiveone]

GAMERANT.COM 4 Hours Ago


EA Faces Third 'Battlefield 4' Lawsuit; Analyst Suggests Franchise Is Tarnished
by Patrick Dane




Battlefield 4 came out of this year’s E3 hot. Some were heralding it as the end of Call of Duty‘s reign over the military FPS genre with destructible maps and 64-player matchmaking on consoles being huge draws for fans. This excitement didn’t just stop with the gamers though, as investors bought shares in EA with Battlefield 4 being a positioned as a potential CoD killer.


The reality of the situation is that that potential never came to fruition, with bug ridden multiplayer matches, lackluster game mode offerings (read our BF4 review), lost profiles and crashes all plaguing the game’s launch. The rushed launch hurt the franchise’s reputation and it didn’t help when DICE announced they were halting progress on further DLC until they fixed Battlefield 4′s issues. This prompted a drop of 28 points in EA’s stock between July 21st, 2013 and December 4th, 2013. Rightfully, this scared investors thus landing EA with two lawsuits over the buggy game. Well, it’s time to make that a possible third.


Law firm Brower Piven has begun chasing a class action lawsuit against EA according to a press release this week. The firm claims that EA knew about the problems Battlefield 4 had before release and decided to let the game hit the market regardless. Polygon reports that the law firm has of yet to file anything official and appears to only be exploring the opportunity of a case for now.




Analyst Timothy Green of The Motley Fool explains that the accusations being made by these lawsuits and how it could be seen as EA falsely inflating their stocks.


A class action lawsuit alleges that executives at EA knowingly over-promised on Battlefield 4, and that the vast technical problems were known to the company prior to launch. Optimistic guidance issued before the launch led EA’s shares to climb above $28, allowing some executives at the company to sell at inflated prices. The stock has fallen significantly since then.


Green does say that it will be near impossible to prove that management were intentionally inflating their prices so it “is therefore unlikely that this lawsuit amounts to much of anything.” He does however feel that the damage may have already been done in gamer’s eyes though. He calls the franchise “tarnished” and posits that military FPS gamers will be unlikely to adopt Battlefield over Call of Duty in the future, as “gamers are always going to choose the game that actually let’s them play.” EA is coming off a rough year where they were once again voted the worst company in America and saw another bungled always-online launch with the release of SimCity.


It is worth noting however, that the Motley Fool owns shares in Call of Duty publisher Activision, so perhaps take Green’s predictions with a pinch of salt.


What say you? Is Battlefield tarnished? Would you rather play Call of Duty for more stability? Is Battlefield 4 in working order for you now and did it deliver enough after BF3? Should EA slow down and avoid ruining the series?


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Soucres: Polygon, The Motley Fool

[iamthesgt]

Is Battlefield tarnished? Would you rather play Call of Duty for more stability? Is Battlefield 4 in working order for you now and did it deliver enough after BF3? Should EA slow down and avoid ruining the series?

No, Hell No!, Yes, yes, and yes!

[UH1FE]

I bought COD for the campaign. Played one round of multi player after I finished the campaign and will never do it again.

[jxspyder]

And yet, I can group up and play CoD without issues.......

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

[UH1FE]

But if the game sucks does it matter that its not broke?

[iyellatclouds]

[QUOTE=jxspyder;200794]And yet, I can group up and play CoD without issues.......


And yet it is still the same thing and many levels behind battlefield even when battlefield is broken. Was the same way with BF3 when MW3 came out, BF3 was broken but still received better reviews.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iamthesgt]

But if the game sucks does it matter that its not broke?

This 10,000x

[jxspyder]

[QUOTE=iyellatclouds;200799]

And yet, I can group up and play CoD without issues.......


And yet it is still the same thing and many levels behind battlefield even when battlefield is broken. Was the same way with BF3 when MW3 came out, BF3 was broken but still received better reviews.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Many levels behind a game that is so broken it can't even deliver on its core premise.........so delusional, lol.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

[klaws]

This 10,000x

How do you know a game sucks if you don't even play it?

[KaNtSt0PMeH]

Don't pay him any mind Kyle. He's what we call a 'hater'.

[iyellatclouds]

I'm just gonna leave this here straight from meta critic

COD GHOSTS-Xbone-78 PS4-78

BF4- Xbone-not rated PS4-87
Xbox360-81

Even broken still has higher scores I don't believe I'm delusional just a believer in trying something new.


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[UH1FE]

I used to be a CoD guy but it became the same game every year. Small maps quick combat. So basically one of many modes in bf3/4

[saviger]

I hope this teaches EA a lesson, STOP RUSHING OUT GAMES THAT AREN'T READY YET.
(Napoleon Dynamite)GAH!


In response to the CoD "fanboyz" ITT, Even when "broken" the Battlefiled franchise is light years ahead of CoD.

You can fit all of CoDs gameplay into a single game mode in BF. Enough said.

[comanche_warior]

To me they have gone down hill from where it was in BC2, the destruction has been dummed down allot since then. It takes 3 rpgs to take out a brick wall, Im sorry thats just stupid and it takes 2-3 tank rounds to kill a unarmored vehicles. I can shoot a transport chopper in the canopy and it just shrugs it off, thats just not right if it even registers as a damn hit half the time. Yes its fun to play but the bads still outweigh the good in the game.

[jxspyder]

I'm just gonna leave this here straight from meta critic

COD GHOSTS-Xbone-78 PS4-78

BF4- Xbone-not rated PS4-87
Xbox360-81

Even broken still has higher scores I don't believe I'm delusional just a believer in trying something new.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm just gonna leave this right here.

