The big problems sports games are facing is the ol' fashioned 1year development cycle + the lack of innovation and improvement with regard to the precessedors. Lets face it: For a normal sports interested guy, that doesn't know every freaking detail of his sport, does NBA 2k10 play better than 2k9? Or Fifa 10 better than FIFa 09? No. If you don't know the nuences of the sport, sportvideogames have reached their peak. And this is what makes sales drop. Sport game developers need to change the way the product works. Maybe a 2year cycle would help. And for the season without a game, there would be DLC rosters for a fee. Thats imho the way sport games need to go.

Make games bi-annual to add development time and improve games, get rid of all exclusives (they suck). And to catch up for losses in profit (due to bi-annual releases instead of annual releases and the obvious risk in development cost) add more Downloadable content for dollars.

If you canīt accept paying for DLCs you can forget about bi-annual releases.

BTW, get rid of exclusives! Madden is stale and boring.

^agree minus the charge for roster updates were shelling out 60 bucks on a game that should have more then 4 months of play time on it....you know patch this a few months later patch that , i mean really .

PC games ten years ago used to make greater improvements from year to year. The graphics seemed noticeable better than the previous years versions, gameplay and AI tended to improve as well. With consoles, we started seeing developers locked into one engine/one set of graphics that was repeated year after year. Then exclusivity killed competition, massive layoffs made games buggier, and we are left with Next Gen consoles that don't live up to the hype of the megabuck corporations or fulfill the potential of the hardware. The Next Big Thing, with better chipsets and graphics capabilities, in a more useful configuration and sleeker form factor, could torpedo consoles in the not-to-distant future. Then, instead of playing sports games via electronics, we'll be back to watching the real world sports they are based on, feeling more satisfied and less ripped-off.

I think the model of business need to change. Sports games would be better if they went to a model like WoW. What I mean is pay a small amount for the package at the store and then a monthly fee. Instead of releasing new games each year, add continuous improvements instead. I think this would make better core games with better feature sets. It takes some of the yearly cycle pressures off the developer. They can focus on improving instead of trying to reinvent the wheel each year and having to crunch stuff because of time constrants.

I get the picture that companies may not be giving the developers enough resources on this gen. It seems like they are trying to make games like Madden with the same crew as last gen where it obviously take more resources. The games just don't usually seem as polished as other top titles and completely lack innovation. Sports games last gen seemed like they did a great job taking advantage of hardware capablities. This gen it is taking longer to figure it out. I think we are just finally turning the corner in developers unlocking the power of these machines in this gen. I think the new problem that will manifest is corporations are seeing sales decline so instead of making there products better they are going to try to hit up with the gimmick of recycling old stuff. (ie NBA Jam, Tecmo Bowl).

I think the biggest focus for sports games this gen should be delivering solid core game play and online franchies/modes. Look at MW2, no one is buying that game to play solo mode. It is a great multiplayer game. Developers need to look at the games and find ways to make them more fun/competitive. Take free agency in Madden, the way it is now is a chore. Imagine the drama of the Head Coach auction in Madden OF. There has to be tons of ways to take each aspect of the game and make it more interesting.

Sports games are losing their mojo and it's for two reasons: lack of competition and gamer indifference.

Twenty years ago, there were several games for each sport to choose from. Now that list is very slim. No competition = slower innovation. To many exclusive licenses (thanks EA). A little more than 10 years ago, EA had at least four other companies competiting with its Madden brand. Remember when 2K cut the price to like $20-$30 dollars and EA had to respond. NFL Gameday, made by Sony, forced Madden to incorporate polygon graphics and had them focusing more on the peripheral aspects of the game, i.e. stadium, cheerleaders, rumble, etc. There is no impetus for companies to stretch themselves to bring new technologies and ways to program a game because that costs too much money. Which leads me to my second point--gamer indifference.

Companies do not attempt bigger changes in their annual offerings because they know we will buy the game regardless. Today young gamers are so spoiled that they just want a pretty presentation, the hell with gameplay. So what do developers give us? They focus on the bells and whistles, i.e. jerseys blowing in the wind, sharper graphics, fans buying hotdogs in the stands, because it's an easy way to appease fans by marketing the cosmetic changes to the game as breakthroughs.

I'll go on record as say the best sports games were made in the 80's and 90's. Graphically, they can't hold a candle to today's games, but the gameplay does because it was about user skill and not cheese and glitches.

When companies start focusing on gameplay again (I agree MLB on PS3 is the best sports game out there--it's flawed but still a great game). They need to incorporate skill levels that the serious gamer can play without major slider tweaks and such, and can get a good game in. If that ever happens, sports games will be back in business.

No one is trying to revolutionize sports gaming anymore, they just take last years underachieving formula and add minor improvements.

There's no creativity anymore. I also wonder about the talent level of the developers. What we get are gradual reintroductions of features that we all used to love, yet arent implemented properly. This puzzles me, because games like Madden are still running off the same basic engine as 10+ yrs ago.

I like the decision that EA made with NBA Live..they completelly tore that game apart, and made a real effort to bring us something new and better. Thjey got destroyed for about 4 years trying it, but they were TRYING. The result is a game this year, that pushes NBA 2k for the first time in 5 years.

Madden is their prize pony, and they dont seem willing to take the same risks.

the lesson that i have learned is that i will not buy a ps4, or xbox 720 until it has been out for at least 4 years.