Madden 12 News Post

Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon

03:05 PM - April 12, 2011 by Benicio10

According to PastaPadre, Ian Cummings, Creative Director of the Madden franchise, is leaving Tiburon.

He also states there are quite a few other big names going with him.

What do you think about this news?

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Member Comments

# 181 kingkilla56 @ 04/13/11 03:12 AM

NCAA guy anyway. Not a big deal imo. First time in 7 years I didnt buy madden. Bout to make it a second straight.

# 182 delija66 @ 04/13/11 03:15 AM

Good news...

# 183 JB0B0 @ 04/13/11 03:43 AM

I commend Ian and co. for their efforts but I think we can all agree that Madden needs an infusion of new blood. Simply put, Madden was falling below our expectations and maybe a change in personnel can bring improvements. We'll see.

# 184 RedZoneD25 @ 04/13/11 03:59 AM

Guys, this is your only warning. You're allowed to not like the direction of Madden, but express it in a mature manner (ie no name calling, bashing or blind hate comments) or there will be consequences.

# 185 packers718 @ 04/13/11 04:13 AM

good news madden been the same game for the past 3 years thats enough time for him and his crew to change it they've fixed things that should have been fixed in each installment or shouldnt have to been fixed. I'm sure a change of leadership and crew should help this game get back on track

# 186 Hooe @ 04/13/11 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by packers718


	madden been the same game for the past 3 years

That's quite literally not true, speaking as someone who tolerated M09, loved M10, and liked M11
It's an annual video game series centered around American football; the sport doesn't exactly evolve from year to year, just what are your expectations?

# 187 RedZoneD25 @ 04/13/11 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHooe


	That's quite literally not true, speaking as someone who tolerated M09, loved M10, and liked M11 It's an annual video game series centered around American football; the sport doesn't exactly evolve from year to year, just what are your expectations?

We meet again, lol

The intricacies of the sport have not been tapped into yet. It's not so much the actual game of football where the issue lies. It's that the offline modes offer minimal replay value. Sure, the NFL is the NFL. That's a given. Personally speaking, I love Madden football. I do. I have played and bought every game since I was old enough to afford my own copy. That said, the effort on keeping the player interested off the field was minimal at best in Madden 11. Unless I like collecting virtual cards, there wasn't too much for me (not bashing those who enjoy MUT, just not my cup of tea). I want nothing more than Madden to be the king of sports games again, because the NFL is my bread and butter.

Unfortunately, this year is a bad example. There is no offseason. Any other year, this is my favorite time of the year. More than kickoff weekend, more than the Super Bowl, more than the December push for the playoffs. I live and breathe free agency and the NFL Draft. I'd love to see more emphasis put on these parts of the season in Madden. These two events shape the entire next season, and there are no pads involved.

# 188 maddenps2 @ 04/13/11 04:40 AM

Hmm surprising news. I appreciate Ian's efforts, though I never bought a next gen Madden. It will be interesting if this affects madden at all, and if it's in a good or bad way.

# 189 cgalligan @ 04/13/11 08:36 AM

Whats up with all the LOVE for Ian? Before he left everyone was bitching about him and his staff, now that he's gone people are wishing him "best of luck buddy"???

I'm honestly happy he and his staff is gone. Maybe we will FINALLY get some substance with this damn game. Bring back the crew from Madden 04 on PS2!!!

# 190 spankdatazz22 @ 04/13/11 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgalligan


	I'm honestly happy he and his staff is gone. Maybe we will FINALLY get some substance with this damn game. Bring back the crew from Madden 04 on PS2!!!

Substance in M04 when they tailored the gameplay around Michael Vick? When people regularly scored 70+pts a game in 5min quarters? Even John Madden himself commented about his concerns of what the game had become then. Or M05, when Tiburon over-compensated and had linebackers and dbs jumping out of shoes and socks to intercept and knock passes down to keep the scores down? Fun games, but they were way out of whack in terms of balance. Madden has had issues for a while now.

# 191 Hooe @ 04/13/11 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cre8


	Looman is out too? Didn't know that was confirmed... That is terrible news for Offline Franchise Mode fans.

That's never been said anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgalligan


	Whats up with all the LOVE for Ian? Before he left everyone was bitching about him and his staff, now that he's gone people are wishing him "best of luck buddy"??? I'm honestly happy he and his staff is gone. Maybe we will FINALLY get some substance with this damn game. Bring back the crew from Madden 04 on PS2!!!

General decency be damned.

# 192 Hooe @ 04/13/11 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTFitsDaveyJ


	The intricacies of the sport have not been tapped into yet. It's not so much the actual game of football where the issue lies. It's that the offline modes offer minimal replay value.

This much I agree with, as we've been over before, and I think that it's important that future Madden games improve in this department. The assertion that Madden has not changed in three years, which I was responding to, is wholly false, however. Even Franchise mode has been touched and improved over the past three years, albeit minimally.

# 193 STLRams @ 04/13/11 09:39 AM

Been reading through this thread, I guess I will chime in. Im kind of not surprised he is leaving, it does seem like something odd has been going on at EA sports. He seemed excited about Madden10 but not so much for Madden 11 and even so far with Madden12 things had been kind of quite from Ian. We don't know the true reason he left so all we can do is speculate. I don't think Madden12 will be that great but it is premature of me to say that because its still early and the game isn't out yet. As for the future of Madden, im afraid. Im afraid the things we have been begging for from the past 6 years will still not be implemented in the game. The whole MikeWang/EA NBA Live thing is a example of sometimes is not the devs fault when the game isn't SIM and the devs hands are tied. Could be the same thing here happening with Madden12. But this is why it really really bothers me there isn't atleast one or two other NFL games us as consumers can purchase and have the option of playing. Fellas all we can do is hope that EA tries to take Madden in a new and better direction, but I will say that if Madden 12 doesn't seem upto par I cannot purchase it, same for Madden 13 and so on. I really hope the game is good, but with us seeing news like this about one of the main devs leaving and possibly others, it begs to ask the question, what is going on with EA Sports/Madden?

