THE BUZZ: Consumer affairs website The Consumerist has presented EA with the “Worst Company in America Award,” and the publisher doesn’t seem too bothered.

EA won the award ahead of companies like Bank of America and AT&T in a contest voted by more than 250,000 consumers. The Consumerist said:

“To those who might sneer at something as ‘non-essential’ as a video game company winning the Worst Company In America vote: It’s that exact kind of attitude that allows people to ignore the complaints as companies like EA to nickel and dime consumers to death.”

“Consumerist readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA, which is supposed to be making the world a more fun place, is worse than Bank of America’s avarice, which some would argue is the entire point of operating a bank.”

Responding to the award, EA corporate communications senior director John Reseburg told Gamasutra: ”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.”

EGM’s TAKE: EA has worked hard to rescue its reputation after a major slump in share prices a few years back. It began supporting brand new IPs such as Mass Effect in order to win fans back which worked for the most part. However, a few controversies later and it appears that fans are back to their original thoughts on the publisher. Issues with games like Battlefield, Mass Effect and FIFA have slowly drove fans crazy, and the fact that EA has beaten the banks and AT&T is astonishing, considering all the hate they get.