OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements in Madden 21

[statum71]

Disappointing not to see focus. But I’m a DIEHARD season/franchise mode player for ANY sports title. 

If Franchise were ever officially eliminated I’d hate it. But that would be it for me. I have ZERO interest in player journey modes. ????

No season, no immersion, no reason to buy. 

[dynastymgrguy]

Not interested in grinding a million hours to field a high-calibre MUT team, not paying for one either, not interested in FOF.... probably my last year playing Madden. I only play Franchise and if will be nothing new or revamped... then why should I shell out $ just for an "update". Maybe a new hashtag is needed: #RetiringFromMadden

[dynastymgrguy]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

This. If you are truly sick of what Madden has been over the years, support the other guys. I know plenty are going to be turned off by the graphics or the gameplay being as polished, but if you really want an offline experience and can overlook that stuff and accept the small dev team type of quality, then these games are worth it. Maximum Football may not have the animation polish, the presentation quality, the graphics, etc. of NCAA 14, but it does offer a dynasty experiencenthat in year 1 rivaled the late NCAA games. It does strive to produce a balanced game on and off of the field.


Maximum and Axis both strive to satisfy the franchise gamer and I think they both do a good job of it. Again, I know plenty will immediately turn away when they see the graphics, but I personally think that these small dev teams have achieved an amazing amount of work with their incredibly small amount of resources. Maximum Football in one year gave us a Dynasty mode that rivals anything EA put out and we're getting more added to it this year like transfers and suspensions.

If Maximum's gameplay improves just 50% over last year, I'm all on Maximum this year. I am praying they smooth out gameplay, fix rushing, UI, tweak passing... weird, as we've come so far technically, Madden just continues to frustrate, and new game developers in the market fall a bit short. Maybe I'll transition to Draft Day Sports sims if it's another stagnant year for console sports games.

[canes21]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

If Maximum's gameplay improves just 50% over last year, I'm all on Maximum this year. I am praying they smooth out gameplay, fix rushing, UI, tweak passing... weird, as we've come so far technically, Madden just continues to frustrate, and new game developers in the market fall a bit short. Maybe I'll transition to Draft Day Sports sims if it's another stagnant year for console sports games.

I don't know if you've followed any of Maximum's updates for the upcoming release, but they are tweaking the handoffs to hopefully be more organic and aid in the run game. Unity themselves is helping with development and a part of that help means an animation system specifically for the game. The devs have said this will result in much better WR tracking and animating. The load times are also receiving a lot of attention.



I know it animates ugly at times, and the looks turn many off, but i personally think the game plays very well and it honestly gives me a bit of some 2k feeling in its gameplay with the way the players feel and the way the passing game behaves. I think that's why I like it and support the series. I won't lie about 2k5 and 2k8 being my two favorite video games on the field, so it is a bonus to me that Maximum has a similar feel to 2k, it just doesn't animate as pretty which is to be expected when you have literally 2 guys working on gameplay only. It's amazing what the entire 6-man team has done all around, though.

[illwill10]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

Frankly speaking, it's clear that EA's marketing folks have the same issue that also plagues many gamers; a distinct and palpable lack of patience.

Longshot flops, oh wait, let's focus more on franchise, oh wait, let's focus on player career modes again. It's a pure lack of confidence in their brand and this constant wavering back and forth in lieu of really embracing Madden for what it is and building upon it. To use a sports analogy, they're trying too hard to smack a HR every at-bat and they are striking out a LOT. I can only imagine how obnoxious that has to be for the development team to be given new marching orders every time out. (We've seen similar paradigm shifts in gameplay and graphical engines)

You buy 2k, you know exactly what you're getting, MyPlayer, MyTeam, and MyLeague (with MyGM for good measure). Those modes are constant and (for better and worse) don't change all that much aside from the real details. To continue that analogy, 2k is hitting a lot of singles, which is helping "the team" score more runs - just at a slow pace. I'm not a particular fan of that series (particularly of their franchise offerings), but can fully acknowledge that they have been much more consistent.

If Madden marketing folks were more patient and built year after year on what they have - we'd be in a much better spot.

I agree.

