Shogun wrote:To Whom it May Concern,

I'm writing to inform you of a situation that is currently going on concerning a community of gamers who appear to have been abandoned by EA with no explanation as well as possible fraud on the part of EA as a company.

The title is Skate 3 and the problem is that many of the online functions are currently broken and have been for some time with no explanation of any kind from EA. You can follow much of what has happened on these threads at the Skate and EA forums:
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7799430.page
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7747102.page
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/7803918.page

I will also try to detail the main points. Long story short many of these gamers have supported this series across 3 titles and a myriad of DLC. There are also customers who are brand new to the game having just picked it up to find that many of the features they were excited about are not available (I happen to be one of these). And of course everyone else in between. At this point all many of us want is an answer, if it's going to stay broken we just want to hear it from EA so we can move on but if you've read the linked forum threads you'll see what little official response there has been hasn't actually said anything.

The problem seems to stem from the fact that many online features are tied to the skate.ea.com website and currently that connection is severed. The ability to access any of these features has been gone since at least November 16, 2011 and after a month of questions on the forums we've yet to get any answers.

The main features affected:

skate.reel - this feature allows users to use the in game replay editor to create videos or photos of their gameplay, upload them from their console then download them from the website to further edit on their computer and/or upload to YouTube or what have you. Currently some users report that they can still upload clips from their console but nobody can access them on the website and I personally cannot access them using my console either. Many users also purchased the Filmer Pack DLC which gave them higher resolution uploads, custom watermark settings and more server space to store their clips and photos online, server space they currently cannot access. The Filmer Pack is still available for download on XBL for 800msp.

skate.graphics - this feature allows users to go to the skate.ea.com website and use the custom graphics editor to create graphics they can then send in game to put on skate decks, clothes and objects in created parks. The graphics generator is still fully functional on the website but users only receive an error message when trying to send graphics in game. On a personal note this was the feature that I was most excited to try out, and with no notice of it being down on the website I spent hours familiarizing myself with their graphics editor and creating some graphics to send to my game before I discovered I could not.

skate.ea.com/skate.create - None of the features on the website that access the game work, the two previously mentioned functions as well as the ability to look up your profile, look at custom parks, or skate.assets which I don't even know what that is because there's nothing on that page on the site.

The online functions however are not totally broken, features that don't require the website like park sharing still work (sometimes), online multiplayer is still available and I can see skaters created by people on my friends list riding around in my game or when I'm doing team management stuff. So it doesn't seem to be a case of the servers being shut down, something has just broken between the website and the game.

It is still my hope that this might get fixed but as time wears on with no word it seems less and less likely. Ultimately I respect the right of EA to stop services if they are not cost effective, I don't necessarily think it's right but I get that it's business and sometimes these things happen. But if that is the case I think it is EA's responsibility to inform the community and remove DLC like the Filmer Pack which is useless without the website. And if they are fixing it common decency would dictate that they inform the community of what's happening.

So to summarize, at best EA is horribly mistreating paying customers by keeping them in the dark and at worst engaging in practices that could be considered fraud by continuing to advertise features that are no longer available and continuing to sell products like the Filmer Pack which are now useless. I hope as an employee at Electronic Arts, you find your company's handling of this situation to be as appalling as I do and can finally get this moving towards some sort of resolution.

Regards,
John L****
Gamer and Custom Content Fiend
john@*******.com

Hello Cannibal,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts again.

I really appreciate your comments. Your inputs have been forwarded to our Game Development Team for further review. Our Experts always strive to make Games very player friendly and interesting. Hence your inputs have been very motivating and I request you to share your feedback with us regularly.
Moreover, I am sure you would find our Game Forums very interesting. Not only can you post your comments on our official forums but also interact with fellow gamers. Since these Forums are regularly monitored by our Game Developers, they offer an effective medium to communicate with the Developers.
Please visit the link: http://forum.ea.com/de/categories/show/25.page

In case of any further questions, please feel free to get in touch with us anytime.

Regards,
Divya
Electronic Arts - World Wide Customer Experience

Divya,

Thank you for your response although I'm a bit confused. When I sent my message to customer support it told me I would receive a reply within 48 hours, that was 9 days ago. I also do have further questions.

Most importantly I wonder if you even read the message I sent. I ask because in that letter I speak about how myself and many of my fellow gamers have been posting messages to the forums you suggest I go check out. In the message I linked to 3 of the threads in those same forums and I specifically mention how after over a month of posting we've gotten no helpful response. Why would you suggest I do something that I've already done and told you didn't help?

You say my input has been forwarded to the game development team, I'm curious to know who exactly this is. Many many of the people I have been discussing this issue with on the forums have also contacted customer support and said they got the same response. So with so many messages going to the "game development team" why has nobody addressed this issue yet, or even given some sort of confirmation that the message has been received? I know for a fact that the dev team that made Skate 3 is no longer together, they've been spread out and moved to different teams within EA or left the company all together so who is this dev team that all our complaints are being forwarded to?

Finally I'd just like to add that I am very displeased with your response. I composed a detailed letter pointing out a serious problem and after waiting almost 5 times the expected wait for a response getting this precomposed form letter suggesting I do what I've already done is simply insulting. This is a big issue, EA is losing customers over it and you seem to be doing your best to ensure that I am one of them.

Regards,
I'd sign my name but you clearly didn't read it the first time

Hello Cannibal,

Thank you for contacting us again.

I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced. I understand the value of your time and appreciate your patience and cooperation. Our developer are working on this particular issue so I am not sure about the time. However I can assure you this issue will fix soon.

If you have any further questions please reply to this email, contact via 24x7 chat support or browse our extensive knowledge base online at http://help.ea.com.


Sincerely,

Ganesh
Electronic Arts- World Wide Customer Experience

Ganesh,

Are you a real person? I was suspicious after the first reply that my messages were not actually being read now I feel almost sure of it. This reply does not even acknowledge a single one of the questions or comments in my previous message. However like a sucker I'm going to ask more anyway.

You said, "Our developer are working on this particular issue so I am not sure about the time. However I can assure you this issue will fix soon." This is almost a direct contradiction to the last message we received on the forums from EA_mikenoface the only EA forum admin who has answered our cries for help. According to him they are still trying to find people who might be able to fix the problem.

He said, "As we mentioned previously, this issue has been brought to the attention of an Origin Developer relations team member that was a part of the Skate project.

He has reached out to the former members of the Black Box team to see how and when this issue could potentially be resolved. Due to the Winter Holiday, we will not have any update for you until the New Year."

So which is it? Are the developers working on it or are they being contacted to see if they can work on it? One of you is not telling the truth and since EA_mikenoface provided details and showed some actual knowledge about the situation I'm apt to believe it is not him.

Regards,
again, why sign my name when you don't read it?