It tells you something about EA and who you're dealing with when you have read the fine print, on some tiny obscure label at the very bottom of the box, in order to simply enjoy a product you've purchased fair and square (I'm in marketing professionally, they placed this label in a way that they know people will glaze over, just so they could cover themselves legally). I think it is safe to say that purchase of a product denotes ownership of something, at least its basic features. That's just economic common sense. I can understand requiring Live Gold for advanced features, but if someone purchases this product they should at least have basic access to the game, not just the load screen and the menu... To charge for a game and leave me absolutely no options after initial purchase falls squarely with in the definition of bait and switch marketing (arguably illegal but certainly unethical). What exactly did I purchase when I bought this game?? - the right to subscribe and continue paying indefinitely for their captive marketing??!! This is exactly the * that bit Star Wars Battle Front 2 in the *, despite the fact that you still get basic features with that game. EA may have covered themselves legally with Garden Warfare, but they have committed the ultimate marketing sin, they have crossed the customer, a transgression that is usually VERY expensive to find redemption from, especially when they hide and blame Xbox when they are called out. THAT alone should tell you that they know they screwed up and this was a bad customer satisfaction move. Standing in front of that train with their customer may be legal but it also results to market rejection, brand taint and a pissed off customer base - all of which will burn their profits. Perhaps EA should have read THAT in the fine print of their customer focus groups before they listened to accounting and pulled this stunt!
Think I'm full of smoke? Guess how many people I ran into at game stop returning this very game along with me? It doesn't even count those who are ranting about it with me online
