Comments on: EA’s App Store Tactics: Dirty Trick or Just Business?

By: Netwiz

Netwiz — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:27:45 +0000

I’m guilty as charged of getting 8 ea games for iPad. I mean seriously I bought this device for portable gaming and it’s already paid 70 bucks of itself. In a word this sale is epiczorz. And to answer your last question… no.

By: anon

anon — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:19:34 +0000

Whenever you see basketball players intentionally foul, it plays the system. The foul system wasn’t created to slow down the final two minutes of a close game and make games decided at the free throw line. If it were, then there would just be a shootout to decide the game. Rather, intentional fouls are “gaming” the system. It’s perfectly within the rules: this is the problem. The rules need to account for this kind of manipulation if it wants to promote things like fluidity of a game, etc.

What the heck is this guy babbling about?

EA are playing the system so that when Apple freeze the top downloads, EA are all on top. It then switches its prices back and gets advertising. This is not free advertising (the cost is in losses at current prices for persons who would have bought the titles at retail) but at least it’s advertising where you’ll have a decent understanding of its success. But Apple can easily “fix” this, if they choose. All they have to do is make the top applications list during the freeze reflective of a longer period of time, such as within the last year or last 6 months. Then this would at least give all developers a larger window in which they’d have to play little games like this in order to compete in this EA scheme.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:13:43 +0000

Darrell. Maybe you’ve heard the old journalism rule: “if your headline asks a question, the answer is always no” – well, it applies here. The answer is that it’s just business. You know it, we know it.

Now will you stop asking questions in your headline, it’s so incredibly amateur and predictable.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:41:22 +0000

Wal*Mart has been doing this for years. I don’t like them either.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:58:53 +0000

I don’t follow, why can’t the smaller shops use the same strategy? They can take a short term loss too can’t they?

EA is taking advantage of its market size, as many businesses do. Smaller firms have the ability to be nimble and make rapid decisions that larger firms usually have trouble with. So smaller firms should be able to move faster and beat EA with newer games, but that also means taking risk.

I can’t see anything wrong, nor can I see why smaller firm’s can’t use the same strategy. Unless its that GigaOm might not see the tactics smaller firms use.

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:30:33 +0000

This is just great business. What is a dirty trick is EA passing off their mobile games as anything other than complete and utter dog s#1T. They’re 99 cents and I still can’t find one I want to buy.

By: EmmEff

EmmEff — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:57:11 +0000

Not enough anti-Apple sentiment today that gigaom needs to fabricate a story out of an app store sale?

The system is gamed all the time. Since EA has some pull due to their number of apps, let them. May the strong survive.

By: Cold Water

Cold Water — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:18:55 +0000

The answer, in a word, is no.

Covert or overt, the system is gamed all the time. EA leans toward the latter because they’re playing to win.