Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon

[Tengo Juego]

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

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.

Hasn't it always just been @ian_cummings? And if he changed that, why not he rest of his profile info?

[FootballDetails]

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.

Excellent points. I completely agree.

[wheelman990]

I also think the new project leader should get paid off how well the game sells/review. Sad but true

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

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

I don't consider myself as openly despising the game, but had my run-ins with Ian once he became prominant with the series. I've never been an Ian-fan, but respected his willingness to engage the community even if it came off as over-hype a lot of the time. I don't see this as a huge loss, because the series has been in the "it's on the right track" phase since the Phil guy was lead. And truthfully none of them have introduced anything significant, from "Game that Adapts to You" years to Pro-Tak, which started out bad and was never cultivated. I guess the person that did Head Coach did some good things but I never played that game. It's great that Ian's gotten a better position to move onto, so congrats to him.

The series has long needed an MVP-like makeover, and fresh ideas/willingness to new approaches are needed. But still could be a situation where the marketing department wags the dog, and the game remains more hype than substance. Regardless, will be interesting to see going forward.

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tengo Juego

Hasn't it always just been @ian_cummings? And if he changed that, why not he rest of his profile info?

Nope, he was "@ian_cummings_ea". To the latter, only he knows.

[djordan]

OHH ISHH!!! Interesting...

[Brandwin]

Quote: Originally Posted by djordan

OHH ISHH!!! Man Madden is really done now. Ian was all about making the Madden Franchise better in terms of gameplay. Who the heck is going to take over now? WOW!!!

Overreacting much? Hopefully whoever steps in makes Madden
Better

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by djordan

OHH ISHH!!! Man Madden is really done now. Ian was all about making the Madden Franchise better in terms of gameplay. Who the heck is going to take over now? WOW!!!

I'm sure EA Tiburon can find a strong personality who is a natural leader and is passionate about football amongst their ranks. Game studios endure staff turnover all the time.

Call of Duty didn't stop because of the staff turnover at Infinity Ward, Tiburon will continue to truck along just fine, and Madden will continue becoming iteratively better with each passing year.