If their marketing folks were more patient and willing to let features get built out, we would be in better place. I get wanting to have enticing back of box features every year. But you still should work on those features in the following years. It's like they want something new every year instead of expanding on features they just implemented a year or two prior. Like I at least expected Scenario Engine to get some attention year 2, but they didn't even mention it at all outside of the suspected use for Storylines in FoF.

Speaking of NBA2k, in the several years, they haven't really added much to MyLeague. The biggest MyLeague feature of last several years has been Mentors. MLO and MyGM has been the focus last 3-4 years and MyCareer and MyTeam gets it large focus. But people haven't been complaining like that about MyLeague because it is already at a good place. Sure a lot more else they can add to it and issues to sure up. But still is the standard.

Madden has been trying to strike gold with these career modes and just doesn't get what people actually want with those career modes. No one wants the interactive movies/docs. I don't even like where MyCareer has gotten too. I actually prefer Live's The One over MyCareer. I preferred that format over what MyCareer is. People just want to play as themselves or fictional characters and get the NFL experience with off the field depth. Just go back to the old 6th Gen Superstar mode format. It had depth outside of just playing games and practice.

[canes21]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

I agree.

If their marketing folks were more patient and willing to let features get built out, we would be in better place. I get wanting to have enticing back of box features every year. But you still should work on those features in the following years. It's like they want something new every year instead of expanding on features they just implemented a year or two prior. Like I at least expected Scenario Engine to get some attention year 2, but they didn't even mention it at all outside of the suspected use for Storylines in FoF.

Speaking of NBA2k, in the several years, they haven't really added much to MyLeague. The biggest MyLeague feature of last several years has been Mentors. MLO and MyGM has been the focus last 3-4 years and MyCareer and MyTeam gets it large focus. But people haven't been complaining like that about MyLeague because it is already at a good place. Sure a lot more else they can add to it and issues to sure up. But still is the standard.

Madden has been trying to strike gold with these career modes and just doesn't get what people actually want with those career modes. No one wants the interactive movies/docs. I don't even like where MyCareer has gotten too. I actually prefer Live's The One over MyCareer. I preferred that format over what MyCareer is. People just want to play as themselves or fictional characters and get the NFL experience with off the field depth. Just go back to the old 6th Gen Superstar mode format. It had depth outside of just playing games and practice.

What's sad is that you're right in that NBA 2k hasn't been adding as much to MyLeague relative to previous years for the franchise, and you're right that it's because the franchise mode already has so much content as is, and that is why people don't complain as much... but it's sad because check this blog out and realize how much was added last year and that this is considered a weak year for the mode in that series.

https://www.operationsports.com/nba-2k20-franchise-mode-developer-blog-mygm-2-0-myleague-more/

If Madden's franchise mode received that many updates this year, that'd be the most the mode has been updated in over a decade.

And if you really want to get even more sad, here is 2k18's blog.

https://www.operationsports.com/nba-2k19-myleague-and-mygm-developer-blog/

[kennylc321]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

I forget who said it but he was dead on... I had absolutely 0 expectations for this game. Between COVID-19 and the shift to a new console, either one of those things would prevent an greatly improved game, but both of them together...there was no chance.

But the fact that even with divided resources and potentially a disruption in production, they managed to 'improve' face of the franchise... a mode that... once again: NO. ONE. ASKED. FOR.

And did EA really think calling it "classic franchise' would make things better? That right there is the biggest face palm of this entire fiasco. Did some PR person go "ok...I see that we did pretty much nothing for franchise. Our fans will not be happy. I know!! Let's call it 'classic franchise' They will love it!"

Ugh.

[The Senator]

Excellent article.  It's obvious more than ever that the dual curse of "e sports" competitive Madden and the cancer upon sports gaming that is Ultimate Team have killed off any chance of a future sim experience in the series.  Franchise is dead and buried and EA has absolutely no interest in making it worthwhile in the future when they can milk the pure gacha experience of UT modes and tune the game in favor of generic stick skills without the variables of real life.  Add in EA's comfortable monopoly over the license and they have no reason to care about any sort of improvement going forward.  The MUT junkies will spend their outrageous amounts of cash into that mode, and that's all that'll matter.

