Redwood-based video game publisher Electronic Arts, more widely known as EA for short, was voted "The Worst Company in America" in an annual poll run by the Consumerist, a blog affiliated with Consumer Reports.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Consumerist prompted its readers to participate in a 32-company competition to determine which company deserves the "Golden Poo" award. EA was included for the first time in this competition, but got more than 64 percent of the votes, beating even Bank of America as the worst company.

250,000 Votes, EA Wins 'Golden Poo' Award by 64 percent

In order to decide which companies to include in each year's contest, the Consumerists counts nominations from its readers. More than 250,000 people voted in this year's poll, and other nominated companies included Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, AT&T and Wal-Mart. The latter two companies actually reached the Final Four. Last year, BP was the grand winner, eventually defeating Bank of America.

"Some may look down their noses at the idea of voters picking a video game publisher as the Worst Company in America, but that is the exact kind of attitude that has allowed EA and its ilk to nickel and dime devoted customers for a decade," said Consumerist's deputy editor Chris Morran. "This is not just a few people complaining about bad games; this vote represents a large group of consumers who have grown sick and tired of being ignored and taken advantage of."

Trading Creativity for Cash

While EA may not be as evil as other companies out there, consumers seem to be particularly disappointed in the company's way of swallowing up smaller companies and crushing their creative integrity, leaving them unrecognizable in the end. "They have [a] habit of buying beloved gaming companies and wither summarily executing them, or corrupting them to the point where they're almost unrecognizable," wrote Forbes' Paul Tassi on the issue. "EA is at the forefront of some of the most annoying practices in the industry to date, such as restrictive DRM, seemingly abusive DLC and appearing to trade creativity for cash."

EA spokesman John Reseburg released a statement in response, posted by several sources including GamesIndustry.biz, Kotaku and the Los Angeles Times. "We're sure that bank presidents, oil, tobacco and weapons companies are all relieved they weren't on the list this year. We're going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide," said the spokesman sarcastically, in response to the award.

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)