Madden 18 Franchise PSA (Shopmaster)

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by RogerDodger

Perfectly put. There is simply no excuse for letting me play or watch the cpu play itself for games involving teams that I don't control. It existed back in the very early days of franchise mode in Madden and others and it's laughable that I can't do that in 2017. Most likely 2018 as well. Nothing is more anticlimactic than not making the playoffs and having the season end there and then with no opportunity to watch or play the Super Bowl.

Yep! It's baffling. I don't even care about the XP or any of that stuff. I hate it. That's why I auto progress it or whatever that option is. The mode already isn't immersive enough. At least let us play other games to see what else is going on around the league. But like I said, I think it all goes back to CFM being crafted for online first. Until that changes I don't think we'll (again, offline OS franchise types...) get nearly the options we expect or had before. That's where they want to go with it.

I typically peep in on Madden when news is released and the game drops and then disappear until the next iteration. After beating Longshot I'm fairly certain I'll be out on M18. Hell, if I can beat it during my EA Access time I probably wont buy it until around Black Friday after hearing that the new passing isn't anything how I envisioned. I can get my franchise fix from 2K and The Show.

[deu22ces]

Just to piggy back real quick...what I mean is like this: What would get a Franchise guy like me more interested in MUT? How about you track my stats of the players I use in the mode and keep a history of it. It may sound small, but as a Franchise guy, I like building stats over time or creating a history to follow. That wouldn't take away from the core of MUT, only make it more inclusive, IMO.

Now, what would make a MUT focused person like Franchise mode more?

[timhere1970]

Realistically, I would spend alll the money I spend on video games in a year just on madden if it had a franchise mode worthy of this century. I would love to get better football games through competition but we know that is not going to happen. So, the only way to get a better game is for it to make ea more money. There simply is no solution that doesn't do that. They could sell the game with last century's franchise mode and have a dlc for advanced franchise or something along that line.

[DeuceDouglas]

The thing is that even if you monetize CFM, there's no guarantee that it gets any more attention, becomes any better or becomes any more of a priority.

CFM's features have been notorious for being extremely shallow and poorly thought out since its introduction. Even if the mode is monetized, it likely won't even come close to making the amount of money MUT does and it definitely won't pull the amount of YouTube views ripping packs does. It's just about numbers to them and 65% of users playing means it's good enough. Additional revenue is great for their pockets but as long as the majority of users are still playing, there is little incentive for them to make the mode better and then priorities transition from that to how to get more people to spend money within the mode.

[Rebel10]

Quote: Originally Posted by SyncereBlackout

I don't think EA won't make the investment, but I do think they don't see viable returns if they do. Like many of you I've been playing since at least 95' Many of our most passionate boycott or buy every few cycles. EA being a publicly traded Corp means it's got obligations. If we won't pay (consistently and beyond the initial purchase of the game) then someone else who will gets their attention. The relationship is mutually beneficial. If you've got 15 min the most recent investor relations call is worth a read: http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...2017-05-09.pdf madden is mentioned quite a few times and as you can see investors drive the business decisions which are expressed (read: dictated) to Devs. TL;DR Yes, EA makes a lot of money but we CFM'ers are a diverse group. Like the implementation or not, we got some top things from our wish lists. Hopefully NBA live goes away, when it does I hope we are ready to (financially) fill it's place otherwise something else will. If madden can't grow through us (subscription services, digital downloads, and micro transactions were mentioned) it will expand through new sales to new groups.

Yep, this is spot on.

You'll see continued investment into mini-games like Madden Ultimate Team, Draft Champions, and other modes that feed into ultimate team, while modes like Connected Franchise are made less of a priority, which is sad because it's always been my favorite mode in any sports game.

Adding the single player story mode to the game this year fits this investor-driven vision as well. A single-player, scripted story mode where you essentially play key moments and watch cut-scenes is inexpensive to make, it's easy to promote, and it costs very little to support post-release. Sure there will be some bugs here and there like any mode, but by and large, passionate gamers who play 100 hours of Franchise mode are going to find, report, and expect action on far more bugs than (even the same) players who play a 6-8 hour story mode.

EA is going to invest in what provides a strong return for little investment. MUT trading card games are a huge return for minimal investment, and it's proven to be incredibly lucrative for EA. As a player whose never been interested in the card trading games (I think they're really bad from a game design perspective, mostly well done from an addictive psychological perspective, and poorly implemented in the Madden game engine), my wish is that EA would break MUT, FUT, BUT (basketball ultimate team...?), and any other Ultimate Team modes off into a separate development team that focuses squarely rolling release cycles of these modes, while another team can focus on franchise-like modes for each game. FUT, MUT, and BUT are all basically the same game across multiple franchises, with some small changes here and there depending on the sport, but really, the concept is the same it's just the particulars that change.

EA may do this, but they probably won't. The likelihood is that teams and developers who focus on things like Franchise mode (expensive to develop, expensive to support post-release) will be dwindled down, while teams that focus on rolling revenue (MUT), will continue to see investment. MUT was a genius idea from EA 3 or 4 years ago, whenever it debuted, and it's allowed them to make Madden very profitable again after several years of declining profits. But, it's a mode that ultimately cannibalizes itself. There is still an incentive for annual upgrades to Madden, but this incentive was always driven by fans who desire a sports simulation, not as much by people who want to create a fantasy squad of legends or one-off "Platinum GOAT Tom Brady 99 OVR." MUT is already fairly divorced from reality (I get the business decision behind it but I don't understand from a conceptual, "attachment to reality" point of view, how Ray Lewis can be both an 81 overall and a 95 overall in the same game, at the same time, on the same team; or how Gronkowski and Delanie Walker can both be 81 overall tight ends, because one is like Bronze and one is Double Silver Black Diamond, or what have you).

