Google has a corporate motto: Don’t be evil. Sounds good on paper, sounds great in theory, but history clearly shows that just about every corporate entity slides into evil-doing at one point or another. Google will be no different, I assure you. Some would argue, and perhaps rightfully so, that Google has already begun the slow transition to evil by allowing the communist government of China to dictate censorship demands on Google’s search results. Instead of standing up for freedom and human rights, Google instead bowed to the demands of a questionable government that has a deplorable human-rights record. Google recently indicated that they may have made a mistake, which is commendable, yet nothing has changed in the original deal. So it stands…a company that people love to love will, inevitably, be a company people love to hate. It may happen within a month, it may take a few years…but it will happen.

A company firmly entrenched in evil-doing is Electronic Arts. It’s a popular whipping-boy, a corporate juggernaut with too much power and money that has the perception of screwing over gamers at every available opportunity. More superficial boycotts have been aimed at EA than any other publisher and all have met with failure for the simple reason that EA controls so much of the market that to boycott EA is to boycott game playing. Most gamers aren’t willing to make that sacrifice, which leaves EA holding all the cards and the consumer with an overwhelming feeling of total helplessness. Some of the criticism directed at EA is unfounded, but the vast majority hits the mark. You can’t fault a company for wanting to make money. Capitalism is what the U.S. is all about and EA does a pretty good job at exploiting every aspect it can muster. Unfortunately, its continued quest for more money and influence will ultimately spell its doom if current trends continue much longer.

The EA Sports Money Train

EA Sports has an impressive concept on their hands: release a game every year for each of the major sports, offering the barest of upgrades from one iteration to the next. Price at the high end of the spectrum and watch the money come flooding in. When the competition starts kicking their ass, they flaunt their capital by securing exclusive licenses, forcing out any threatening challenges and ensuring the consumer has their rectum probed and their wallet picked.

Take a look at their Tiger Woods golf game. Here’s a product that has barely changed since its inception. In fact, the majority of the play-by-play audio recorded by Gary McCord and crew is the exact same thing you’ve been hearing since 1999. They throw in a couple of new courses every year, yet still rely on their existing library with only the most minor of cosmetic upgrades. Development costs are kept ridiculously low, retail price kept pathetically high, and we all get screwed. If you’ve seen one Tiger Woods golf game, you have indeed seen them all.

EA doesn’t like competition. Competition forces them to innovate and take risks, two factors that any publicly traded company despises. Never is this more apparent than the recent signings of exclusive deals with the NFL, the worst single thing to ever happen to the gaming universe. Now you can’t blame EA for wanting exclusivity, but you sure can point a finger at the NFL for being a greedy organization that was lured by a $1-bllion check instead of having the interests of their fans and sport at heart.