Gundato: Yes, because everyone LOVED them before that. I mean, they didn't start making yearly sport games, buying small companies, not making sequels to IPs they own, making sequels to IPs they own, targeting the casual gaming market, and being a large company until AFTER they used Activation-Model Securom :p
Wishbone: Okay, now you're just deliberately being an idiot.
Q: Was EAs reputation good before those two games?
A: No.
Q: Was it made a hell of a lot worse by those two games?
A: Yes.
Q: Was it because Wishbone in particular doesn't like draconian DRM schemes?
A: No.
So kindly shut up, jackass. If you have nothing worthwile to contribute, then don't.
Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed. :p
My point is simple: People don't like EA. No matter what they do, they are going to catch hell. The only reason people are tolerating them right now is that they are currently more angry at Activision and Ubi. When all the IW and DRM crap blows over, people will probably hate EA again.
EA is Microsoft. Plain and simple. Everyone loves to hate the big guy.
Did the DRM fiasco hurt EA a bit? Yeah, it did. Until everyone else started using activation-model Securom (and worse).
And just as a point of reference: It isn't a perfect parallel (different company), but take a look at Activision/Infinity Ward. When MW2 got launched, they held a promo. The more people who played online, the more they would donate to charity. This very forum contains a thread where people got angry that IW/Activision would DARE to donate money to charity in a fun fashion. :p
Either way, to pretend that the DRM is what killed EA's profit margins is just wishful thinking. Darrk is probably MUCH closer to the real reason their profits went down.