Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

[Steve_OS]

Let's travel way back to November 22, 2005. This was the day the Xbox 360 launched...

Written By: Phil Varckette

Click here to view the article.

[hyacinth1]

When people asked EA if the trailer was how the 'real' gameplay would look, they doubled down and said 'it would look better'!

[misterkrabz2]

I have little to no faith EA will do anything different with the Madden franchise. It'll be the exact same game and play exactly the same but with better graphics.*

[canes21]

These new consoles would have been a fine time to rebuild the game for the new generation. The game isn't at a place where even the die hard fans would be completely against a rebuild. It is about universally accepted at this point that Madden now is now as good relative to its time as Madden was when the 360 and PS3 were coming. Many still consider Madden 05 to 08 on the PS2 the best games in the series.

Tiburon is way too scared to ever rebuild again, it seems. madden 06 remains fresh in every football gaming fan's mind to this day if they were there for it. That said, Madden has continued to be the slowest advancing game between the big 3, NBA 2k, MLB The Show, and Madden. It seems for awhile there, annually we were told by devs that the foundation of the game was too much of a mess for them to really make the progress they wanted. We have been told by ex-employees that things have basically not changed from what was mentioned in this article. Leadership still struggles to efficiently lead teams, there is a giant disconnect between the executives and the workers doing the actual work.

This new generation was the perfect opportunity to rebuild. Yet, Madden is going to just port over what we have now and it's hard to imagine things being much different for the series moving forward. Technology has not been the limiting factor for the series, at least not the hardware of the consoles. There have been internal issues. We've heard the stories of how EA developers have called working with Frostbite a nightmare, yet the executives demand all games be built on the engine.

Madden is not a terrible game at this point. It's an okay game with plenty of pros and cons, but it needs a fresh start. The series has been stuck in the mud for too long. 2k is rebuilding their game. They did the same thing this past generation as well and now they have a game that is 10x deeper than Madden and is generally considered the better game. Their rebuild paid off and their game actually has seemed to hit a wall due to the limitations of the consoles this generation, so they went and decided to rebuild the game once again for the new gen.

Madden needed that as well. It needed to be built with this generation being the focus. It needed to be built on a foundation that allowed them to actually make significant progress each cycle. Instead, we're getting the same complacent game on the new consoles that are significantly stronger.

Maybe this gen will be different, but I will not hold my breath. The consoles and their hardware have not been what has limited this series. It's the disconnect inside of Tiburon and the lack of a solid plan that has caused the series to seemingly add things at random and never build anything up. One year the focus is on X, the next on Y. Madden never builds anything up over multiple cycles and it shows how short-term the vision constantly is with the game.

[Pray_iv_m3rcy]

Youd be a fool to expect more from EA Tiburon at this point. I expect the bare minimum in upgrades in next gen. Same game but better lighting and textures.

[callmetaternuts]

#FixMaddenFranchise

We’re waiting.



Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

These new consoles would have been a fine time to rebuild the game for the new generation. The game isn't at a place where even the die hard fans would be completely against a rebuild. It is about universally accepted at this point that Madden now is now as good relative to its time as Madden was when the 360 and PS3 were coming. Many still consider Madden 05 to 08 on the PS2 the best games in the series. Tiburon is way too scared to ever rebuild again, it seems. madden 06 remains fresh in every football gaming fan's mind to this day if they were there for it. That said, Madden has continued to be the slowest advancing game between the big 3, NBA 2k, MLB The Show, and Madden. It seems for awhile there, annually we were told by devs that the foundation of the game was too much of a mess for them to really make the progress they wanted. We have been told by ex-employees that things have basically not changed from what was mentioned in this article. Leadership still struggles to efficiently lead teams, there is a giant disconnect between the executives and the workers doing the actual work. This new generation was the perfect opportunity to rebuild. Yet, Madden is going to just port over what we have now and it's hard to imagine things being much different for the series moving forward. Technology has not been the limiting factor for the series, at least not the hardware of the consoles. There have been internal issues. We've heard the stories of how EA developers have called working with Frostbite a nightmare, yet the executives demand all games be built on the engine. Madden is not a terrible game at this point. It's an okay game with plenty of pros and cons, but it needs a fresh start. The series has been stuck in the mud for too long. 2k is rebuilding their game. They did the same thing this past generation as well and now they have a game that is 10x deeper than Madden and is generally considered the better game. Their rebuild paid off and their game actually has seemed to hit a wall due to the limitations of the consoles this generation, so they went and decided to rebuild the game once again for the new gen. Madden needed that as well. It needed to be built with this generation being the focus. It needed to be built on a foundation that allowed them to actually make significant progress each cycle. Instead, we're getting the same complacent game on the new consoles that are significantly stronger. Maybe this gen will be different, but I will not hold my breath. The consoles and their hardware have not been what has limited this series. It's the disconnect inside of Tiburon and the lack of a solid plan that has caused the series to seemingly add things at random and never build anything up. One year the focus is on X, the next on Y. Madden never builds anything up over multiple cycles and it shows how short-term the vision constantly is with the game.

While I understand your rationale, I think the reality is if they did "rebuild" it's hard to encapsulate what that means in a sport game coming out every year. It's near impossible to do something like that in a year, and if it was bereft of features and gameplay elements because they wanted to go back to basics, there's just about zero chance folks end up cool with that.

[bucky60]

Well, they have the license for like the next 5ish years. So they can make the same mistakes.