Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

01:18 PM - July 8, 2011 by CRMosier_LM

Justin Dewiel, Community Manager of Madden NFL, has made a post on the EA Forums detailing the current status and future of Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12.

Quote:


	Hey guys, Justin Dewiel, your EA SPORTS Community Manager for the Madden NFL franchise, here with a short update on where we currently are with Franchise mode, and a look at where we�re heading. So many times throughout the year I get the pleasure of revealing features that you, the community, have been asking for. Revealing our Offline Franchise mode feature set was one of those days. It�s no secret that our Franchise mode was lacking features that our fans expected. This community feedback was the #1 reason behind the renewed focus on Franchise mode in Madden NFL 12. For those of you who missed all of the details on the improvements/additions made to Offline Franchise, you can catch up on everything by clicking here. I feel confident in saying that you�ll be impressed with the experience this year and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Since we revealed the details of the Offline Franchise mode, the most requested question has been, �What upgrades have you made to Online Franchise mode?� We set aggressive development goals for Madden NFL 12 � from the improvements to Offline Franchise and Superstar modes, to the complete overhaul of visuals, addition of custom playbooks, a new collision system, our yet to be discussed Online Communities feature, and more. When it comes to the tight schedule of an annual development cycle, we have to make tough decisions, and it became apparent as we continued to work through our campaign that there was no way to deliver a deep, fully connected Online Franchise experience that you deserve this year. Therefore, there will be no additions to Online Franchise mode in Madden NFL 12. That said, I can say with absolute certainty that delivering a feature-rich Online Franchise mode is a top priority for the Madden leadership as we move forward. It�s crucial that we transform how and where fans interact with our games and each other. Modes like NCAA Football�s Online Dynasty or FIFA 12�s Football Club are leading the way in building connected experiences, and you can expect that the Madden NFL franchise will aggressively work to meet and exceed your expectations for Online Franchise. Community is the heart of everything we do at EA SPORTS. We hope you�ve felt represented in everything from the Madden NFL 12 Cover Vote to the new features in this year�s game. Bringing passionate fans together, like you, is the focus of Online Communities feature that we�ll detail on July 25th. We�re excited about sharing more information soon and seeing what you�ll create. As always, we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

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Member Comments

# 141 Smoke6 @ 07/08/11 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g2thecore


	And that's fine. You have a right to do that. I felt the same way last year when I found out that offline franchise wasn't getting any love either. What I don't understand is why people were expecting them to have time to improve EVERY facet of the game in just one dev cycle. I mean think about. They improved gameplay, they overhauled the presentation aspect of the game, and they rebuilt offline franchise. It would be absurd to expect them to have the time, or resources to make any significant changes to the online portion. I understand why people are disappointed, but I think a lot of you are very naive if you expected more.

I mean, all we have had this whole time has been their word!

We ask for certain things and they comment with subtle replies and blogs about hints of it being on the right track. Find out in 3 weeks or whatever!

Those are the words and messages we have clung onto these past few months, only to get out hearts stepped on after being coming off life support from the other good news about the changes made to the game.

# 142 alkamist @ 07/08/11 11:36 PM

are you kidding me, after reading this i just might not buy this game, i only play this game for ONLINE FRANCHISE MODE. Ive never even played online PVP, or even set up a gay Offline Franchise, or even that gay Madden Ultimate Team crap... Well damn, this game is not even worth it, i was expecting big things this yr with the Online Franchise, guess not, now all this game is a upgrade of 2011, just like ncaa

MADDEN 11.5
NCAA 11.5
NBA Live 10 - NBA Elite Canceled

What more can you ask for... Thank god I kept Madden 11... Thanks again EA...

# 143 g2thecore @ 07/08/11 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebugaloo


	If it gains new customers or saves current ones, EA can and should find the resources. If they lose 1% out of their 6 million yearly customers because of a crappy online franchise, that's $3.6 million of revenues lost. You think they can't find a couple of developers with that kind of dough at stake? To suggest it is absurd to expect an overhaul to online franchise is, well, absurd.

What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode? For the last 5 years offline franchise has gotten no attention whatsoever. What kind of decline in sales have they seen?

Look I can appreciate people being upset about this. Like I said previously, I was in the same boat last year when I decided not to purchase the game for the 1st time since 2001. I was upset that offline franchise (my favorite mode) was yet untouched. But I got why it wasn't touched. They explained that they would need to rebuild it, and that they couldn't do that during that cycle. The way I see it is, I'd rather they take an extra year to make some significant changes to the mode than to have them half-*** it with some crappy feature, and say that they improved it.

