Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[TotesMaGotes]

I read the topic title as "Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Crappy Games."

[cdon2k]

Finally EA is getting it where it hurts after riding loyal football fans for years while using this title to finance their takeover of the world. We got poor editions of Madden while they bought the game industry and financed games like mirrors edge which sold like crap. Karma!

[ScottGer76]

It's not suprising really. Games in Canada are priced at 69.99, for essentially a roster update with a few gimmicks thrown in. Over the past 4 years EA have continually released sub-standard football and soccer games that are buggy and flat. Without a competitor in the sports game market why should they change?

[MidnightPyro]

I bought Madden 10 on pre-order, and I actually enjoyed it. Until I won a few superbowls in my first few seasons with the Bengals, and it just became too easy to sign quality players in the offseason. I had 3 star running backs signed for cheap. Simply put, year after year, franchise mode just seems much too easy to create a dynasty without trying.

I have a bit of a laundry list of franchise gripes that never seem to be fixed. And this year, looking at the new features of Madden is a yawner. There's some tweaks and gameplay changes. There's nothing I see that warrants $60. Will I buy it off eBay at some point if it's available cheaply and give it a shot? Maybe. But this year I think I'm going from NCAA 11, which I am enjoying quite a bit, to Fifa in September. I imagine there's quite a few people out there like me who just weren't excited about this years Madden. Without the excitement, sales figures drop.

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Only1LT

Psychic DBs and Synchronized Route Running, was absolutely, unequivocally on last gen. Not even a maybe.

from later on in the thread...


I still play Madden 08 on the PC, which is based on the last gen version of the hardware, and the dbs do not run routes before the receivers like they do in the current incarnations of the game. What is happening now is primarily because the wr route running animations were changed to make their feet chop more at the point of the cut, while the dbs footwork and locomotion have remained basically the same. This causes the db to move faster than the wr, and therefore run the route ahead of the wr. That did not happen in last gen Madden/NCAA (especially not in the 2001 Madden/2002 NCAA, which were notorious for bad db AI play). It's certainly possible that we misunderstand each other on this point, but I'm specifically talking about that issue. If that's not what you are talking about, then I apologize.

[debauchlord]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

from later on in the thread...

You might be a fan boy, but at least your arguments are valid and dare I say, sane. Rare in this day and age.

The two major problems afflicting the Madden series (as I see it):
1. One year "development" cycle. One year is not enough for development. What you can get out of one year is graphical fixes, bug fixes, slight modifications...basically fill the holes and apply a fresh coat of paint. The problem is, you NEED to make it "seem" new (see problem 2), which is where you get 3/4 thought-out "gimmicks".
2. Madden, because of its license, needs to be EVERYTHING to EVERYONE. We could argue for days but, as someone said, ask 100 people and you will get 100 answers. Madden needs sliders, not because the game out of the box is bad, but because YOU think it is bad. Because Madden needs to be everything, it HAS to cater to the LCD (lowest common denominator); that is harsh, but it is the fact. BUT simply because it caters to the LCD, it fails as a yearly game (see problem 1), because your majority LCD do not purchase the same game yearly (or what is perceived as the same game).

It is a terrifying, cyclical conundrum.

Also notice, I did not add the daily "no competition" debate into the mix, because, honestly, that is not Madden's singular problem right now. I've said this before but just having competition in the marketplace does not guarantee a better product. You can imagine that it does, but what it can also do is produce milquetoast programming where the better marketing strategy wins.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

from later on in the thread... I still play Madden 08 on the PC, which is based on the last gen version of the hardware, and the dbs do not run routes before the receivers like they do in the current incarnations of the game. What is happening now is primarily because the wr route running animations were changed to make their feet chop more at the point of the cut, while the dbs footwork and locomotion have remained basically the same. This causes the db to move faster than the wr, and therefore run the route ahead of the wr. That did not happen in last gen Madden/NCAA (especially not in the 2001 Madden/2002 NCAA, which were notorious for bad db AI play). It's certainly possible that we misunderstand each other on this point, but I'm specifically talking about that issue. If that's not what you are talking about, then I apologize.

Ok. That's great lol.

You posted that YOU don't see any psychic DBs or synchronized route running in Madden 08 PC. I am posting that I HAVE seen these things in Madden on the PS2 for at least MOST of this past decade. I have been talking about those very same issues, and coined those phrases on boards, LONG before I ever heard of OS Sports, and LONG before the PS3 was invented.

Maybe you don't know what I mean by psychic DBs or synchronized route running. Maybe we are misunderstanding each other. Or maybe you know exactly what I mean by those terms, and there is no misunderstanding, and you just don't agree.

If it's one of the first two, then I would be happy to go more in depth to explain. If it's the third one, then I don't know what else to say other than, if you say so I guess.

[beastwork]

there's nothing wrong with a game being published every year. consumers just shouldn't buy it every year. EA needs to do a better job of implementing meaningful and substantive updates, with excellence. throwing in some sloppy code that turns people off is not the way to go.

I enjoy football gaming but, this year my girl will get more QT, my guitar playing will improve, and my netflix subscription will be working over time. thanks EA for the extra free time lol