EA Sports has clarified the new CBA rules for Madden NFL 12 will not make it in this year. They also noted that updated rosters with all free agent moves will be available at launch.
Quote:
Due to the new CBA being implemented so late in our development cycle, we were unable to include the new CBA rules in Madden NFL 12.
Others have been asking if we would be able to patch the new CBA rules in after launch...
Due to the complex nature of the new rules and the current structure of in-game data and AI, we're not able to patch in the new CBA rules.
For those of you asking, there will be a full downloadable roster update at launch that will reflect all the various free agency changes.
I'm no madden die hard and haven't been since 2008, so this is no real deal breaker for me. I imagine the NBA game will have a similar story because of the NBA lockout should the lock out cut into the dev cycle. The fact that they are however keeping the rosters updated is to be expected. Let's hope the game is worth it.
I think it's kinda funny that EA would even address this.
Why would anyone think that they would implement the details of this brand new CBA, when they have never implemented any previous one accurately??
Think about the major points from the new CBA....they either don't apply or were wrong the last time:
- Revenue split. Doesn't matter in Madden. Sets the cap, but I don't believe that it was ever kept realistically in franchise
- Improved player benefits (including retired players). Irrelevant
- reduced practices. reduced contact in practices. Irrelevant
- 46-man gameday rosters. Eliminated the emergency QB designation. Neither was ever implemented in Madden.
- Rookie wage scale. Rookie contracts were never realistic.
- Minimum salaries increased (based on years accrued). Min salary existed, but was never based off years in the league.
- Franchise Tag - 1 yr per player - had franchise tag, could have upgraded to make it so you couldn't tag the same player twice. this could have applied.
- Can't use franchise and transition tag in the same year - didn't have transition tags
- 4 years to unrestricted free agency - Madden doesn't have restricted free agency.
So ultimately if they were to have taken what previous Maddens had right from the last CBA and updated it, they basically would have had to change the franchise tag logic to not allow it to be used twice on a single player.....that's about it.
So no, I'm not surprised they didn't make updates for the new CBA...even if they had the time to do so.
But the contract side of Maddens Franchise have never been completely accurate in any of the games. I think if it was it would frustrate some of these gamers anyway, although it would be nice to see realism there.
Maybe next year
I am more frustrated when a game company tells me I can't do things in a realistic, difficult fashion due to fear of alienating gamers who don't even care about the depth of the game anyways. I understand not being able to get the new CBA in and I'm not upset about it at all, but to base a mode meant for hardcore fans on a casual approach is a) not what Looman is about (see, Head Coach 09/Last-Gen Madden FM) and b) not a smart direction to take.
Time will tell, but I'm hoping this wasn't a one-shot deal and that we will continue to see FM upgrades on a yearly basis, though understanding this is the "main" overhaul. Time for RFA, Rookie Wage System (NOT scale), all rookies get 4 yr deals, Practice Squads, etc. in Madden NFL 13.
just push the date back... the new rules would impact franchise mode in a better way.. no more greedy *** rookies and what not. EA knew about the lock out and they knew rules would change. where's the sense of effort anymore?
Come on man. It has nothing to do with effort. They can't push the date back. They have a deal with the NFL regarding a yearly release and a time frame for it.
Not to mention they would lose money by releasing the game in season. It wouldn't be practical from a business standpoint.
just push the date back... the new rules would impact franchise mode in a better way.. no more greedy *** rookies and what not. EA knew about the lock out and they knew rules would change. where's the sense of effort anymore?
That's kind of the point though. So EA won't push it back and lose money but they will release a game that is not true to the game and gamers will suffer.
It's an integrity issue imo. Not being a ***, but if it's in the game, it's in the game.
I don't think it's utterly ridiculous at all to suggest that the game should be pushed back.
This is a real issue with developers. There is a lack of integrity there. The truth is utterly ridiculous?
So it's utterly ridiculous for a gamer to say that, but it's ok for EA to release a game like that? Seems a bit hypocritical. Just seeing both sides is all.
I think you misunderstood me. I never said it was ridiculous to "suggest" pushing it back. Its ridiculous to think they will push it back. Its also ridiculous to bash EA for not pushing it back. They simply cannot do it.
In a perfect world the game should be released when its done. So gamers suggesting it be pushed back is totally justified. I would totally be ok with it being pushed back 3 months if thats what it took to get a great football game. Only problem is, it will never happen.
Not getting this. Just Madden 11 with updated rosters. What's the point of playing an out of date franchise with current rosters? I'm gonna wait until 13. Sorry EA.
They should have pushed the release date back further so they could implement the new CBA rules.
The release date has already been pushed back far enuff..madden normally comes out the 2nd or 3rd tuesday of august..we now have to wait until the last tuesday in august..i am still upset about that..instead of getting ready to pick up madden in a little over 2 weeks from today, i have to wait another month..on the lighter side i do feel like the wait will be worth it
some of you need to get a job in the games industry and understand how it works because some of you are clueless. for once EA ain't to blame here with the CBA.
It IS NOT ridiculous to expect the new CBA to be in the game. It was very obvious VERY EARLY in the CBA negotiations that there was going to be a rookie pay scale, since both sides were in favor of it. The problem here is that EA hardcodes so much of their games, they aren't able to be flexible. They have hardcoded what teams are willing to offer certain players with certain overalls at certain years in the league rather than writing AI scripts for the teams and players.
Instead of having a global AI that is capable of managing an arbitrarily sized salary cap, they have gone with hardcoded values for years. It makes their code inflexible and incapable of change. When your code is written this way, it is only on you when you are unable to adapt quickly to a new environment. EA, knowing that their franchise code is inflexible, should have hired 10 people to work full time on writing salary cap/hardcoded values for everything for each possible outcome of the CBA. If you are unwilling to write a little good code, then you have to write a ton of bad code to keep people happy.
The "it just got finished" is a bogus excuse. The money related issues were settled 2 months ago. If it takes you more than 2 months to write the code for how teams should spend money (which is essentially just a giant matrx of numbers), then you really are some of the worst programmers out there.