Electronic Arts is known for making controversial decisions. From loading up its games with an alarming amount of microtransactions to a slew of studio shutdowns, it has done it all. This time, the publisher has announced a new “Command & Conquer” mobile game and the reaction is telling. Basically, the internet absolutely eviscerated the title.
The “Command & Conquer” franchise has been one of the most popular video game IPs in the industry. As such, this should have made “Command & Conquer Rivals” an obvious hit. Unfortunately for EA, based on the likes-to-dislikes ratio of its reveal trailer, this might not be the case. It sits at 1 like to 29 dislikes as of writing.
Its gameplay trailer didn’t fare much better either. The numbers were similarly dismal at 320 likes to 11,000 dislikes. Clearly, the internet is trying to send EA a message.
As to why so many people would hate a game that hasn’t even been released yet, there are several answers. The most obvious is the ill-will that the publisher has earned from the community. Time after time, it has made decisions that were perceived as anti-consumer. As such, anything EA does is going to have its fair share of haters.
On the other hand, the company did just release a game from one of the most beloved PC franchises on mobile. As Kotaku points out, this announcement mimics other similarly bad decisions to awkwardly revive beloved properties.
This isn’t to say that the game is going to be bad since it’s not even available to play yet. For those who have gotten their hands on the game and tried it out, the feedback has been encouraging. The fact of the matter is that EA could have handled this development a lot better. Then again, this might have been inevitable considering the high-strung nature of E3 announcements.