You're using Metacritic as a basis of judgement on which game is better.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

[KaNtSt0PMeH]

Its all opinion based. I play both equally. I enjoy aspects of both but I will never take a critics score for anything. Opinionated assholes is all they are. BF is awesome with a group, while I can handle CoD on my own. Even when I play BF, I prefer smaller scale game types like TDM or DOM. I hate handicaps like vehicles. Some people love them but to me personally it gives a shitty advantage. Of course real warfare isn't ever equal. I still don't play video games for realism. Lol... I like the guns in BF much more but CoD has some legit game types.... its all about tomayto or tomahto.

[iamthesgt]

To me they have gone down hill from where it was in BC2, the destruction has been dummed down allot since then. It takes 3 rpgs to take out a brick wall, Im sorry thats just stupid and it takes 2-3 tank rounds to kill a unarmored vehicles. I can shoot a transport chopper in the canopy and it just shrugs it off, thats just not right if it even registers as a damn hit half the time. Yes its fun to play but the bads still outweigh the good in the game.

I don't know what you're playing, but I only takes 1 rocket to take out a wall for me and 1 tank shell to take out a vehicle.

I'm just gonna leave this right here.

You're using Metacritic as a basis of judgement on which game is better.

Gotta agree with spyder. Anytime you use a critic's review to compare two things to say one is definitively better, you're on seriously shaky ground.

Its all opinion based. I play both equally. I enjoy aspects of both but I will never take a critics score for anything. Opinionated assholes is all they are. BF is awesome with a group, while I can handle CoD on my own. Even when I play BF, I prefer smaller scale game types like TDM or DOM. I hate handicaps like vehicles. Some people love them but to me personally it gives a shitty advantage. Of course real warfare isn't ever equal. I still don't play video games for realism. Lol... I like the guns in BF much more but CoD has some legit game types.... its all about tomayto or tomahto.

Vehicles aren't really overpowered. You just have to have the right stuff to take them out. If you've got two sides, both with vehicles, you've got the tools to take out the other side. CoD is worse because the high-end kill streaks are difficult to counter and can dominate the map. Even if they do get taken down quickly, you can still take out half the enemy team. Battlefield, not possible.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX on Verizon Wireless

[klaws]

I hope this teaches EA a lesson, STOP RUSHING OUT GAMES THAT AREN'T READY YET.
(Napoleon Dynamite)GAH!


In response to the CoD "fanboyz" ITT, Even when "broken" the Battlefiled franchise is light years ahead of CoD.

You can fit all of CoDs gameplay into a single game mode in BF. Enough said.

"Fanboys"? Really?

[ssandersjr]

Lol how many of these BF vs CoD "debates" have we had in the past and they all end the same way

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[RogueScot]

Reminds me of the good old days of the Mac vs. PC wars before Mac won.

[HAVOK]

Can you do this in COD?
http://youtu.be/7tYy2Y-AHXI
That's a 1,153 meter headshot in case you missed it...

[ssandersjr]

Reminds me of the good old days of the Mac vs. PC wars before Mac won.

Lol that is another can of worms

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[jxspyder]

Can you do this in COD?
http://youtu.be/7tYy2Y-AHXI
That's a 1,153 meter headshot in case you missed it...

Can you do this in BF4?

This is a picture of 6 of us during the clan war. We're in a party waiting to jump in a game. Together. All on the same team.

This is a picture of my lvl 58 guy who I've been playing since release....without ever once resetting.

And this is a picture of my campaign. The one that hasn't reset this whole time.

Sorry, I'm too lazy to take the pics, but the point remains....

Of course, we still have to deal with the fact that the two games are radically different, notwithstanding DICE straight buttfucking the reaper on this game.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

[HAVOK]

Can you do this in BF4?

This is a picture of 6 of us during the clan war. We're in a party waiting to jump in a game. Together. All on the same team.

This is a picture of my lvl 58 guy who I've been playing since release....without ever once resetting.

And this is a picture of my campaign. The one that hasn't reset this whole time.

Sorry, I'm too lazy to take the pics, but the point remains....

Of course, we still have to deal with the fact that the two games are radically different, notwithstanding DICE straight buttfucking the reaper on this game.

Sent from the muddy banks of the Wishkaw

Yeah we can't start in a lobby together, its dumb. BUT we can join each others games. So yeah, its more of a headache but we can still play together.

My lvl 64 guy has NEVER been reset. Didn't even have problems transferring from PS3 to PS4.

I guess I was one of the lucky few who's campaign never reset either. I still have my progress.

Yes they are VERY different games. I just recently started playing Ghosts on XB1…not really liking it so far…

[KaNtSt0PMeH]

If you allow someone a 10+ killstreak on CoD you should get pooped on. Which has happened only a few times in a lobby of USMGers. I enjoy being able to setup my classes without having to be in game or download a bullshit app that kills the hell out of my phone. I enjoy being able to have a clan of USMGers when platoons haven't even really been mentioned as of later from what I have noticed. Vehicles ARE over powered because if some jackass has his tanks or choppers maxed out he is nearly impossible to take down with a squad of randoms since I can't party up with anyone. Battlefield tried SOOOOO hard to beat CoD's release date they didn't care about their fans at all and dropped a broken product. I have equal time logged in both games pretty much including the Extra Life marathon which was 25 straight hours of BF4. I do agree BF3 was amazing and better than BO2. But I'll take functionality over a broken system. Sure CoD is frustrating but if you don't like fast paced games its not for you anyways.

I have had my campaign reset 3 times on BF. Match stats disappear and no xp awarded. Kicked to dashboard at least 10 times. Shitty servers and horrible customer service. Your biased stance is based on pure loyalty not logic.