A tweet from the EA account in July provoked a firestorm of criticism from the gaming press and fans, and EA have made a point of distancing themselves from the tweet.

In July, the official EA account tweeted "They’re a 10 but they only like playing single-player games" which provoked a social media frenzy.

In the 2010s, EA became heavily criticised by certain quarters of the gaming media for putting multiplayer games above single-player games which the company has gone some way to rectify with the likes of the 'Star Wars: Jedi' games and the 'Mass Effect' series, but the tweet did a lot of reputational harm to the EA brand.

EA took the criticism to heart, with the tweet being discussed at a recent conference call and EA CEO Andrew Wilson told investors that single-player games are a "really, really important part of the overall portfolio that we deliver in fulfillment of those core motivations."

“We know that our players, they have these core motivations; inspiration, escape, social connection, competition, self-improvement, creation; these things that bring us together as players of games and the creation of worlds and the building of characters. And the telling of stories is really important in the fulfillment of some of those motivations.”

In plain, non-business speak English, this translates to EA stating that they see single-player games as a major part of the gaming giants' plans.

The tweet was also poorly received within EA, with some within the company claiming the tweet had set back the progress EA had made in repairing their image after a series of high-profile blunders and controversies.

The most notable EA controversy in recent years was the implementation of aggressive microtransactions in 'Star Wars Battlefront II', which resulted in the company coming under fire from politicians in the United States and Europe, and the company taking a severe reputational beating.

"They’re (the social media company) are all new and most of them, to my knowledge, aren’t really game industry people,” an EA source told USA Today.

"The person who posted that tweet didn’t know and wasn’t supported properly to ensure something like this didn’t happen."

Despite the assurances that EA are still focused on delivering strong single-player experiences, EA has stated they still see the live service model as a major revenue source, which fans and gaming media alike see as detrimental to storytelling in games.

Companies like EA and Blizzard have made live services a major part of their financial plans in the online era of gaming, and EA say they have the numbers to vindicate this business practice.

“Live services still encompass over 70% of our business, and that has been a proven, very reliable, highly recurring revenue stream and that will still be the predominant driver in our profit and losses over the long-term," said EA finance officer Chris Suh.