I can live with older Maddens for my NFL fix, and hopefully, the alternatives in the market will continue to improve in their ability to provide a proper football experience. 

[ChaseB]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

Excellent article.* It's obvious more than ever that the dual curse of "e sports" competitive Madden and the cancer upon sports gaming that is Ultimate Team have killed off any chance of a future sim experience in the series.* Franchise is dead and buried and EA has absolutely no interest in making it worthwhile in the future when they can milk the pure gacha experience of UT modes and tune the game in favor of generic stick skills without the variables of real life.* Add in EA's comfortable monopoly over the license and they have no reason to care about any sort of improvement going forward.* The MUT junkies will spend their outrageous amounts of cash into that mode, and that's all that'll matter.

I can live with older Maddens for my NFL fix, and hopefully, the alternatives in the market will continue to improve in their ability to provide a proper football experience.*

I do want to call something out here. I don't want people to get lost in the weeds here by making this some sort of "modes war" thing. It's infighting that does no one any good. Franchise mode peeps have bad blood towards MUT fans etc. and it's always been sort of misplaced.

Instead, the idea should be more that EA does clearly understand the importance of "live updates" and "live content" but just these companies seem to forget the idea of "live" thus matters for everything now.

If you have a mode in your game that's stagnant and not improving, then it's dying. The conceit of creating new content during the year was to keep people engaged all year.

If you're not going to support a mode then remove it because you're doing it no favors. This is why I sort of don't mind when companies remove an online franchise mode if almost no one plays it and they're not supporting it. Don't introduce something if you don't have plans to support it etc.

Every game company now gets the importance of adding to things, it's been a nice part about content updates. But the point is make sure companies also understand consumers expect that sort of support across the spectrum. This means for something like franchise mode, giving it meaningful updates every cycle, especially if you're not going to focus on it as much during the year itself.

[IIIPercent]

I've seen many members get banned over the years for these types of comments. Good to see OS finally criticizing Madden and discussing, at least in the shallow end, EA's broken promises and failures. 

[Devaster]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

I do want to call something out here. I don't want people to get lost in the weeds here by making this some sort of "modes war" thing. It's infighting that does no one any good. Franchise mode peeps have bad blood towards MUT fans etc. and it's always been sort of misplaced.

Instead, the idea should be more that EA does clearly understand the importance of "live updates" and "live content" but just these companies seem to forget the idea of "live" thus matters for everything now.

If you have a mode in your game that's stagnant and not improving, then it's dying. The conceit of creating new content during the year was to keep people engaged all year.

If you're not going to support a mode then remove it because you're doing it no favors. This is why I sort of don't mind when companies remove an online franchise mode if almost no one plays it and they're not supporting it. Don't introduce something if you don't have plans to support it etc.

Every game company now gets the importance of adding to things, it's been a nice part about content updates. But the point is make sure companies also understand consumers expect that sort of support across the spectrum. This means for something like franchise mode, giving it meaningful updates every cycle, especially if you're not going to focus on it as much during the year itself.

Great insight and completely agree.

[IIIPercent]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

Frankly speaking, it's clear that EA's marketing folks have the same issue that also plagues many gamers; a distinct and palpable lack of patience.

Longshot flops, oh wait, let's focus more on franchise, oh wait, let's focus on player career modes again. It's a pure lack of confidence in their brand and this constant wavering back and forth in lieu of really embracing Madden for what it is and building upon it. To use a sports analogy, they're trying too hard to smack a HR every at-bat and they are striking out a LOT. I can only imagine how obnoxious that has to be for the development team to be given new marching orders every time out. (We've seen similar paradigm shifts in gameplay and graphical engines)

You buy 2k, you know exactly what you're getting, MyPlayer, MyTeam, and MyLeague (with MyGM for good measure). Those modes are constant and (for better and worse) don't change all that much aside from the real details. To continue that analogy, 2k is hitting a lot of singles, which is helping "the team" score more runs - just at a slow pace. I'm not a particular fan of that series (particularly of their franchise offerings), but can fully acknowledge that they have been much more consistent.