# 144 Automatik @ 07/08/11 11:57 PM

WOW, for the first time in a very long time I'm debating on not buying Madden. Can't even put a simple random rookie draft? Pathetic.

If the ice skating doesn't get fixed on the demo, then I'm not getting Madden 12. Gameplay>Graphics

# 145 warren123 @ 07/09/11 12:04 AM

Disappointing. OF will be hyped up next year I guess, if ever. I play all the modes and salary cap wouldn't really matter to me in OF but something new would have been nice.

# 146 GGEden @ 07/09/11 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g2thecore


	What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode?

I can't count how many people in this thread have said they're canceling pre-orders, or made up their minds to skip M12 for NCAA12. That's now a category of "people not buying game because OF wasn't touched as promised, and nothing was ever done with the 'we've got OF servers to add things in people want'." Not just 'any old feature', but a very important mode for Madden communities. The number of people in that category can only grow as more people hear the news, and will represent a % loss of sales. There might be an increase % sales of people who don't care about online, or casual gamers, to offset that. But losing long-time stalwart Madden buyers is never a good thing.

As Tazdevil has always suggested, it should be one franchise mode, that can be filled up with humans or played single-player. Surely something so genius and simple. The problem is not only EA Tiburon's focus on cosmetics over game-play, but a lack of vision and ingenuity of how to design modes/ideas.

# 147 ebugaloo @ 07/09/11 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g2thecore


	What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode? For the last 5 years offline franchise has gotten no attention whatsoever. What kind of decline in sales have they seen? Look I can appreciate people being upset about this. Like I said previously, I was in the same boat last year when I decided not to purchase the game for the 1st time since 2001. I was upset that offline franchise (my favorite mode) was yet untouched. But I got why it wasn't touched. They explained that they would need to rebuild it, and that they couldn't do that during that cycle. The way I see it is, I'd rather they take an extra year to make some significant changes to the mode than to have them half-*** it with some crappy feature, and say that they improved it.

They already did take an extra year.

I suppose the proof will be in the pudding (sales). They will also see it if certain gamertags, that showed up to play Madden 11 (and previous games) not return to play 12.

I would note that XBox unit sales declined by 300K, PS3 unit sales declined by 200K. That is with an increasing installed base of XBox and PS3 consoles, so that makes the sales decline look even worse. Assuming we have an NFL season this year, if you are right, sales should be slightly up from last year. If not, then their bet against online franchise may be a factor. I know a few users in here seem to be willing to vote with their wallets.

Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12.

# 148 roadman @ 07/09/11 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGEden


	I can't count how many people in this thread have said they're canceling pre-orders, or made up their minds to skip M12 for NCAA12. That's now a category of "people not buying game because OF wasn't touched as promised, and nothing was ever done with the 'we've got OF servers to add things in people want'." Not just 'any old feature', but a very important mode for Madden communities. The number of people in that category can only grow as more people hear the news, and will represent a % loss of sales.

If it's a deal breaker, then they shouldn't purchase it. We all have options and Offline Franchise people last year were held accountable to the same decision.

Heck, same thing happened a decade ago when HH Baseball decided not to upgrade Online Franchise. There were people that were very upset, but some people managed to get by with what they had to work with.

Offline Franchise has suffered immeasurably as well over the years and it's finally getting it's due. I see no reason OF won't follow the same path next year.

# 149 ebugaloo @ 07/09/11 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebugaloo


	They already did take an extra year. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding (sales). They will also see it if certain gamertags, that showed up to play Madden 11 (and previous games) not return to play 12. I would note that XBox unit sales declined by 300K, PS3 unit sales declined by 200K. That is with an increasing installed base of XBox and PS3 consoles, so that makes the sales decline look even worse. Assuming we have an NFL season this year, if you are right, sales should be slightly up from last year. If not, then their bet against online franchise may be a factor. I know a few users in here seem to be willing to vote with their wallets. Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12.

Sorry, accidentally hit the submit button early. Let me finish my thought.

Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12. A working online franchise I imagine gets me 30+ hours of additional gameplay. If they charged me, say $3 to $5, that is insignificant relative to the incremental entertainment I get out of the game. By not providing this, it is lost revenue for EA.

# 150 Automatik @ 07/09/11 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRMosier_LM


	No one has said anything about the draft other than rumors from OS members.

Alright might have overreacted, but they said no additions will be for Online franchise. So why would random rookie draft be a rumor unless you know something that will be announced July 25th.

# 151 alkamist @ 07/09/11 12:21 AM

Well look at it this way, M12 = New players, updated teams, fixed bugs, fixed exploits, fixed grass, fixed graphics, added stuff to Offline Franchise = Madden 11 Upgrade 1200 gamer pts..

Sorry but like i said earlier, ive only bought M11 for there Online Franchise, never once played Offline, or Superstar, or even PvP because to many people cheeze on there with there QB or just nano the whole game...

Damn, im not trying to wast 60$ on a upgrade, thats why i didnt buy NCAA 12.. oh well guess Fifa will get my money, and than GOW 3

# 152 roadman @ 07/09/11 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alkamist


	Well look at it this way, M12 = New players, updated teams, fixed bugs, fixed exploits, fixed grass, fixed graphics, added stuff to Offline Franchise = Madden 11 Upgrade 1200 gamer pts..

Well, time to cancel my pre-order. Here I thought they added more to Madden 12 than that.

# 153 GGEden @ 07/09/11 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	If it's a deal breaker, then they shouldn't purchase it. We all have options and Offline Franchise people last year were held accountable to the same decision.

A company should never take that attitude of "oh well, they can just not buy it, we'll pick up sales elsewhere." It's a reason why Madden global sales remain quagmired in the 5-6 million sales across the main two consoles. If that number is to ever rise to the 26+ million console owners (ps3/360), which even 50% of is a realistic potential, an attitude adjustment in EA HQ is required. In the 7 years of NFL exclusive license, that attitude has been in play, and is probably a big cause for where EA-consumer relationship is right now.

Quote:


	Heck, same thing happened a decade ago when HH Baseball decided not to upgrade Online Franchise. There were people that were very upset, but some people managed to get by with what they had to work with. Offline Franchise has suffered immeasurably as well over the years and it's finally getting it's due. I see no reason OF won't follow the same path next year.

It's not just the announcement tho, the fact it wasn't touched, but that it joins a laundry list of letdowns and broken promises, and resulting excuses + what consumers see they ended up focusing on yet again (cosmetics, cut-scenes, cheerleaders, entrances, etc), and the "next year" talk. Like others have said, they made announcements/promises about the OF server existing to allow constant upgrading etc, they promised end of M11 that online would get focused on, etc.

Btw, I respect your input, just responding.

# 154 mestevo @ 07/09/11 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGEden


	A company should never take that attitude of "oh well, they can just not buy it, we'll pick up sales elsewhere."

A company hasn't.

You mistake the attitude of posters responding to those making melodramatic overtures as if online franchise was just dropped with that of EA. They've explained that resources to improve the mode ended up not being available for this cycle. Nothing more, nothing less. No promises made or broken, just the reason why it is not being updated.

# 155 g2thecore @ 07/09/11 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGEden


	I can't count how many people in this thread have said they're canceling pre-orders, or made up their minds to skip M12 for NCAA12. That's now a category of "people not buying game because OF wasn't touched as promised, and nothing was ever done with the 'we've got OF servers to add things in people want'." Not just 'any old feature', but a very important mode for Madden communities. The number of people in that category can only grow as more people hear the news, and will represent a % loss of sales. There might be an increase % sales of people who don't care about online, or casual gamers, to offset that. But losing long-time stalwart Madden buyers is never a good thing. As Tazdevil has always suggested, it should be one franchise mode, that can be filled up with humans or played single-player. Surely something so genius and simple. The problem is not only EA Tiburon's focus on cosmetics over game-play, but a lack of vision and ingenuity of how to design modes/ideas.

Well I can't say that this isn't a great idea. A lot of other games have managed to do this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebugaloo


	They already did take an extra year. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding (sales). They will also see it if certain gamertags, that showed up to play Madden 11 (and previous games) not return to play 12. I would note that XBox unit sales declined by 300K, PS3 unit sales declined by 200K. That is with an increasing installed base of XBox and PS3 consoles, so that makes the sales decline look even worse. Assuming we have an NFL season this year, if you are right, sales should be slightly up from last year. If not, then their bet against online franchise may be a factor. I know a few users in here seem to be willing to vote with their wallets. Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebugaloo


	Sorry, accidentally hit the submit button early. Let me finish my thought. Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12. A working online franchise I imagine gets me 30+ hours of additional gameplay. If they charged me, say $3 to $5, that is insignificant relative to the incremental entertainment I get out of the game. By not providing this, it is lost revenue for EA.

And I agree with you that there will be some form of loss of revenue. Look regardless of what is done, the game will always be "incomplete" for some people. Not that I'm saying that your complaint isn't a valid one, quite the contrary actually, but I'm pretty sure EA is fully aware of the outcome of their decisions. I'm very sympathetic of guys like you, because I was there just last year. It's infuriating to know that the mode that YOU care about the most, was left untouched. One can only hope that some time in the near future, all the modes can get equal love as it should be.

