OS - Press Row Podcast: Episode 41 - Madden NFL 25 with Gus Ramsey and Ian Cummings

[Steve_OS]

It’s another special episode of the Press Row Podcast, as we talk about Madden NFL 25 – and, by extension, life as a gaming father and working professional - with two of our favorite people. First up is ESPN’s Gus Ramsey, best known for his appearances on Bill Simmons’ BS Report to talk about his experiences with the game so far and how video games play a part in his family life as the Dad of three sons. Next up is Zynga’s Ian Cummings, a longtime designer of Madden who’s been away from the franchise for a few years. In a wide-ranging discussion, he reveals some fascinating insights into Madden 25 specifically and the franchise as a whole in the past, today, and moving into the next generation. It’s a must-listen for everyone that has ever loved Madden.

Joining us this week:

• Gus Ramsey, ESPN (@gusramsey)
• Ian Cummings, Zynga(@iantcummings)
• And your host, Richard Grisham, GamesRadar (@richgrisham)

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Enjoy the show!

Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes

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[roadman]

Interesting listening to Ian.

External factors heard more than a few times, ie, wait for it, marketing dept.

If you get a chance, listen to the interview with Ian.

[BrianU]

That was a great listen. Richard and Ian have a great rapport I could listen to them every week. I felt a lot more compassion towards the dev team after hearing how Ian described his work ethic in the early days and how he stayed up till 4 am working on QB releases lol. We definitely forget these devs are hard working professionals when we bitch about all the things that we see flawed.

I liked his point of the difference between Madden and FIFA being that FIFA has built upon the last game release after release and not taken away features. I hope they take the next generation of Madden and follow that philosophy. I believe CCM was a great first step towards that goal and I too am optimistic, we aren't there yet but in a few years we will be. We may have felt like that 5 years ago but I feel now there is ample evidence in the last two years of Madden along with the current group of devs to secure that endorsement.

There is still things that make me scratch my head and wonder why they exist. The wind meter being backwards, the state of penalties, the replay camera angles, horrible blocking shown in the Kotaku review, the end of game highlight being an awful play by the losing team, the assisted tackles not being fixed entirely, broken auto-subs, the sim stats, CPU zone pass D, a punter being selected in the first round of the draft, run/pass ratio of cpu playcalling being unrealistic and not able to be tuned, not being able to assign custom playbooks with CPU teams, lack of formation subs that was in previous games, schedules in franchise being wacky after year 1, backwards or non-working sliders, nano blitzes.. It's all of these little things that add up and create lots of frustration. I know it is not fair to place myself in another person's shoes but these all seem like relatively small fixes that you could implement in roughly little time and once they are fixed they are fixed forever. If Madden was my baby, MY game I worked my *** off on I would want it to be close to flawless as possible. I could never allow these issues to remain in the game. But of course I don't know the pressure or time limits they are dealing with.

If they went to a subscription based model with monthly patches and maybe like 3 month major updates I would gladly fork over $10-20 a month for that. Here's to the hope that M25 next gen is a solid foundation for them to build up on, we see the small things fixed, and we see no more features stripped but instead continuous improvements with no subtractions.

[kjcheezhead]

I also enjoyed the interview with Ian.

It was interesting that he seemed to regard Madden 10 as his favorite one. He seemed disappointed with 11, that he caved to external pressures and took the game away from what he had started with 10. I agree with that assessment.

He alluded to the game still caving to those external pressures and basically said that the precision modifier seemed to be one of those times. I like how he expects it to be ripped out in the next couple of games, and that not building on what Madden has done already has really hurt the game. Again I agree.

He prefers Backbreaker/Euphoria physics to IE. Again, I agree. Backbreaker wasn't good overall, but the physics/ player interaction were a better model.

Lastly, I found it interesting that he felt Madden was ripe for some competition. He mentioned that Apple can make I phone/ Ipad NFL games and then have them connect to a tv. He sees a real market for a "owner mode" game or a simple cheap, fun game (I picture a Tecmo style game) coming in and getting some of Madden's football market.

Overall, it was worth listening to.

[roadman]

I always liked Ian, plus I was able to get a few suggestions into the game from him.

It's the one or two death threats he received here that lead him away.(and some argued he needed tougher skin. I don't know how much tougher it could get with death threats)

Anyway, Ian is looking at the game as a consumer, now, and he understands the frustrations. He constantly referred to NBA2k and The Show and said those games are beyond Madden.

Staight to the heart interview.

[GiantBlue76]

Wow - he basically discloses how much of a mess the madden development team is. This game is a lost cause. This tells me that it will never be fixed. I must say, I do appreciate him finally being able to be candid about it, and simply confirm everything we have always feared.

[Brandwin]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrianU

If they went to a subscription based model with monthly patches and maybe like 3 month major updates I would gladly fork over $10-20 a month for that. Here's to the hope that M25 next gen is a solid foundation for them to build up on, we see the small things fixed, and we see no more features stripped but instead continuous improvements with no subtractions.

I didn't listen to the interview so I may be taking this out of context, but I would hate to have to pay extra for patches. I already pay $60 for them to get the game right, I shouldn't have pay more for them to fix things wrong with the game.

[therizing02]

Great interview with Ian...again. Ian confirmed the life long belief of this board that there are a lot of external factors and input into the design of the game. He also confirmed my belief that one of the biggest problems with Madden is the constant turnover on the Dev team. I thought it was hilarious when he basically said that the Precision Modifier will be ripped out within 2 years and that it sounded like a marketing idea for a back of the box feature.

As far as the pressure on the dev team, I don't think there were any eye opening comments. Yes we know they work long hours and get a lot of external pressure from higher ups. BTW, for anyone who has a job, this is par for the course and that isn't an excuse for some of the things that haven't been fixed in years.