If Madden marketing folks were more patient and built year after year on what they have - we'd be in a much better spot.

Hitting a home run out of the park and missing? I disagree. They are actually the Madden CPU on their game winning drive throwing a checkdown with 12 seconds left and no timeouts running to the LoS as time runs out.

I've never worked for a gaming dev but I've been a computer engineer for years in massive organizations. Everywhere I've been, certain implementations get all the resources and money - the ones that actually generate revenue. The other stuff? Those staff members are underpaid, lacking resources, and no one cares about their work - they simply keep their environments afloat. That's how I feel about Madden.

We live in a world driven by instant gratification and a mixture of mom and dad's credit card and poor financial decisions spending absorbent amounts of money on in-game purchases. EA really has no use for us plebs.

It's time to accept that there is not and likely won't ever be competition in this market and we will never get a truly quality product. Either quit buying the game or embrace the suck.

[ChaseB]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

I've seen many members get banned over the years for these types of comments. Good to see OS finally criticizing Madden and discussing, at least in the shallow end, EA's broken promises and failures.*

Well, there's a way to properly criticize and critique something. Even if you feel like the modding team is overbearing at times, generally speaking bans occur due to incessant drilling on points or just not being able to moderate one's own negativity to fit into something worth reading that's not just venting.

There's still a difference between "EA sucks, fire everyone" and what these discussions have been. There's a way to be negative and actually meaningfully do it, and that's the part people struggle with at times.

[ChaseB]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

Frankly speaking, it's clear that EA's marketing folks have the same issue that also plagues many gamers; a distinct and palpable lack of patience.

Longshot flops, oh wait, let's focus more on franchise, oh wait, let's focus on player career modes again. It's a pure lack of confidence in their brand and this constant wavering back and forth in lieu of really embracing Madden for what it is and building upon it. To use a sports analogy, they're trying too hard to smack a HR every at-bat and they are striking out a LOT. I can only imagine how obnoxious that has to be for the development team to be given new marching orders every time out. (We've seen similar paradigm shifts in gameplay and graphical engines)

You buy 2k, you know exactly what you're getting, MyPlayer, MyTeam, and MyLeague (with MyGM for good measure). Those modes are constant and (for better and worse) don't change all that much aside from the real details. To continue that analogy, 2k is hitting a lot of singles, which is helping "the team" score more runs - just at a slow pace. I'm not a particular fan of that series (particularly of their franchise offerings), but can fully acknowledge that they have been much more consistent.

If Madden marketing folks were more patient and built year after year on what they have - we'd be in a much better spot.

Agree on the whole, but 2K goofed up MyGM pretty bad this year so I think that one did not remain a constant.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Re: OS Roundtable: #FixMaddenFranchise and Reaction to Face of Franchise Improvements

Hitting a home run out of the park and missing? I disagree. They are actually the Madden CPU on their game winning drive throwing a checkdown with 12 seconds left and no timeouts running to the LoS as time runs out.

I've never worked for a gaming dev but I've been a computer engineer for years in massive organizations. Everywhere I've been, certain implementations get all the resources and money - the ones that actually generate revenue. The other stuff? Those staff members are underpaid, lacking resources, and no one cares about their work - they simply keep their environments afloat. That's how I feel about Madden.

We live in a world driven by instant gratification and a mixture of mom and dad's credit card and poor financial decisions spending absorbent amounts of money on in-game purchases. EA really has no use for us plebs.

It's time to accept that there is not and likely won't ever be competition in this market and we will never get a truly quality product. Either quit buying the game or embrace the suck.

Rex Dickson quit because EA refused to allow him to improve Franchise mode and other sim football stuff. I think he might have deleted the tweet by now, but basically someone attacked him for Franchise mode sucking a while ago, and he responded that it wasn't his fault that not being able to improve it because of pressure from management in part drove his resignation.


As for numbers of people who played it, there is this:

https://twitter.com/Rex_Dickson_/status/1278368910882947072

"I may have dropped a hint or two," he says after being shown a "franchise blueprint" created by users with respect to why he no longer works at EA. He quotes the following with that comment: