I’m sure that the new Saudi owners and Jared Kushner will be looking into hacking up human developer cost by any means necessary.
I hope they bankrupt and rest in their own shit
New EA Owners Hoping AI Will Cut Costs And Boost Profits, It's Claimed
Submitted 1 day ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://insider-gaming.com/new-ea-owners-hoping-ai-will-cut-costs-and-boost-profits-its-claimed/
Comments
ColdWater@lemmy.ca 1 hour ago
HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Battlefield 6 is fucked.
skisnow@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
You laugh, but AI is a pretty good fit for EA. Repeatedly churning out new iterations of the same exact thing over and over every year, with the roster changed and the art fucked about with a tiny irrelevant amount? Yup
_stranger_@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. They’re going to gut EA for a money laundering scheme of epic proportions and it finally happened to a company that fucking deserves it.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 hours ago
Sadly, the people who deserve it (the Executives and shareholders) are going to walk away with a bunch of money. The workers will take the brunt of EA’s downfall.
_stranger_@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
They should all just immediately quit. Good luck to the fucks figuring out how to extract 20 Billion from some buildings, the crap inside of them, and zero knowledge about how to access anything stored digitally.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Christ, couldn’t they start with something like Sinclair or Google instead?
_stranger_@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Sinclair is part of their machine and Google is too big.
Evotech@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Oh no they bought the hype
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 day ago
Oh man, this is hilarious from the outside because I’ve worked for private equity before. They are the biggest hype bros that exist. They are in their own reality every time. They can see something as small as a random tweet and think that it’s the truth. There’s no way this goes well for them.
2 examples. Long story but if you want to hear how smart “Private equity” is in tech, here are my two anecdotal experiences:
First, I was an engineer on a project that we were wrapping up a major “V2” rewrite of. We were weeks from finishing this now year long project. They came and asked “How long until released” and I said a month until clients can start using the beta. (Padding a week or so just in case). They didn’t just come back and say “You have a 2-3 weeks”, they came back and said “You have 1 week because we have signed contracts saying that it’ll be ready by then”. What. I was the head engineer. On whose authority did they do that? Who told them it would be ready? Of course no one, they just said it should be done, engineers lazy, they super smart. The project isn’t done in time of course, clients pissed, and they fired the dev team. I hear a year later the entire org had shuttered. They pissed away the entire investment.
Second, again working leading up a major project, a whole new idea in the fintech space. Team is jazzed. We push for 9 months and we release - zero bugs, not a cent lost, we test scaling and we should be able to handle millions of users - we’re ready. We release to… zero fanfare. None. We had no idea what was happening, we’re engineers so we’re used to it but no one cared. Turns out we were being acquired! Hooray said the investors! So much money! The other company claims to be doing what we are already… interesting since we had a novel idea. So we merge, and we decide to do a bakeoff (test each product against each others). Ours of course passes. Theirs tips over after 100 users. Ruby on Rails monolith, they’ve never had more than 100 users. Turns out they just slapped some stuff on a postgres database and called it a fintech product. Business investors at the top high five, show off how much money they’re going to make. Same thing, our loyal customers who were excited for our product got pissed and left. They lied to everyone else about the product just like the other place, the lies eventually caught up, and the stock tanked. Now they have two worthless companies. From what I heard they didn’t make a single sale in Q1 or Q2 of this year, and are shuttering the offices and moving engineering to India. Typical big brain business move.
Never work for private equity. If you ever get bought by private equity immediately start planning your exit. This is a card game to them, they’re sitting at the table in Vegas and are doing anything they can to make it look like the company is valuable just long enough to con someone else into buying it. If they make any profit it will go to them, the company will not see a dime of it. Your budgets will be less than shoestring, you will not have bonuses or dinners out, everything goes to them. You immediately are replaceable, with any, and I mean any developer or AI bullshit being able to replace you. Everyone at EA should be looking for new jobs right now.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 1 day ago
One of the many things that’s infuriating about this is that these people are so profoundly stupid, but they keep getting all the money and power. If there was any justice in the world, people like the decision makers in your stories would be living a very spartan life somewhere, reflecting on how they are so fucking senseless.
And yet people continue to worship these “job creators” and “visionaries”.
Sektor@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Citizen Kane quote goes something like: it’s not hard to make a lot of money if the only thing you want is to make a lot of money.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 day ago
Trust me man, I’ve thought the same thing. The first story? With the contracts signed? If they had just asked me and listened to me it would have been successful. We had clients chomping at the bit wanting the new app, and obviously people ready to sign. We had guaranteed money - but it all failed because they thought they knew better than the head engineer.
The real kicker? You want to know the absolute punchline? This was a educational platform specializing in live video for professors, to aid with virtual students. This story happened in late 2019.
FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 1 day ago
I’m imagining that picture with ea as death visiting Westwood and bioware etc.
But to the left you see ea death is in its own room and opening the door is the figure of private equity. A bloodstained tzeentchian nightmare screeching from the void.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 day ago
If Bioware wasn’t already dead from the corporate bullshit that was Dragon Age 4 (and that comes from me who still found enjoyment in DA4), then this is. I doubt that Mass Effect 5 game will ever see the light of day.
Roopappy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah. I’ve been a part of two companies acquired by private equity, and the playbook is to cut all spending on employees through any means. Slow pay all vendors until they won’t work with you. Kill product development. Raise prices in predatory fashion. And… while the books briefly look good and before it all falls apart in a few years… sell to someone.
Both times, it did not work. Well, I guess it worked for whoever sold the company to private equity. And I guess the private equity installed leadership of tall confident sounding idiots made big salaries and bonuses, which is nice. I’m just not sure where the money came from. If I understand capitalism, it probably our taxes somehow.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 day ago
It’s such a well known play now, I keep wondering who would possibly think buying from private equity is a good thing
someguy3@lemmy.world 1 day ago
First story is not exclusive to private equity. Sales and even business owners have no idea how long things take. We once had a project that would take about a year, sales signed the contract to be done in like 1 month. The saving grace was the client delayed their start date, giving us the time we needed. Another one: guy buys an old building with plans to tear it down and build a new one. Tells the news “we’ll break ground next month”. Two years later they break ground.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is a card game to them, they’re sitting at the table in Vegas and are doing anything they can to make it look like the company is valuable just long enough to con someone else into buying it.
It’s not even a card game, it’s lotto scratchers.
A card game implies they give thought and treat each situation unique and change strategies
They’re buying billion dollar companies left and right hoping for a quick payday because they’re obsessed with watching their bank account numbers go up.
primrosepathspeedrun@anarchist.nexus 1 day ago
Private equity is why y9u should never rely on a paid or profit service.
fittedsyllabi@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
M0oP0o@mander.xyz 16 hours ago
Hmmmm, I did think you could not make EA worse. But it seems like they are going to give it a go.
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 4 hours ago
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 1 day ago
God, every new things i hear from this is worse and WORSE.
primrosepathspeedrun@anarchist.nexus 1 day ago
Would be worse if it wasn’t EA.
Like dumping a rotting corpse in a pit of sewage.
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Hmm, that’s a good point.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
For me it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I hate AI.
But also, I don’t buy games from EA for the past 10 years.
So all I’m hearing is that the Madden series will either be sold off, or die.
I only bought every few years. Because really, why buy 2013 when you have 2012? Buuuuut, you can justify buying 2017, when all you have is 2012.
I think that was the first Madden game I bought where it didn’t have a season mode.
I do not give a FUUUUUCK about franchise mode. I don’t care about running a team. I don’t care about controlling an individual player from high school to NFL. I don’t care about designing plays. I don’t care about roster trades.
I don’t even know the names of the players. I don’t know what a nickle or dime is. I just know this play is a passing play, and I can either throw to L1, or X. Then I let the play develop, and see who’s open.
All I want to do is play 16 games, and if we make it, the playoffs. Once we either win or don’t win the superbowl, the game is over for me.
Literally the only 2 modes I give a flying fuck about are exhibition and season. Don’t know don’t care what player packs are, or elite cards, or any of this XP bullshit. I do not give one flying fuck.
But let the guy run, and I press the button, and he throws the ball. Then if he catches it, let me run with it.
And they took away the part of the game I spend 80% of my time in. So I took away any sales I gave them since.
tanisnikana@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Actually, shit, this is impressive.
I think you just explained how football is played to me in a way I can actually understand!
Thanks for that.
switcheroo@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Oh no ha ha oh no no noooo.
You fuckers are going under. None of us are buying your shit-- especially if it’s all AI generated shit.
tahoe@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
None of us… on Lemmy. Normal people don’t care, they’ll be making as much money as ever.
HeyJoe@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Guaranteed years from now, tons of people still buy madden and have no idea EA was ever sold. Honestly, even if they did know, im sure most will still buy it.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
If they do it right, you won’t know what parts are AI. There’s a shit ton of work that goes on that users have no fucking clue about and would never know. AI isn’t just for obvious user facing content.
EndOfLine@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 hours ago
I keep forgetting that this stupid AI bubble hasn’t popped yet and I’m always surprised someone is trying to add it to their business
ameancow@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
“I keep catching myself in this uncanny loop — expecting the so-called ‘AI moment’ to have fizzled out, only to realize the bubble hasn’t just not popped, it’s still inflating. You didn’t just add AI to your business plan, you pivoted your entire narrative to center on it — because in 2025, apparently, no pitch deck is complete without a sprinkle of machine learning magic. Every time I see it, I’m not just surprised, I’m re-surprised — like déjà vu, but powered by buzzwords and venture capital fumes.”
KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
Ed Zitron writes some fantastic pieces regarding exactly this.
paequ2@lemmy.today 1 day ago
new owners are going to utilize AI in order to cut costs
How original and innovative. It’s like these guys are doing something no other company is trying…
I look forward to nobody buying their AI slop.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
As someone who uses AI regularly for software engineering and ~2/3 of the time find it effective…
…there is no way it can produce quality games or gaming experiences.
I look forward to watching EA collapse. Get rekt.
DacoTaco@lemmy.world 1 day ago
As a developer/tech lead who also uses ai i bloody agree. This is going to be baaaadddd. Didnt know ea could get worse
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There always places. I’m skeptical about saving significant money but what about graphical or story elements? I’m not too familiar with how games are built but ai can generate arbitrary “artwork” and even music
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
The human employees may use AI to help speed things up or do repetitive/monotonous tasks, but without human oversight the AI will be functionally worthless for most things due to lack of knowledge over instructions. Add on the insecure and unoptimized code AI spits out and it’s gonna be fun watching the dumpster fire.
AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
For me the beauty of some games is the knowledge of the writers involved in a story or the composers for the music.
If I know upfront it’s all AI generated I think that’d ruin it for me. But I realize that’s just my opinion.
Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Honestly, if AI was responsible for cranking out a decade’s worth of FIFA and Madden, would anybody notice?
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Probably yes, because AI might change thing too much while right now they can just tweak minor stuff and resell it.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 day ago
The 5 diehard fans might.
njm1314@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You wish it was just 5.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
This going to be a total venture capitalist play. It was already set the the fifty billion dollar acquisition was also going to be placing EA in like twenty billion in debts. They’ll flood it with more debts, piece the IP’s all out, legal launder the money, and take ea into bankruptcy.
EA is dead.
ILoveUnions@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I hope they sell spore to a better company
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 1 day ago
yeah, good riddance. As long as ubisoft doesn’t suck up the bigger ips it can only get better
Unattributed@feddit.online 1 day ago
I’m just really glad that I don’t play any games from EA….
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 1 day ago
Since Bioware is just a shell of its former self, I only care about Hazelight’s games which are published by EA. It takes two is one of the best games ever made.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I really liked EA. Back on the C6C4 and the Amiga.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 23 hours ago
It will do the opposite. More costs and less profit.
fodor@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Well yeah, if they cook the books like Private Equity always does, they can suck some profit out of it while destroying the company. And then later blame it on AI, why not? … Shit, the New York Times and the Washington Post would probably roll with that story.
HeyJoe@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Normally, a 2nd company is used where they exploit the first to further grow this one and funnel any actual money into it while bankrupting the first. I am curious to see what aspect of this helps that and what company it will be that profits from it.
lennee@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Get fucked EA I wont buy shit
CubitOom@infosec.pub 1 day ago
Fuck AI.
Fuck the Saudi royal family.
Fuck Jared Kushner.\Boycott all EA games.
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 1 day ago
Step 1: AI
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml 23 hours ago
Was “Yakety sax” playing in the background when they said that?
Lucky_777@lemmy.world 1 day ago
EA already in the shitter. About to become alot worse. 50 billion wasted.
Sciaphobia@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
My guess it that they’ll do some financial fuckery that shouldn’t be legal, and may not even be, and come away with profit leaving someone holding the bag.
shittydwarf@piefed.social 1 day ago
Cellar boxing
Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 day ago
EA is not yet bad enough? They are actually trying to make it even worse?
Or is behind all this some rich, disappointed gamer who wants to ruin EA with a vengeance?
umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
bye, rest in piss.
here’s hoping for a source code leak so we can preserve the classics and such. maybe they’d cut some costs in security.
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Fortunately, thou hast not even come close
SalamenceFury@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Welp, I guess Battlefield 6 is cooked.
Teal@piefed.zip 1 day ago
This is one I was looking forward to but won’t buy now.
vateso5074@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Better AI than humans. Humans have the potential to be gay and will end up shoving their corrupt ideology into the minds of our children.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Then let’s hope that AI will pay to play it.