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Former Madden Developer's Epic Rant on Twitter Stuck
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 06:16 PM.


A few of you may know AJ Dembroski. He worked on the last two editions of Madden and before that, he was one of the top members of the sports gaming community.

Well last night he went on an epic mad rant about EA, how they treat games, and how they see games. In his own words, he feels EA treats games in a 'robotic' type of way.

Adem's biggest complaint of his time at EA seems to be that management simply doesn't seem to get games and instead wants to make money (aka the bottom line). He also seems upset at one of his fellow designers on Connected Careers for what he says messed the whole mode up.

Regardless, AJ leaving EA is a big blow to the team in my mind. He's one of the most passionate people in sports gaming historically, so there is no doubt losing that means there's big shoes to fill on the Madden team.

**caution for language, I'm presneting AJ's tweets in unedited fashion from start to finish.**

Quote:
It's funny... you get some real gainful employment, and the friends flock. You lose that, and they ****in' scatter.

I left EA recently... and boy howdy, did mother ****ers disappear. Fake *** friends.


I know everyone's gonna want me to dish the dirt on EA. I ain't about to do that. Good friends I left behind. I'm not going to **** on them.



and honestly, EA treats their people well. They really do. The EA Wife letter... I dunno, I didn't experience that. Good people there.


But I AM glad to be rid of them. It wasn't what I'd imagined. It wasn't what I'd hoped.


Sadly, any corporate involvement in a creative business is doomed to fail.


Because creativity is stiffed by corporate culture. It's sad that so many brilliant people at EA are held back by corporate structure.

There are great... GREAT people at EA. I wanna call out John White and Patrick Bellanca in particular...

You'll be hearing a lot from Pat, I think he's going to be the media focus going forward for Madden... and deservedly so. He's awesome

point is, if you're following me for my connection to Madden, please unfollow, I'm done with Madden, and happy about it.

like Phil Frazier and Ian Cummings, I found myself questioning my own ****ing self-worth because of it.

Ian, for the record, was awesome. I feel like if he hadn't moved on, I'd still be there. I miss his *** so much.

we'd have never been friends outside of work. He just wasn't my kinda dude. But he KNEW his team, KNEW what his people were capable of.

And knew not to push them further then they could be pushed.


Ian Cumming is going to be a legend in this business when it's all said and done.


but Sports is not the place to make that happen.

EA is held back by being a publicly traded company. that'll never change.


I'd go so far as to say J.R. is a good dude, but he doesn't understand GAMES. He thinks of them as a collective of statistics.


I think Metrics are the worst things to happen to gaming.


Breaks everything down to numbers, without the benefit of reason.


So a football game wants to reach feature parody with Call of Duty... without the realization that theyre different ****in games.


"Call of Duty Numbers" is the be-all-end-all of the industry. And genre's other than realistic FPS's suffer.


Games like FTL (go to steam, look it up, BUY IT!!!!) suffer because corporate America wants the "design by numbers" bull****.


There were 4 designers on CCM... 3 of them competent. The incompetent one undid most of what we did and ****ed it all up.


Micah Brown is still there, still kicking ***, and appreciate that dude, because he'll move on to something FAR better eventually.


@Matt_Doza I'm glad to not be at EA. Very glad. The culture really sucked me dry. I found myself missing driving taxi, of all things.


@rudyjuly2 I am not willing to get into specific things like that. Looman works hard. I don't agree with many of his decisions. ( continued


@rudyjuly2 ... but he works hard for you guys. he does.


@rudyjuly2 @Bgamer90 That was SOO stupid. The NBA life team is SOO good. Like, really, really good.


@Bgamer90 @rudyjuly2 I do too. Most of the team that's making it agrees. So much to redo. The team wants greatness, they rare dedicated.


NBA Live is going to be AWESOME if the team that's making it is not interfered with. As long as the GAME people make the decisions.


That said, the moment "corporations" get involved, all bets are off.


@rudyjuly2 @Bgamer90 I ****ing know, right! NBA Live 10 was a HUGE step forward. Understandm the guys working on the game know that.


I'll be serious, I might be SERIOUSLY ****ing myself over just saying what I have. I don't want to screw whatever chance I have to...


.. remain in gaming... but I'm so frustrated right now, and YOU people get lied too so much, I kinda feel like I'll find something on Karma.


but seriously... don't trust EA. Not because they're bad. They do good by their people, really. But because they're robotic.


Paint by numbers. They see video games as a collection of features. They don't understand the artistic aspect of it.


And they NEVER ****ing will. EVER! Nor will any corporate entity.


I'm not going to sit here and dump on people who worked their asses off on CCM, no matter how much I dislike them. It's not their fault.
What do you all think? What do AJ's comments mean to you? Do they confirm anything? Do you think it's only half of the story? Sound off by commenting!
Comments
# 16 Joobieo @ Dec 3
Glad someone finally had enough guts to speak his mind .
 
# 17 tril @ Dec 4
sounds like he is just letting off steam. He really doesnt say much.
He sounds like a typical employee who's had enough. Its great that some people can just get up and quit a job without any worries.

Any how, there is a fine line between between corporate fiscal responisbilty and creativity. Its a delicate balance.
ONly thing I garee about is his comment about a company's responsibiolty to its shareholders. Its all about profit.

I need more details on the things that were taken out of the game. Other than that its just a former employee blowing off steam.
 
# 18 ggsimmonds @ Dec 4
Sounds like a disgruntled former employee to me.
 
# 19 kingsofthevalley @ Dec 4
I was wondering where this guy was. Folks from OS get hired at EA then disappear lol. I thought he would've been one of the guys that kept a bridge built between us with hints and updates as to what was going on with development. I personally never saw anything from him here after he was hired.
 
# 20 tarek @ Dec 4
I have been a 'disgruntled employee' and what I see in these comments echo the sentiments of alot of organisations which are concerns with working up and not down.
What I mean by that is that in certain organisations, at every level as you climb, the individuals or general consensus is to please your superior, in order to secure a promotion, a raise, or whatever incentive you desire. This is because the people below you really don't affect ANYTHING within the scope of your career progress.
It seems like this is the case at EA. Although he says they look after their people, it seems there are alot of 'games' being played in this organisation, at the detriment of quality and at the detriment of harnessing the great skill and talent that is available.

It is a total shame but not uncommon at all. Unfortunately there is little that can be done in this particular case as it seems the corporate culture of EA will not change. What can be done as a consumer is to move on and substitute the Madden product with another product, even if it is of a lesser quality. And ensure that you replace it with a product that is designed by an organisation that values the same things in games that YOU value in games.
 
# 21 1WEiRDguy @ Dec 4
LOVED EVERY WORD OF IT!!!
 
# 22 mdiggitydawg @ Dec 4
outstanding! This is exactly why games get released with tons of bugs having never really been tested and left for us to eat it. This is why I no long purchase on release day any more .
 
# 23 BigBlue @ Dec 4
I got my 'this is a business' lesson in sports videogaming when Take 2 came into picture with 2k sports. Little by little we saw QUALITY sports games disappear because it got too expensive to compete with the big boy (EA). We wouldn't be in the predicament that we're in today if there was still competition between multiple companies for our gaming dollar. Sad.
 
# 24 DR Russell @ Dec 4
love to hear these kind of comments, EA get it together. Let the artists create.
 
# 25 DaAceQB @ Dec 4
I agree with Valiantx I'm 39 and have been on these and other boards for years(under other tagged names due to lost pass words) and have played countless games even watch those turds at ea grow from a boutique company that listened to their customers to the greedy non concerned idiots they are today.I have gotten every ncaa game since the first Bill walsh college football and watch them trash the series the last four years.So all you non believers that just saying he is just disgruntle think about all the disgruntle customer over the years for madden,NCAA football,basketball and all their other college sports series,NBA live,NASCAR,wrestling series,MLB and any other sports related series.They ruined them all.Let someone else produce because Ea is not.
 
# 26 elgreazy1 @ Dec 4
I wish 2K or some other sports-game developer was snatching up these talented people who are leaving EA in droves.
 
# 27 iceberg760 @ Dec 4
wow....wow.....PERIOD.
 
# 28 onac22 @ Dec 4
Was playing cheap That Madden today and watched my own guy tackle me and fumble it. Then the next play Beanie Wells outran my whole team after my corner tripped my safety in the open field. Last video game I will ever buy they are no longer fun just aggravating. Thank You corporations for ruining something that was fun.
 
# 29 Valdarez @ Dec 4
AJ's a quality guy with a real passion for Madden. Very surprised to see he's moved on. Does not speak well for EASports that someone with his desire to create a quality gaming experience is no longer there.
 
# 30 ven0m43 @ Dec 5
I gave up on madden since the next gen. I have it second change a few years ago, and wont go back until it is fun to play again.

I once enjoyed playing multiple seasons and now I can't even play more than 5 games without clicking sim just so I can build my team and import my draft class (that doesnt work)
 

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