Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

ONLINE franchise man. And the thing is, unless you're part of a sports message board, can you imagine how hard it is logistically to get 31 of your closest classmates together to schedule an ONLINE franchise. The CPU would take over for any teams not user controlled, but still. And those same 31 people would have to have madden. I can't believe Ian didn't know it wasn't going to be used by most of his install base. Unless they move SINGLE PLAYER franchises online...he won't see more use. People are way too busy in many cases.

But I thought they were rebuilding franchise mode and it would be the same both online and offline like ncaa.
This is what Phil said in his franchise blog and it says something very different to Ian.

Quote:

Last year we delivered Online Franchise and while it was received very well by community and press, the usage was among the lowest for any of our gameplay modes. What this said to us was that Franchise mode as whole needed more than just a new access point, it needed a complete refresh.

I don't actually care about online franchise but I just don't think they are gonna bother with offline franchise if they aren't touching online aswell.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

ONLINE franchise man. And the thing is, unless you're part of a sports message board, can you imagine how hard it is logistically to get 31 of your closest classmates together to schedule an ONLINE franchise. The CPU would take over for any teams not user controlled, but still. And those same 31 people would have to have madden. I can't believe Ian didn't know it wasn't going to be used by most of his install base. Unless they move SINGLE PLAYER franchises online...he won't see more use. People are way too busy in many cases.

You are basically taking how you feel and making it a blanket statement. You have no idea how many people run online leagues for madden. A lot of the same folks had those leagues, but didn't use the online franchise. They did it better themselves. That's why the usage was low. They already had a system in place to handle all of the things that online franchise was lacking. They already had a better web site and better, more accurate stat tracking.

As for availability, in 2004, I played in an online league in 2k5. Actually, several. Some of them had up to 29 guys in it. We played over 10 seasons in each league and it was the greatest thing I've ever been a part of in video games. It was incredible. The online league feature was great. Full web site support, an awesome web integration with news stories, full customization of your league site, ESPN style stats that looked exactly like the REAL NFL stat pages, league leaders, MVP winners, you name it. A very "polished" feature. Yes, I use that word alot. I think online franchise is a great, great idea. However, they need to build on it and make it usable so that people use it. If their current system is easier, they aren't going to make the switch.

[Danimal]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

I think what it points to is that the majority of franchise players are offline guys.....myself included. I play nothing but franchise mode, and I absolutely despise playing online.....unless I know the other guy.

Totally disagree.

I ran a franchise and we got through 3 seasons. Had plenty of owners, the biggest issues besides the obvious having to make house rules for player movement was the lack of CPU sliders and that the CPU didn't fill it's roster correctly between seasons.

Imagine as commish having to develop rules for free agency to stimulate player movement (today's NFL is all about FA and player movement) and then having to go and fix every CPU team post draft to make sure they were carrying enough QB's, CB's etc just to make them competent.

You can't expect people to fill up a 32 team franchise, but you also gave the guys running OF with 10-15 people no incentive with no sliders and an incompetent cpu off season.

I'm really disappointed in the logic as well. They launch it, tell everyone it isn't complete and that they will patch things in on the server. We have tons of people here who won't start their offline franchise to patches and roster are final. So to use the logic that most didn't complete a season is a bit skewed because they eluded to fixes that never came.

Regardless I've finally realized there is nothing I can do about this, initially my group was really upset but when thinking about the fun we had last year we're going to give it a go with M11 and jump through all the same hoops. I don't agree with their logic, but it is their logic.

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

You are basically taking how you feel and making it a blanket statement. You have no idea how many people run online leagues for madden. A lot of the same folks had those leagues, but didn't use the online franchise. They did it better themselves. That's why the usage was low. They already had a system in place to handle all of the things that online franchise was lacking. They already had a better web site and better, more accurate stat tracking. As for availability, in 2004, I played in an online league in 2k5. Actually, several. Some of them had up to 29 guys in it. We played over 10 seasons in each league and it was the greatest thing I've ever been a part of in video games. It was incredible. The online league feature was great. Full web site support, an awesome web integration with news stories, full customization of your league site, ESPN style stats that looked exactly like the REAL NFL stat pages, league leaders, MVP winners, you name it. A very "polished" feature. Yes, I use that word alot. I think online franchise is a great, great idea. However, they need to build on it and make it usable so that people use it. If their current system is easier, they aren't going to make the switch.

You have a point...but look at Ian's comments about what percentage of the install base even TRIES to play a game online, vs. who downloads patches, etc....online games ranked/unranked/tournaments/against my dead mom/franchises, just aren't where the majority of games are played. My point really is simply that online franchise being left alone, doesn't mean that offline is being screwed , too. (although this year that's the case). The minute offline franchise gets limited , etc. I think they'll see a lot of people not buy the game. I think most people like playing through their team's schedule at will

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by Danimal

I don't know where anyone was promised a franchise mode in M12. People are taking the posting by Phil in the way they want to hear it. All he said is they looked at it and it was going to take more then a year to fix.

After reading his blog again you are right he alway say future not Madden12 but I would think most people who read the full blog get the impression of a new franchise mode in M12. Well thats not too bad after only 6 years of bad franchise mode I will get a great new one in the future.

Quote:

We feel great about where we’ve taken the foundation of Madden NFL and are ready to refocus on building Franchise and SuperStar from the ground up. We have already assembled a team fully dedicated on setting the vision for what Franchise and SuperStar modes can and should be in the future. Since we are starting with a clean canvas heading into Madden NFL 12, we want the community to help us shape our direction- starting NOW. Let us know what you’d like to see in Madden career modes in the future. We’re not just looking for small add-ons either. We want your big ideas. What would revolutionize career modes in your opinion?

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by Danimal

Totally disagree. Regardless I've finally realized there is nothing I can do about this, initially my group was really upset but when thinking about the fun we had last year we're going to give it a go with M11 and jump through all the same hoops. I don't agree with their logic, but it is their logic.

I think a single season online franchise would be a lot of fun,...but over multiple may not be.

[Palo20]

Are 3 on 3 and Madden Ultimate Team expected to be more popular than online franchise? I just don't see it.

Also, I think it's harder to get 3 friends together at one time to play online than it is to get a decent amount of people for online franchise.

[Stikskillz]

What I find funny about Ian's response is that if EA kept the EA Locker for spawning games (Old-Gen online franchise) no one would have to worry about the current state of online franchise. That system was close to perfect because each user could do everything offline for their franchise and then merge and share the franchise through the EA locker and play all of the games. The only flaw with it was that sometimes the EA Locker would not work, but that was rare. With that system me and a buddy completed 30 seasons multiple times. Sure we only played a few regular season games and all of the playoff games, but everything worked well because all of the features were included along with Owner Mode. It was great and we looked forward to it every year. Now, not so much.

I have posted on the EA Locker feature in the past as far as it making a return on the new consoles. However, it appears to be an illogical request.