Josh Looman Leaving Madden Team, After 17 Years - Creator of Franchise Mode, MUT, NFL Head Coach 09 & More

[Hassan Darkside]

Josh Looman, the man that created NFL Head Coach 09, along with quite a few features...

Written By: Steve Noah

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[alifeincomplete]

Oh that's heartbreaking, but I wish him the best. I fear that it does not bode well for the future of franchise mode.

[bigd51]

"it's not possible to work 80-90 hour weeks with a group of people and not form the strongest of bonds with them"

"walking out a wiser old man that's been through more than enough development wars"

"At some point, we all wake up from the dream"

"One that has the potential to make a huge impact on the game industry, and at the same time, allow me to spend more time with my wife and kids"

That's a hell of a lot of shade he's throwing at EA there lol

Good for him. Best of luck to him, his family, and their future.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Quote: Originally Posted by alifeincomplete

Oh that's heartbreaking, but I wish him the best. I fear that it does not bode well for the future of franchise mode.

He worked 80-90 hour weeks and franchise barely changes so I highly doubt he was working on franchise. If he was then EA must have been having a lot of memory issues where his work wasn't getting saved.


Would love for someone like that to write a book with stories. That many years he has seen some crazy stuff go down.

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigd51

That's a hell of a lot of shade he's throwing at EA there lol

That's how the AAA video game industry works; that backbreaking laborious circumstance isn't unique to EA Tiburon. Not that it's not problematic - it most certainly is - but the work-life balance problem only solves itself entirely by leaving the video game industry outright. I'm sure Josh, who certainly has plenty of industry connections outside of Tiburon, would be the first to tell you this.

That aside, congratulations to Josh on those seventeen years and thanks for his work on Madden, a lot of the stuff he worked on is stuff I have enjoyed in the game the most. I also wish him the best of luck wherever he's going next. The AAA video game industry is a bit of a hellscape right now, and I do kinda envy that he's has the energy (possibly also the insanity? lol) to continue to stay in it after all this time.

[bigd51]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

That's how the AAA video game industry works; that backbreaking laborious circumstance isn't unique to EA Tiburon. Not that it's not problematic - it most certainly is - but the work-life balance problem only solves itself entirely by leaving the video game industry outright. I'm sure Josh, who certainly has plenty of industry connections outside of Tiburon, would be the first to tell you this. That aside, congratulations to Josh on those seventeen years and thanks for his work on Madden, a lot of the stuff he worked on is stuff I have enjoyed in the game the most. I also wish him the best of luck wherever he's going next. The AAA video game industry is a bit of a hellscape right now, and I do kinda envy that he's has the energy (possibly also the insanity? lol) to continue to stay in it after all this time.

Yeah, I get that. Hell, you hear stories all the time from Tell/Tale to Rockstar about the brutal work hours, so I know it's not exclusive to Tiburon.

I was more looking at all of his comments put together. "Development wars", "we all wake up from the dream"... especially the "make a huge impact on the game industry" one is what struck me the most because if we're being honest, EA -- not just EA Sports, but EA as a whole -- hasn't made a huge impact on the gaming industry in a long time. At least, not in the way I consider making an impact on the gaming industry like games such as God of War, Red Dead, and The Last of Us.

It's one thing to work 80-90 hour weeks on a game like those three and get universal acclaim for all the hard work you put into it... but it's a whole other let down when you put in all that hard work for a game that gets universally panned year in and year out because the suits up top refuse to get out of their own ways.

Which is why I wish him the best. Hopefully, whatever joy he lost slaving over Madden, he can rediscover somewhere else in the industry.

[CPowell007]

It’s not a coincidence that everyone is leaving that’s been working on Madden. Your product stinks. What happen to the madden that you use to have radio shows play in the background in the franchise mode menu, training camps, Chris Colinsworth show track(or whatever that feature is called) fight for the fumble. They have scrapped good things about the game I mean hell the challenge system has been broke for decades in franchise when you look at team rankings they don’t even list team seeds they FREAKIN LIST OVERALL TEAM RANKING!!!!!! This product is broke and stupid me still buys the product PRAYING they get there heads out there a** and listen to the fans. I live and die by franchise I’m sorry I hate ultimate team and always will just not my thing and just pray one year that they basically steal my money I actually will be surprised and go back to the days of PS1 and PS2 days. Sorry for my rant but the good people like Josh who care about the game are leaving cause the company does not give A rats you know what about the fans just that money. #SELLTO2K

[ChaseB]

(Fight for the fumble was a bad gameplay feature)