Or you could look at it that EA lost a billion dollars through their own stupidity, they realized where they went wrong and are back on the road to profitability again. A reason to cheer.

they lost only 420M in 2007

2 commercial successful games released in a year with 1 bln dollar loss? not sure what you are getting at.

He is trying to say that he feels that the DRM'd games should have destroyed all of EA. I mean, it was either that or poor sales on other titles and generally lower sales overall :p

Naturally, they didn't lose a billion dollars on just those two games. However, those two games were responsible for a LOT of negative publicity for EA, and earned them the dubious title of Most Hated Game Company In The World. A title that Activision and Ubisoft now appear to be fighting over. The two games themselves may have been commercial successes, but the backlash from their respective releases must certainly have affected EA economically in some way. EA pissed off an awful lot of people that year...

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

EA's problem isn't so much that their games weren't particularly profitable, but rather that despite pulling in plenty of money they were spending like drunken sailors between various acquisitions and massive development and marketing budgets. They basically just hit a point where income was no longer scaling with the money invested, and that's why they ended up so deep in the red.

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.

Yes, I'll punish them by buying games from other developers, not him. BTW, why wasn't six eight four kicked from activision like the former chiefs of IW were? Is he that popular as the Activision PR guy taking all the sh*t from the community?

And your point is wrong. People like EA now because they are rewarding their customers. When you buy an EA game these days you know you are not only getting a quality product but you are going to be lavished with free stuff making your purchase seem extremely good value. They cannot stop giving away free stuff for ME2, Dragon Age: Origins is very mod-friendly and NFS: Shift got a new game mode and cars 360 owners had to pay for. Compare that with Ubisoft and Activision who give you nothing but the finger and employ DRM that in Ubisoft's case might stop you even playing the game.
EA make it worth my money to buy their games so I support that. Activision and Ubisoft do not so I exercise my right as a consumer not to buy their games.

yeah for EA, every PC gamer's delight since 1976. : )

And I agree. I actually like EA right now. But I also made it a point to not randomly hate them for no apparent reason.
But go take a look at that thread about them making another Ultima game. Everyone was quick to remember how much they hate EA.
Hell, go look at all the people who are screaming that EA are evil BECAUSE they are giving away the free DLC/DRM :p
It is looking like Activision or Ubi might take over on the "most hated publisher" category, but they have a lot to overcome. When all the garbage related to the firing of the heads of Infinity Ward and Ubi-drm blow over, I have a sneaking suspicion that people are going to go back to talking about how much they dislike EA.
Or maybe the tide will turn with the new C&C, which is supposed to use a model very similar to Ubi-drm. Or, if EA is lucky, people will be angry that Starcraft 2 is Starcraft 1 with shinier graphics, and Activision will officially take the title :p

The thing is with C&C4 they have given good reasons why the game needs to be played online. We all know that the real reason is piracy and DRM but EA have done their PR best at convincing us it's not. C&C4 also does not NEED broadband which UbiDRM does due to the amount of times their games dial home. Ubisoft have done nothing like that, they basically have called us all thieves and they will only sell games to us now if we accept to give up every right we have as consumers.
As for Ultima. Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the whole hate based on the fact it's a browser game and not a 'proper' Ultima? Who's to say that if the browser Ultima is a success they may infact see a market and make a brand new 'proper' Ultima X. Ultima is EA's IP after all and it's their right to make whatever game they wish with the name. People are hating EA based on the fact they are not making the Ultima they want.
Basically there is no reason to hate EA now and in fact they should be supported.