# 156 roadman @ 07/09/11 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGEden


	A company should never take that attitude of "oh well, they can just not buy it, we'll pick up sales elsewhere." It's a reason why Madden global sales remain quagmired in the 5-6 million sales across the main two consoles. If that number is to ever rise to the 26+ million console owners (ps3/360), which even 50% of is a realistic potential, an attitude adjustment in EA HQ is required. In the 7 years of NFL exclusive license, that attitude has been in play, and is probably a big cause for where EA-consumer relationship is right now. It's not just the announcement tho, the fact it wasn't touched, but that it joins a laundry list of letdowns and broken promises, and resulting excuses + what consumers see they ended up focusing on yet again (cosmetics, cut-scenes, cheerleaders, entrances, etc). Like others have said, they made announcements/promises about the OF server existing to allow constant upgrading etc, they promised end of M11 that online would get focused on, etc. Btw, I respect your input, just responding.

Oh, I agree with your first part, but I don't think any company has a defeatist attitude like that. I'm just saying offline franchise suffered just as much if not more years of not being touched, and EA seems to come through on their promise from last year.

See, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I see significant improvements over 11 for replay ability. Gameplay wise, you can't dismiss no more suction blocking or tackling. My gosh, that was the biggest you tube rant the last several years and now there is consecutive hit tackles. Also, improved zone defense. I could cheese all day if I wanted to on Madden 11 with wide open slants across the middle. If I threw across the middle on the NCAA demo for 12, it was either incomplete or intercepted.

Custom playbooks, DPP, player traits and a deep franchise mode will keep me playing year round. I think all this get's swept under the carpet when there is negative news that comes out. People forget about the positives that are included in the game all the negatives comes out, whether it's years of frustration, cosmetic changes, etc.....

This does nothing to diminish the no improvements to OF. It's a shame that it happened, but it's following the same pattern as Offline Franchise last year. I could be wrong, but I thought they said there would be major improvements with offline franchise, don't recall anything said about any promises with OF, I could be wrong, though.

Respect your opinion as well.

# 157 g2thecore @ 07/09/11 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Custom playbooks, DPP, player traits and a deep franchise mode will keep me playing year round. I think all this get's swept under the carpet when there is negative news that comes out. People forget about the positives that are included in the game all the negatives comes out, whether it's years of frustration, cosmetic changes, etc.....

This is the problem. I know a lot of people are upset about OF not getting any love, but I think you guys are forgetting all the improvements that HAVE been made. We shouldn't ignore these things. Good point.

# 158 GGEden @ 07/09/11 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	A company hasn't. You mistake the attitude of posters responding to those making melodramatic overtures as if online franchise was just dropped with that of EA. They've explained that resources to improve the mode ended up not being available for this cycle. Nothing more, nothing less. No promises made or broken, just the reason why it is not being updated.

I'll look around for any links showing EA saying OF would be a focus of M12. The OF server to provide dynamic upgrades to OF is something that was promised not seen.

Yeah, there's some melodramatic overtures, but I can also understand why there might be outside of any default anti-EA.

That EA-consumer relationship i mentioned before is especially exasperated after the NFL license was awarded. There are a lot of people who are stalwart Madden buyers who genuinely frustrate with the dev cycle thing, year to year forward one step back two steps thing with features, bugs, modes, graphics, etc. That there are disgruntled consumers, and % loss of sales due to whatever reason, whether OF or whatever, is something to avoid.

Eg, at the same time as we have this EA/Madden:consumer relationship, disgruntlement, there is also an EA/NHL:consumer and EA/FIFA:consumer and EA/NCAA:consumer and EA/BF:consumer growth of sales, respect, trust, hope, etc.

btw, go the Locos!

# 159 roadman @ 07/09/11 01:22 AM

Taz;

I agree with 99.9% of your post. Good post and well delivered.

I will only add, if you ever played NCAA, they have a heckuva OF, and now the Director of NCAA took Phil's spot, Executive Producer at Madden.

I'm sure he will be overseeing OF and the implementation of it for Madden as he helped put together NCAA's. If it's as good as NCAA's, we are in for a real treat.

Also, I think doubling the game play team will help out profusely. It sure can't hurt.

# 160 GGEden @ 07/09/11 01:36 AM

EA are good politicians. Shame gaming doesn't work where we can vote another company in to have a crack at NFL simulation like we can in elections. A way to hold the football game accountable to the bearer of that NFL license seeing as how important that license is (pretty much eradicating competition).

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