Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

How long before the very people that openly despise the Madden franchise say they'll miss Ian?

About as long as it took for them to want David Ortiz back. I despise Madden, but I'm indifferent on Ian.

I personally think the bulk of Madden's troubles are caused from an expensive license eating into development funds and too much of the remaining funds getting diverted to casual friendly areas like Madden Ultimate Team and gameflow/plan. It doesn't matter who is in charge if the money for the game keeps getting allocated to areas like these.

[Lexicon]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

I personally think the bulk of Madden's troubles are caused from an expensive license eating into development funds and too much of the remaining funds getting diverted to casual friendly areas like Madden Ultimate Team and gameflow/plan. It doesn't matter who is in charge if the money for the game keeps getting allocated to areas like these.

Exactly. Peter Moore has the ultimate say.

[Dog]

My faith in Madden has all but evaporated

[Hooe]

I did find his removal of the "_ea" from his Twitter handle curious; he did this on April 1 though (IIRC) so I didn't make anything of it.

In any case: thank you, Ian, for taking the time to reach out to the Operation Sports community to get our feedback on the game, and also for your efforts towards making the Madden game what it is today. Best of luck to you wherever you're off to next.

[aTTckr]

Wow. I really didn't expect that. Thanks for the new vision you brought to Madden Ian. He proabably got frustrated with the garbage engine and the ea executives and understandably so.

Hope to hear soon from your new game.

[bigfnjoe96]

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

In any case: thank you, Ian, for taking the time to reach out to the Operation Sports community to get our feedback on the game, and also for your efforts towards making the Madden game what it is today. Best of luck to you wherever you're off to next.

x2. Be well Ian & don't be a stranger

[wheelman990]

It's really hard to say how the series will turn. Personally, I would like to see a entire new team and for Peter Moore and the gang to let the new team lead. Ya, they might make it a worse game....but IMO the games already ruined.

I think it needs a fresh feel. This is the 7th year on current gen(xbox 360 06,07,08,09,10,11 and now 12!). This game feels very stale. Even if the game was great(which it isn't) it would need new life just to feel fresh.

I would like to see EA get away from the arcade feel, and move to a annimation style more like 2k. I guess I am just wanting a more sim style game then EA currently offers.

[WakeUp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cre8

Who is stepping in?... That is the question. Is it too much to read into the format that these guys are going into (facebook mini-games) and wonder if that had anything to do with the product we have seen since Madden 09?

What's to wonder? Madden 11 dropped like 600K in units from the previous year and was never steady over the past few. I doubt this was a fully voluntary move, and the whole "he left for more money" angle is funny to me. If people think making Facebook games in a small startup with an uncertain future is going to make you more money any time soon than being a head dev at EA, then they'll believe anything. Remember the lack of enthusiasm (some could even consider rudeness) from him in the videos he was in for Madden 11? Something was up at that point. The writing was on the wall. Only thing that surprises me is that we're not hearing of other head guys there going too, but it may not be far off.

I can't say it bothers me one bit. Remember that this is the same guy that lashed out at the Youtube community saying that us finding and posting videos about the problems in Madden was an indication that we had no lives. Besides that being unprofessional, a good designer would realize that if we can see that many big problems at all it's an indication that your game is broken. Point blank, if every single lineman on a pass play can miss their primary assignment and allow rushers in free with out breathing on them, you have a broken game. That's not the communities fault and the communities aren't wrong for pointing it out.

I welcome change and more of it.
gl