The following thread and comments are meant with all due respect and not meant to be taken in a context of disrespectful or lack of knowledge of how the game development process works.
I understand there are many, many moving parts and development teams with their cycles and marketing teams don't always see things eye to eye.
The recent development of how the "other game" releases information and how EA does it is just not working anymore.
The developer diaries are a very cool idea, but in the interest of transparency (something that was and is preached by your producers) you guys are dropping the ball right now.
I know that you said you will be delaying the game 2-3 weeks release, cool. But there has been nothing to show us from a 5 on 5 gameplay standpoint that there are marked improvements over last year.
Next year I urge you all to sit down and brain storm some ways you can include the community in the process. As it is right now (and you all aren't the only company that makes things this way) but it feels very " King of the hill" -ish
What I mean by this is, it feels as if we are lowly subjects subjected to the "wait and see" approach as if we don't use our own resources (money) to help fund these projects.
We are just as much as part of this process as you all are. INCLUDE US. USE US AS A RESOURCE. PLEASE.
Here are some things I came up with:
1. Have a livestream session during your gameplay sessions with testers. Have a developer there explaining what is being looked at and the process behind the decisions.
2. Developer diaries with video from producers that impact different areas of the game.
3. Community days with full transparency
There are many of us who are in the industry who understand the ins and outs and have experience. Dont be afraid to not show the hand of ace's we understand that its a work in progress. But the secrecy and marketing ploys to generate hype and interest are just getting old.
This is 2014.
We all talk about "changing the game" and being "Next Gen" yet our attitudes as customers, your attitudes as a company towards business/marketing and the customer -> company relationship are still ANCIENT as hell!
I hope you all understand this post was not meant to be a rant, I'm not some "angry dude" ...and please realize I am passionate about sports and video games, please do not take these comments personally.
But please. Think about them, talk about them amongst yourselves, talk about them amongst the community, think about the place the comments come from and think about how we can work together to change the future of gaming...on all levels.
Peace.
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