Madden NFL 17 Championship Recap

[Steve_OS]

Sixteen of the top Madden 17 players locked up in Burbank, CA this past weekend for their shot at $150,000, a title belt that would make The Rock blush and the right to call themselves Madden 17 Champion. Before the weekend was over, a total of $500,000 would be given away to the top-32 players.

Read More - Madden NFL 17 Championship Recap (Written by: Daniel Owens)

[jerwoods]

my main beef with this is why does both players have most of the same guys ie Rodgers bosa

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by jerwoods

my main beef with this is why does both players have most of the same guys ie Rodgers bosa

Because it is about stick skills more than front office skills so the idea is to allow duplicate players and the more skilled guy should win.

Personally my biggest beef with it all was the playstyle of the games. The first game I watched should have started with a 3 and out, but instead we had a failed 4th down attempt at a player's own 30 yard line that led to a score. A drive either ended in a turnover or points every series I watched. This is what the masses want I guess, but I would rather watch two guys play a simulation slugfest and punt 15 times than what I did witness.

[frostbyt]

Yes...play style is my biggest gripe. EA promotes playing this way even though this is not how typically it goes on Sundays. I get it...it's a game...but to play a football game without any of the normal strategies in a NFL game just irks me...that is why I choose not to watch or support these players.

[JayD]

I can't watch these types of games as it has hurt the sim aspect for the majority of sports gaming

[T4VERTS]

I see this a lot amongst the community ("I can't watch that game play") so my question then becomes who is watching? They are getting the ratings which means someone is tuning in. I would be curious how much market research they have done amongst their user base around who and how often they watch these events. I also wonder if the general "curiosity" will eventually die down, or if it is sustainable.

I am in the group that believes the push for Esports is a dangerous and short sighted pivot for EA. They could end up alienating their core users in an attempt to ride the "hot" trend. In the end what they could end up with is a game tailored for a competitive culture, but that group may have moved on to something else.

The other issue I see is they are actually hurting their own monopoly on the market as they push the competitive side. In the competitive realm they are stripping away what makes their license valuable, the qualities of the real players themselves. As they move to less rating and dice roll based outcomes, and they use similar rosters, they essentially are making the actual players irrelevant in favor of the users controlling them.

The issue with this is if they create a real demand for this type of play it is not unreasonable a competitor emerges to challenge them. Using generic players, they could provide a game better designed to capture user skill in a competitive football environment. Because the competitive teams are players from various NFL teams, the team licenses aren't important. Because the name on the jersey is the only thing differentiating guys as they make the ratings not matter, it would appear there could come a time that the players licenses aren't that important.

I could see a day where they create the market for football as an Esport, but they aren't necessarily the game used for it. This is me just hypothesizing, but I really question if they have thought through what they may be doing long term.

[OhMrHanky]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

I see this a lot amongst the community ("I can't watch that game play") so my question then becomes who is watching? They are getting the ratings which means someone is tuning in. I would be curious how much market research they have done amongst their user base around who and how often they watch these events. I also wonder if the general "curiosity" will eventually die down, or if it is sustainable. I am in the group that believes the push for Esports is a dangerous and short sighted pivot for EA. They could end up alienating their core users in an attempt to ride the "hot" trend. In the end what they could end up with is a game tailored for a competitive culture, but that group may have moved on to something else. The other issue I see is they are actually hurting their own monopoly on the market as they push the competitive side. In the competitive realm they are stripping away what makes their license valuable, the qualities of the real players themselves. As they move to less rating and dice roll based outcomes, and they use similar rosters, they essentially are making the actual players irrelevant in favor of the users controlling them. The issue with this is if they create a real demand for this type of play it is not unreasonable a competitor emerges to challenge them. Using generic players, they could provide a game better designed to capture user skill in a competitive football environment. Because the competitive teams are players from various NFL teams, the team licenses aren't important. Because the name on the jersey is the only thing differentiating guys as they make the ratings not matter, it would appear there could come a time that the players licenses aren't that important. I could see a day where they create the market for football as an Esport, but they aren't necessarily the game used for it. This is me just hypothesizing, but I really question if they have thought through what they may be doing long term.

This is kind of thought provoking, actually. But, I think, in the end, for another company to spend the resources and development effort for a brand new football game for esports only without NFL players, I just don't think it would pay off for them. I mean, what, 3 years for the first game? As much as people have talked about monopoly, no monopoly, etc, etc, I, personally believe no football game would make it without NFL players. Ultimately, that's the point of the game, replicating football with the actual players in the NFL. Now that madden is splitting game styles, I'm hopeful the sim will continue to be solid, and the comp style will appease the esports crowd. It would be very interesting, though, if someone did do this, however, and created an amazing football sim out of the box with real physics, ball flight, etc. To see how it would compete with esports and/or sim crowd. If it had customizable rosters, I'm sure some people here would be all over it. Lol. And/or, if they created an option to download rosters and people on the internet maintained generic teams based on NFL (whatever they need to do to not be sued. Lol. [emoji6]), that could be the end of madden. But, again, and this is my personal opinion, the NFL license is a big deal. I don't just want to play football. I want to play football with my dirty birds, and that's it. Or, I want to play with the 85 Bears or something. Just playing 'football' doesn't really do it.


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[T4VERTS]

Quote: Originally Posted by OhMrHanky

This is kind of thought provoking, actually. But, I think, in the end, for another company to spend the resources and development effort for a brand new football game for esports only without NFL players, I just don't think it would pay off for them. I mean, what, 3 years for the first game? As much as people have talked about monopoly, no monopoly, etc, etc, I, personally believe no football game would make it without NFL players. Ultimately, that's the point of the game, replicating football with the actual players in the NFL. Now that madden is splitting game styles, I'm hopeful the sim will continue to be solid, and the comp style will appease the esports crowd. It would be very interesting, though, if someone did do this, however, and created an amazing football sim out of the box with real physics, ball flight, etc. To see how it would compete with esports and/or sim crowd. If it had customizable rosters, I'm sure some people here would be all over it. Lol. And/or, if they created an option to download rosters and people on the internet maintained generic teams based on NFL (whatever they need to do to not be sued. Lol. [emoji6]), that could be the end of madden. But, again, and this is my personal opinion, the NFL license is a big deal. I don't just want to play football. I want to play football with my dirty birds, and that's it. Or, I want to play with the 85 Bears or something. Just playing 'football' doesn't really do it.

I think it could be done by using historical players to give it a "real" feel. Those players should own their own rights (like Montana) but maybe can't be associated with a team they played for. Call it "legends of the gridiron" and you need maybe 10 guys per position that guys can choose form when assembling their teams, because EA is already making ratings not matter in competitive it would be easy. As for wanting to replicate what they see, that is true in some modes, but I don't believe it to be true in competitive as seen by their play style. They want to win over everything and a competitor could produce that.

If a new game came out that was really built around user skill and offered large cash prizes year one out of the gate you would capture a share from the jump. Those guys who play both games competitively would be your best promoters.