Bring Madden back to PC

[Nza]

Seems to be the time of year this question starts coming up again. Same sort of thread over in the NCAA forum, where I posted....

Quote:

I understand and accept PC is not as profitable as PS3 and Xbox for most genres - that is a given. I can even understand a company therefore saying they'd prefer to devote 100% of their resources to the most profitable options - just makes business sense. But it's not like EA actually do this - that is, devote 100% to PS3 and Xbox 360. And it's not like porting to PC is some massively expensive exercise - PC is much closer to Xbox than what PS3 is HW wise. EA officially ran out of excuses when a comparatively tiny franchise like NBA 2K was (and still is for multiple years) ported to PC by a much smaller and less PC experienced team like 2K. EA have clearly already hit the point of diminishing returns when it comes to feeding resources to the teams who make NCAA and Madden for the consoles - $X invested there now is not going to produce an EOI worth getting excited about because it seems apparent these titles have more or less peaked. The only true room to grow is outwards, and PC is sitting right there. It won't be a massive injection of growth for the series, but when relatively disappointing yearly growth on the consoles is the other option, why not? The only coherent answer I can come to is EA simply don't want their minimal yearly update, maximum yearly revenue business model of EASports to be exposed going forward on a platform which has the potential to do that.

The PC never really matched EASports' business model well and it was always a burden with their mentality - business factors over creative factors. Really, EA were probably counting down the days they could get away with killing their PC franchises and they did so in connection with the last console releases, more or less. They would have initially lost a few overall sales but expected those lost sales to come back to consoles. This has probably panned out to be somewhat true but either way it wasn't a critical audience numbers wise so even if 0% came back, so what.

[choadler]

Quote: Originally Posted by Broncos86

The next generation of consoles will certainly bridge the gap with PCs. The next iteration of the Xbox will use the latest DirectX, and hardware continues to become cheaper and cheaper. When the next console generation hits, I would not be shocked to see Madden back on the PC. My question would be who gets the final say on which platforms to release a game for. Is it up to the EA parent company, or to the studio (Tiburon)? Why is FIFA on PC and not Madden? Different market? Different type of gamer? I knew of many guys, back in college, who owned an Xbox SOLELY for Halo, Madden, and nothing else. You know where I'm going with that demographic. Clearly, some research has driven Tiburon away from developing Madden on the PC this go-around. The initial reason was piracy, sure. But it's clear that's no longer the issue at hand. EA clearly knows how to handle that business, so let's just toss that out entirely. EA depends on Madden's sales every year. They NEED Madden. So for EA, and Tiburon, to not want to release Madden on a certain platform is a red light for me. Maybe it's the fact that Madden has never been "right?" They'd rather spend the manpower getting Madden right, anymore? But then again, NHL 12 wasn't on the PC, as it used to be. Different studio, however, which again begs the question of how much say a studio has on which platforms it develops a game for.

Pc's will always be way ahead of consoles. Based on the specs I have seen, the new consoles are already less powerful than top of the line pc's. It will always be this way. There will be no bridging the gap.

[TheDelta]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jetpac

Because your answers are based on OPINION. Who are you to say PC games don't hold enough audience for Madden? Maybe you are basing that off Operation Sports users. How do you know there is minimal demand for PC? Stats to back this up?

Well I have seen stats comparing different areas and market shares. I admit I didn't save the data to my PC, but it shouldn't be that difficult to look up if you doubt me, basically, PC gaming is strongest in Europe while in the US the gaming consoles have a much bigger market share.

That in itself of course proves nothing, I'm sure none of us has a detailed sales potential analysis of a hypothetical PC football game lying around, but it's strong evidence that a PC american football game would have a much smaller market than a comparable soccer game, simply because you will sell FIFA in Europe, but not Madden. American Football, while it has a growing fanbase over her, is still very much a niche sport, there are still way more people into basketball and ice hockey over here rather than american football (and of course none of those come even remotely close to rivaling soccer), so that's a good reason why it's more profitable to make an NBA PC game rather than Madden.

Add to that the fact that after 4+ years, many of those people really interested in Madden who didn't have a gaming console back then, may own one by now (like me, I have to admit that Madden was one of 2 main reasons for me to buy a PS3) so those are even more people you would gain nothing from by making a PC version.

[Instant C1a55ic]

Mods?

I mean i wouldn't buy madden year after year if there was a dedicated team out there that updates Madden with roster updates, presentation overlays and tweaks to its game play. I did it with MVP 05 until i discovered the Show in 08'.

I see it as a preventive matter, pump out the product and make sure people buy it year after year. Good for business, bad for hard working American.

[Broncos86]

Quote: Originally Posted by choadler

Pc's will always be way ahead of consoles. Based on the specs I have seen, the new consoles are already less powerful than top of the line pc's. It will always be this way. There will be no bridging the gap.

You don't understand what I mean. I mean in terms of development. Developing for the 360 is similar to the PC in that it's DirectX-based. As consoles advance, that development platform will move closer to that of PCs. As a developer, that means what you know and apply to the PC will translate more and more easily to consoles. I'm not sure why you went towards hardware.

[BrianFifaFan]

The answer is pretty simple. Both NBA2k and Fifa have global audiences. PC gaming is far more popular overseas. Madden has a pretty much all stateside audience. Consoles rule here. As much as I hate it, ( i have both NBA and Fifa on PC and they look and play awesome) Madden most likely won't be back. Which, honestly, doesn't please me. With Origin-only release, the whole piracy argument is lame. It's more about having to port the exact game over to PC, which means a dedicated team to deal with all of the normal PC compatibility headaches. But Fifa did it, and sold a ton of copies. I'm with the original poster; bring it back, please! (begs...)

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jetpac

That made no sense and is invalid to the question posed. Until there is an official stat that says the PC user base isn't large enough for Madden, this is all basically "speculation".

If Madden on PC sold great and made them a lot of money they'd still be making it on pc.
Again theres a reason they dont any longer. It could be also that they make a ton more (which I guarantee they do) focusing on consoles. Even with that , if the pc sales were substantial theyd still make it.
This is EA you know, they'll try and make a buck any way they can. They simply didnt stop producing pc versions if they were in fact making money on them.

[Nza]

I see no reason why Madden PC couldn't compete with other versions of Madden sales wise, like some of the portable platforms they release on.

The real reason, IMO, is because Madden PC (unlike portable versions) would compete directly with the 360 and PS3 version, probably surpassing both in visual quality, features due to user creations etc. EA, Sony and even Microsoft don't want this. EA want their primary audience on a safe locked down console where micro transactions are easy and user content doesn't go beyond basic roster files. Even though the PC version would hardly make a dent in the audience of the console versions, if you don't believe in the ideals of PC gaming as a company like EASports don't, why bother supporting it.

As for why FIFA is on PC, look no further than PES being on PC too. I guarantee you if PES went off PC, FIFA probably would too in a year or so afterwards.