Madden NFL 17 News Post

Madden NFL 17 Interview with Rex Dickson (SimFBallCritic)

12:37 AM - May 13, 2016 by jpdavis82

SimFBallCritic has posted an interview with Rex Dickson, Creative Director for Madden NFL 17. Below are a few notes from the interview, but make sure you listen to the full interview here.

The first trailer is not for our community and he explains why...
Several major changes this year, as he describes them, major bomb drops are coming...
Lots of new announcements are on the way, including Developer blogs...
Clint has an 8 page blog on the improvements to the ground game...
Zone blocking and gap play will fundamentally alters the entire running game...
Lots of discussion/blogs/etc. coming in the next 2 to 3 weeks...

Game: Madden NFL 17Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 17 - View All

Member Comments

# 21 roadman @ 05/13/16 09:07 AM

I am glad some people are starting to get on board with Rex, it was starting to get lonely.

Engineers and Accountants do not get along in companies in the manufacturing world, so, it doesn't surprise me when marketing and developers don't see eye to eye.

Marketing wants to try to capture a wide audience and cast the net as far as it can go.

# 22 cthurt @ 05/13/16 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	I am glad some people are starting to get on board with Rex, it was starting to get lonely. Engineers and Accountants do not get along in companies in the manufacturing world, so, it doesn't surprise me when marketing and developers don't see eye to eye. Marketing wants to try to capture a wide audience and cast the net as far as it can go.

Yea Roadman you been riding for Rex for a while now, I just have problems trusting anyone under EA but after this interview and him showing his displeasure with the marketing team I see Rex is really just one of us.

# 23 Junior Moe @ 05/13/16 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidSquid


	I find it weird that there's such a disconnect between the devs and marketing. Red gives me hope, that being said Ian gave me hope too, so I'll wait to actually see and feel how the new mechanics are and if they are balanced. The fact that they are finally adding REAL football mechanics to the game is such a relief. I also like hearing Rex compare madden with 2k and Battlefield, it shows me that he's not living in a bubble where madden is the only game on the market.

That caught my attention as well. Not just being complacent knowing they have the console football controlled. Looking broader, and looking to do that with genuine football concepts. The NFL liscence, as big as it is, does have a cap in the video game world.

# 24 bloobloouk @ 05/13/16 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolidSquid


	I find it weird that there's such a disconnect between the devs and marketing.

It's always been like this, and it isn't limited to EA, or even the video games industry, it's a battle that takes place regardless of the product being promoted.

Instinctively you'd think there would be overlap in objectives (and to a degree there is), but you need to remember that each department's performance is being assessed by very different measurements; the devs are being assessed by the quality of the finished product, which needs to be good enough to sell a baseline number of units, meanwhile marketing are expected to get a lot of exposure for a product, and generate new business, regardless of product quality.

I work in PR and it can be a nightmare when a product team wants to tweak a press release to make it slightly more relevant to their core sector. The tinniest change that makes a press release 1% more interesting for a core set of consumers, could potentially make it 90% less interesting for other groups.

As an example, last week I was working on a release to celebrate a client attaining a top standards rating in their sector. Our draft copy was exciting, but we still ensured that it was factual throughout. The client decided that the word "award" and others similar, couldn't be used in the context of industry standards rating, and we had to reword the release. The final copy is no longer an exciting story of achievement, it is a boiler plate statement about standards compliance. One small change has meant that story will probably only appear in certain niche titles, and the client will be demanding why they didn't get more media coverage!

This is why the areasof Madden that interest us the most are not the things that appear in trailers, get announced on stage at E3 or EA Play, or form a core part of the marketing strategy. It's because the guys in marketing have to appeal to the widest audience possible, and get a big fat stack of media coverage, rather than a thread on OS praising EA.

Wait for the deep dives. Like Rex said in the interview, realistic gap play and zone coverage pattern matching is not sexy, and marketing are not going to make it their centrepiece, even if they were the only two additions made to the game (which they're obviously not!)

# 25 DeuceDouglas @ 05/13/16 10:29 AM

Rex is a great dude and I really hope he sticks around for a while. The transparency is amazing when it comes to gameplay and you can see just by looking at the feature list for this year that they're set on a good direction and it just comes down to implementation which I feel like they were successful with on WR/DB so gameplay continues to have me looking up. I hope we can get a guy like him, whether that's John White or someone else, for CFM so that we can have this same kind of output and dialogue when it comes to the mode and not just gameplay.

# 26 bad_philanthropy @ 05/13/16 10:38 AM

It's such a shame that marketing views the way to grow every game as the same, and that is to make it simpler.

Not every game is a simple f2p phone app or military-themed shooter. It almost makes me think of a movie like Deadpool. Marketing actually got what was going on there and didn't shy away from an advertising campaign that made clear it was an R rated film with content that might offend some portion of potential customers. Obviously it was a huge success partly due to or in spite of a marketing campaign that didn't concern itself with dragging in everyone that might like superhero movies, or movies in general.

# 27 SolidSquid @ 05/13/16 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gridiron


	He said they couldn't do a trailer showing off football stuff, but here is one from Madden 25 where they did exactly that, and he was in the trailer, too:

Was this the first video they released for 25? I ask bc usually we get a "sizzle" highlife trailer first.

Listening to how they described things though leaves a lot to be desired. Locomotion/ True Step is still not that good, the line interactions dont really feel physical bc the players lack a sense of weight, the pocket still doesn't form like a true natural pocket.

Madden has always been good at marketing, I hope 17 really delivers,'can't wait for more info to roll out

# 28 AzureEffect @ 05/13/16 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gridiron


	He said they couldn't do a trailer showing off football stuff, but here is one from Madden 25 where they did exactly that, and he was in the trailer, too:

Thank you! THIS IS EXACTLY what I was referring to when I said how they should do their trailers.

# 29 AzureEffect @ 05/13/16 10:49 AM

I believe the RG3 one was the sizzle trailer but that wasn't "gameplay" ... That Gronk one was gameplay.

# 30 cthurt @ 05/13/16 10:50 AM

To be fair guys you cant compare a teaser cover guy trailer to an official gameplay trailer, I'm sure we will get a gameplay trailer similar to this one later on.

# 31 AzureEffect @ 05/13/16 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cthurt


	To be fair guys you cant compare a teaser cover guy trailer to an official gameplay trailer, I'm sure we will get a gameplay trailer similar to this one later on.

Very true! But I'm from the thought of "what's wrong with showing a gameplay trailer first" I'm not a casual fan but that Gronk trailer was subpar at best. I also understand that it was a marketing ploy; I believe it was a bad one. I'm pretty sure that casual fans could get on board and enjoy a "gameplay" trailer. Two birds; one stone.

But it is what it is; what really matters is when the game comes out and the 30 - 120 days thereafter

# 32 AzureEffect @ 05/13/16 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gridiron


	Nah, the first trailer was this fake trailer: ^^^ I got that from Azure's channel, but it's the one that links the whole Ignite thing. If you recall, there used to be a standalone trailer for 25 of that same thing, but somehow it's pretty much disappeared from the internet. Hmmm, wonder why...

And I didn't even know that was fake at the time lol. That was during the "secrecy" of XB1, PS4 transition. I watched the presentation and uploaded it and now that I look back on it... Reminds me of 06. We are in a better place gameplay wise though and that's great.

# 33 Armor and Sword @ 05/13/16 11:00 AM

Seriously....Madden is in great hands.

And it has shown in the game. M16 was a breakthrough a true next gen Madden game....like since PS2/XBOX.

I am super pumped for M17. It's only going to be better. No doubt in my mind.

Pre-ordered it for PS4 on Amazon today. Really excited.

# 34 Lexicon @ 05/13/16 12:33 PM

I haven't been the biggest fan of Rex (not that that matters at all). The "come at me bro" stuff was just silly, and saying he thought Madden 16 was a better overall game than NBA 2K16 last year on the Press Row Podcast saddened me. There's confidence in your game, and then there's not recognizing that your game is far behind another game in the sports gaming genre. Made me think Madden would never reach the NBA 2K level.

With that being said, he seems like he's leveled out a bit more. The confidence in the game is still there (which is great), but admitting that the teaser was lackluster, even for a teaser, shows me he's grown. Last year, he kept pointing out the sales and the meta-critic scores, which I know are important to the safety of his job and many others there, but we all know why pointing at those as a sign that the game is where it needs to be is flawed. Even in it's worst year, Madden sold like hotcakes. And Meta-Critic is filled with reviews from reviewers who won't play the game past a couple hours.

Toning all that noise down and being open with the issues your game has and communicating with us about it, that I can definitely get on board with. Celebrate your achievements, but also show some humbleness. I'm pulling for ya, Rex & squad. Keep at it.

# 35 jpdavis82 @ 05/13/16 01:04 PM

This was the first Madden 25 trailer that wasn't "fake", I believe that Ignite trailer said it was their target vision for Madden so all of that combined was more of a end game goal than a reality. Anyway here is the first M25 trailer but even this was at E3

https://youtu.be/-VWVSwEtJQU

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 36 SageInfinite @ 05/13/16 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	This was the first Madden 25 trailer that wasn't "fake", I believe that Ignite trailer said it was their target vision for Madden so all of that combined was more of a end game goal than a reality. Anyway here is the first M25 trailer but even this was at E3 https://youtu.be/-VWVSwEtJQU Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This trailer pissed me off. They still never added that subtle qb scanning animation. Trailer was such a tease.

# 37 cthurt @ 05/13/16 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageInfinite


	This trailer pissed me off. They still never added that subtle qb scanning animation. Trailer was such a tease.

Wasn't even a tease bro just a straight lie.

# 38 DeuceDouglas @ 05/13/16 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageInfinite


	This trailer pissed me off. They still never added that subtle qb scanning animation. Trailer was such a tease.

Watching that trailer reminded me and made me wonder what ever happened to the authentic QB cadences. I remember two years ago Alex Smith and a bunch of other starters had their cadences in and that last year it seemed like that number dropped greatly and a lot of guys lost there's and I'm not sure why.

# 39 SageInfinite @ 05/13/16 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas


	Watching that trailer reminded me and made me wonder what ever happened to the authentic QB cadences. I remember two years ago Alex Smith and a bunch of other starters had their cadences in and that last year it seemed like that number dropped greatly and a lot of guys lost there's and I'm not sure why.

Just one of the many mysteries of Tiburon.

# 40 rkocjay @ 05/13/16 07:00 PM

i really enjoyed the interview . Got more of a behind the scene look at what goes on

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