EA is seen these days as the evil empire
the place that peddles shit
has an iron grip on sports games which allows them to release the same shit each year which people buy anyway
where studios companies and franchises go to die ( see origin westwood ultima )
where you are dlc'd to death
and where they shoe horn in multiplayer and questionable tactics in their games ( simcity 5 )
but

this was not always so
once upon a time ( ahem) EA like activision was not reviled
their games were actually good their games stood for quality
so what happend ?

when did the slide downards began and we ended up with the monolithic monster we go now ?

in other words when did EA turn to shit ?

...since when?

a long long time ago ;p

I remember seeing the EA logo back on my Atari800 back in the 80's and 90's. So it was a while ago. EA once stood for the new company in town to provide quality software and games... How much they changed in 30 years.

edit: http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/electronic-arts-construction-set-series

Here's a few that turned up that I remember. Racing destruction and pinball construction set I recall..

Didn't EA basically con Bethesda out of the code they used for the Madden games back in the 80s?

It's not like their games were ever a Squaresoft-esque mark of consistent quality, either. They developed Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, after all.

I don't believe you.

Around 2007-2009 they actually took a lot of chances and devoted time to new IPs like Mass Effect, Dead Space, and Mirror's Edge.

LIES!
BURN THE WITCH!

In seriousness though, I imagine they went downhill once they realized ways of making more money.

they had a iron grasp on fifa since 1992 though
and on madden since 1989

EA has become evil as early as 1995.

They forced Bullfrog to release the not-polish-yet Hi-Octane,
and forced Bullfrog to release Dungeon Keeper early (but EA failed this time).

Peter Molyneux's final work in EA is Dungeon Keeper, and he left EA after DK released.

that early ?
damn i didnt think they started their transition in to moustache twirling muhahahahing evil empire untill at least the 2000's with all the dlc bullshit
and they did fuck over ultima and dragged its corpse around for several years
killed origin systems
killed westwood and so on

Ultima IX(1999) is also destroyed by EA, like what they have done to Bullfrog.

The first version of Ultima IX is super buggy, and system requirement is extremely HIGH.

Gamers at 1999 have no day-one patch, they just got an unplayable garbage.

i have watched this https://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_spoony_ulitmate_ultima_review
and its 5 hours long
i know all about the fuckfest thats ultima 9

though a lot of the rage in that review flies over my head

EA in the beginning, along with Activision, were one of the few game companies that promoted game designers as artists. That obviously didn't last.

They went bad in the 90s when they started seriously gobbling up other, better companies like Origin and Bullfrog, dragging them through the mud, and then dissolving them.