# 194 ABR173rd @ 04/13/11 09:40 AM

WOW.......I figured by the wording of pasta's original message it would be bad but wow........

# 195 ch46647 @ 04/13/11 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLRams


	Been reading through this thread, I guess I will chime in. Im kind of not surprised he is leaving, it does seem like something odd has been going on at EA sports. He seemed excited about Madden10 but not so much for Madden 11 and even so far with Madden12 things had been kind of quite from Ian. We don't know the true reason he left so all we can do is speculate. I don't think Madden12 will be that great but it is premature of me to say that because its still early and the game isn't out yet. As for the future of Madden, im afraid. Im afraid the things we have been begging for from the past 6 years will still not be implemented in the game. The whole MikeWang/EA NBA Live thing is a example of sometimes is not the devs fault when the game isn't SIM and the devs hands are tied. Could be the same thing here happening with Madden12. But this is why it really really bothers me there isn't atleast one or two other NFL games us as consumers can purchase and have the option of playing. Fellas all we can do is hope that EA tries to take Madden in a new and better direction, but I will say that if Madden 12 doesn't seem upto par I cannot purchase it, same for Madden 13 and so on. I really hope the game is good, but with us seeing news like this about one of the main devs leaving and possibly others, it begs to ask the question, what is going on with EA Sports/Madden?

Co-Sign. Great post!

# 196 SteelerSpartan @ 04/13/11 10:06 AM

Well it kind of makes sense....those early dev team vids last year where most of the staff looked like they were being tortured were an indicator it seems....

Im curious to see how much more a dominant presence all that "Online Milk-It"..."Lets take advantage of the consumer" approach gets now within the game

Im getting sick of seeing Madden devs tweet/pimp about MUT stuff all the time

# 197 Hooe @ 04/13/11 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cre8


	I was referring to the comment I was quoting when he said "...and his staff..."

Understood, however there has been nothing mentioned of any specific person other than Ian Cummings leaving EA Tiburon so I wanted to nip that in the bud before it gained any traction.

# 198 chrisphil1724 @ 04/13/11 10:37 AM

I'm very happy to hear this. I feel this job was more then Ian Cummings could handle. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy but the series has been going sideway at best since he took over.

# 199 Hooe @ 04/13/11 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pasgedden


	Mark my words people... THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR EA SPORTS....

It really isn't. Your opinion is an overreaction.

# 200 jeremym480 @ 04/13/11 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScriptOhio


	One more time guys.... The devs have a direction or idea for the game, they take it to EA Management. Management says no, that's not important, you need to put this in the game instead (example: a content item that's download purchase only). Everyone can blame the devs til they are blue in the face, but those that do obviously haven't actually worked in a professional setting. I'm sure money had something to do with Ian leaving, but I guarantee a huge part was him and his staff being handcuffed by management and the amount of idiot junk that spews out of peoples mouths on sites like this. His response was always "we are trying", a lot of people realize when he says that it doesn't mean we are trying to figure out how to do it, but most likely "we are trying to get this put into the game but the people at the top don't feel its important". His job EA also to spit the company line, did you really think he would come out every year and say "can't do it, management doesn't care what you want"? Cmon thats breach of contract and opens him up to a lawsuit... That is after they throw him out the door. Believe it or not, but developers don't have free reign over what the produce, every action is strictly monitored by their bosses to maximize the profit. They are making an absolute killing on MUT, much more than the sales would have netted if the 10% of you who didn't purchase the game would have went out and bought a copy. As far as everyone who says this lawsuit will change things... The lawsuit will fail miserably, probably won't make it last preliminary hearings. Anyone can file a lawsuit, that doesn't mean it will go anywhere.

Great Post. I agree will 1000% of it. Will read again.

@ all of this.

To say that Ian did nothing is a very ignorant statement, IMO. Madden 10 was a huge improvement over 09. And I'd venture to say that Ian was a nice part of that improvement. I do agree that Ian was necessarily the "director" of Madden because I believe that his hands were tied in a lot of ways but, I do believe that he was a hard worker and wanted to make Madden the best it could be.

While it is pure speculation on my part (because I'll admit that I don't know the first thing about producing and directing the making of a video game), I think that a large part of Ian decision to leave was because of the suits. I think that Ian actually listened to the fans and wanted to give us what we wanted but, they're more interested in thing's like MUT than a better online franchise. I say that only because most "higher ups" that I've come across only see things in black and white. So when they see that online franchise is the least played mode that's all the see therefore, they don't want to spend as much development cost/man hours on it. They don't take into account that the mode isn't played because of the bare bones approach. If something like that was the case I can see how Ian became frustrated with the whole thing. Because basically he's taking it from both ends. He's getting the brunt of the abuse from Madden fans for decisions that basically aren't his as well as, the "why isn't the mode being played" from the suits. It was a lose, lose situation for him.

Again, I will note that this is just a guess just like everyone else here is guessing. Hell, for all we know he's leaving to work less hours, be in a less stressful situation, or any other number of things. Whatever the reason all I can say is I doubt M12 will be effected that much but, I'll definitely interested to see how everything plays out for M13. However, with the suits making most of the decisions I doubt we see any real change there either. Which to me they don't need a massive overhaul like a bunch of people here believe. IMO, they just need to continue tweaking game-play and have a complete offline/online franchises like last gen and then Madden would be great again. But, I guess that beside the point.

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Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon