It is no secret among those in the gaming community that one of the more common, if not the most notorious, gaming-related companies to be a target of ire among gamers has been Electronic Arts. The company has been well known for its many controversies throughout the years, and has earned more criticism in recent months, as evidenced by many satirical memes and one of the company’s comments becoming the most downvoted Reddit comment ever.  Now, this negative perception has earned them the title of 5th most hated company – though at least they didn’t get the number one spot as they have in the past.

Financial news site 24/7 Wall Street has shared the results of a recent project which gathered data on many companies around the globe known for amassing dissatisfaction from portions of the public. The aggregate of the data from sources such as consumer surveys and Glassdoor reviews led the publication to list Electronic Arts at the number 5 spot on their list of Most Hated Companies. The only four spots ahead of EA on the list are all major companies that were each at the center of a major controversy or scandal that dominated mainstream news last year, including University of Phoenix, The NFL, Fox Entertainment Group and Equifax (which claimed the #1 spot).

24/7 Wall Street largely referred to the recent Star Wars Battlefront II controversy as the big reasoning for placing EA so high on the list. Their placement description also references EA’s tendency to make their games less unique and the many small studios that EA has bought and dissipated, such as their recent closure of Visceral Games. Negative outcries against EA clearly can be heard from those outside gaming culture, and it doesn’t seem like the criticism from within shows any signs of slowing any time soon either. Do you guys think 24/7 Wall Street should have named EA the fifth worst company in the world? Let us know in the comments below!

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