Pay to Play in Madden

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Certainly most people have seen what garbage EA is doing with battlefront 2 by now... (If not, check here for the most down voted post in Reddit history https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBat...ocked/dppum98/)...

My questions is, do you think EA will do this junk with Madden? Obviously MUT is built off of the pay to play model, but could this happen in CFM? With the direction EA is going I wouldn't be surprised to see us have to pay $25 to use a custom playbook, or $25 to run blitzes on defense, or $25 to change the quarter length and accelerated clock options... Really for EA nothing is out of the question at this point.

It would be a surprise to hear that they're NOT trying to find ways to incorporate microtransactions into CFM somehow at this point.

[Hooe]

There is no component of Madden which is pay-to-play (beyond the $60 entry fee) or pay-to-win.

The comparison to Battlefront 2 - a game which does have pay-to-win functionality) is off-base. The salary cap in MUT is a direct limit on whales buying their way to victory, and all of the cards from promotions may be earned from the challenges and events which are always free to play.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

There is no component of Madden which is pay-to-play (beyond the $60 entry fee) or pay-to-win. The comparison to Battlefront 2 - a game which does have pay-to-win functionality) is off-base. The salary cap in MUT is a direct limit on whales buying their way to victory, and all of the cards from promotions may be earned from the challenges and events which are always free to play.

Yes, but going forward with this precedent it is fair to expect EA to try to implement this. Obviously the team at Tiburon probably isn't going to want it just like DICE doubtfully wanted what they're dealing with, but EA makes those decisions and it is a bit worrisome to see how little they care about their customers. It would be very surprising to not see this model come to Madden in one way or another.

[SmashMan]

MUT has been around for seven (eight?) years now. I think if they were going to drastically change that model in an effort to milk more money out of people, they would've done it by now. Obviously their current model for MUT is very successful for them.

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

With the direction EA is going I wouldn't be surprised to see us have to pay $25 to use a custom playbook, or $25 to run blitzes on defense, or $25 to change the quarter length and accelerated clock options... Really for EA nothing is out of the question at this point.

This part, this is just hyperbolic. You could get the point across better without the Chicken Little stuff.

[3ShowTime2]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

or $25 to run blitzes on defense, or $25 to change the quarter length and accelerated clock options

Haha that would be a little too much, but im with you in general...Im pretty sure they will go the subscription based route within the next few years and it does not take too much creativity that they will try something like purchasable player attribute boosts in franchise modes as well, or maybe customs playbooks as you said.

Im 100% sure that it will still get worse, weve not seen the end. Sports games with all the modes still offer a lot possibilities for monetization and they will try to squeeze everything out of us...

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

Yes, but going forward with this precedent it is fair to expect EA to try to implement this. Obviously the team at Tiburon probably isn't going to want it just like DICE doubtfully wanted what they're dealing with, but EA makes those decisions and it is a bit worrisome to see how little they care about their customers. It would be very surprising to not see this model come to Madden in one way or another.

I don't think it is fair to expect it. The backlash EA has received from Battlefront II since that game was even in beta has been overwhelming.

In addition, I think it's pretty obvious that Madden is a very retention-focused game. There's always something to do in MUT, always something to win, always some carrot to chase which you don't have to pay money for. All the recent feature additions in Franchise have a retention focus as well. In addition, since both MUT and Franchise are competitive multiplayer modes (to the point where EA has been spear-heading their e-sports push with FIFA and Madden), adding pay-to-win would completely undermine that. Pay-to-win is terrible game design and EA has rightly been raked over the coals for adding that into Battlefront.

EA will always try to find ways to try and make more money, that's the nature of AAA game development, but they also realize they have an obligation to make a game we want to play and spend money in first and foremost.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I don't think it is fair to expect it. The backlash EA has received from Battlefront II since that game was even in beta has been overwhelming. In addition, I think it's pretty obvious that Madden is a very retention-focused game. There's always something to do in MUT, always something to win, always some carrot to chase which you don't have to pay money for. All the recent feature additions in Franchise have a retention focus as well. In addition, since both MUT and Franchise are competitive multiplayer modes (to the point where EA has been spear-heading their e-sports push with FIFA and Madden), adding pay-to-win would completely undermine that. Pay-to-win is terrible game design and EA has rightly been raked over the coals for adding that into Battlefront. EA will always try to find ways to try and make more money, that's the nature of AAA game development, but they also realize they have an obligation to make a game we want to play and spend money in first and foremost.

If EA learned their lesson from Battlefront 2 you'd think that they would change it instead of continually finding more ways to make it pay to win. Ideally it would be great if they changed based on the backlash to BF2, but it doesn't seem to be deterring them from trying to squeeze any penny they can out of their customers.

I don't see them prioritizing the gamer over their potential profit in that situation at all and that's a bit worrisome since they own the rights to the only football game and they make the best soccer game each year.

[fballturkey]

It would be extremely difficult to make a Pay to Play component of CFM, short of locking the whole thing behind a pay wall which I have complete confidence would tank sales irretrievably and be the literal End of Madden.

You could put in pay to win features and they have before. NCAA had them with advanced recruiting and progression and a few other things.

I don’t know how that would go over now. Battle lines have been drawn between the CFM and online/MUT crowds that would make there be far more noise if that were tried again. Imagine madden launching next year and for $10 you get more XP points per player and you can see who other teams are scouting. I don’t see that going over well and more importantly I don’t see them selling a lot of those, which is probably why it didn’t move over from NCAA in the first place.