Ultimately, this detachment from reality is going to hurt retail sales of Madden for the Madden Ultimate Team player base, and EA is either willing to take that retail hit (and may even turn Madden Ultimate Team completely into a games-as-a-service model), or they're going to occasionally rekindle the franchise mode every 3 or 4 years to maintain that retail cycle, which still feeds into the MUT microtransaction model.

I'll pine for the days of 2003-2006 or even NCAA '13 or '14, where it felt like the sole focus of development was to improve gameplay and franchise/dynasty/owner modes, but I think those days are gone. The "it hasn't been a focus this year" is going to increasingly become a more common trend, even if the PR message changes.

Quote: Originally Posted by deu22ces

Well, how did MUT get footing? By getting it connected to the younger generation and social media. How about Franchise Tournaments? How about a show about Franchise? They can follow a 32-team online league, make a series out of it. Give them personalities and monikers. If you think it sounds silly (honestly, I do), but this is how it happens anymore. If Rex and Clint really mean it when they say they are 'sim' at heart, then they have to make Franchise mean something to the people that run the EA mother ship. Create the same social media hype train that was made for MUT. They completely missed a huge opportunity when they failed to attach Story mode to Franchise out of the gate...they only had 4 stinkin years to do so. I would have even been OK, at this point, if you had to play thru the Story mode to unlock the new features in Franchise. Instead, they give MUT rewards, further adding fuel to the Franchise fire. Now, any success that Story mode may have, will be linked to MUT b/c there won't be a way to show directly that Story mode brought more people to Franchise mode. Instead, the metrics will show more people went to MUT. I really believe that Franchise, to the Execs, is a stale, time consuming, unmarketable mode that is only allowed to exist anymore b/c of what I mentioned earlier; it KEEPS value. Franchise can't capture 65% of the players. It has to capture 125% of players to show that it adds $$ value, not just keep it. How do we make Franchise more marketable to a growing segment that is willing to pay to get the immediate satisfaction without alienating ourselves from it?

I think you're on the right track of thinking up creative ways to monetize franchise mode, and your comment about having to capture a greater share of players is spot on, but MUT (and similar modes) did not gain footing just by focusing on social media or by being forced-hip, it got footing because it's the same psychological trap of loot crates, blue diamonds, and every other 'delayed reward' game that has taken off in the last 5 years, while making the initial value proposition fairly low.

This is part of why I think that EA will consider making Madden (or Ultimate Team) into a "free" games-as-a-service model in the coming years. They've already done it to an extent with EA Access, where they essentially give the game away for free come January, and prior to January, run large discounts with MUT-rewards built in.

EA was very forward thinking developing MUT, as it emerged right at the explosion of the 'loot crate' phenomenon, and just as mobile games had normalized microtransactions and 'pay to win' psychological mechanics. MUT captured that YouTube/Twitch audience almost as well as other loot crate, microtransactions games, as it's a media that (quizzically for me) just seems made for those social platforms. I don't think that Connected Franchise works in the same way or on the same psychological impulses as the pay-to-win or collectible mechanics of card trading games.

I think you're right that for EA to properly invest in CFM, they have to come up with a way to monetize CFM better, but I'm not sure what that strategy is. Introducing social media campaigns around CFM players or giving them lame personalities wouldn't do much for me. MUT affectively targets both the loot crate, card trading, and fantasy football crowds (similar to that tournament mode), and CFM targets a different audience, but it'll be a challenge to capitalize on the mode monetarily without sacrificing the integrity of the mode. Modes like MUT already lack integrity: If you pay $90, then you can buy yourself the best team in the game and do basically anything you want. It's a quitessential anti-game concept. Franchise modes have always been the quintessential game: how do you balance resources, make successful choices, to build a franchise.

Unfortunately I don't think it's an easy problem to solve. The only bright spot I can see is in the anti-trend against loot-crate, microtransaction heavy games, like what you've seen from, say, Dark Souls. The Souls series become incredibly successful by being an anti-trend: while Bethesda was selling Horse Armor for $2 and making a game that was impossible to fail at (Oblivion or Skyrim), FROM Software was releasing a combat driven challenging game that's focus was on rewarding gameplay and punishing the gamer. While I don't think there's much that Madden can borrow from Dark Souls, it's a glimmer of hope for people who have traditionally enjoyed franchise modes in sports games.

[deu22ces]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas

The thing is that even if you monetize CFM, there's no guarantee that it gets any more attention, becomes any better or becomes any more of a priority. CFM's features have been notorious for being extremely shallow and poorly thought out since its introduction. Even if the mode is monetized, it likely won't even come close to making the amount of money MUT does and it definitely won't pull the amount of YouTube views ripping packs does. It's just about numbers to them and 65% of users playing means it's good enough. Additional revenue is great for their pockets but as long as the majority of users are still playing, there is little incentive for them to make the mode better and then priorities transition from that to how to get more people to spend money within the mode.

I hear you Deuce and I agree. But did you think 4 years ago that a little side mode where you collected cards and played thru mundane challenges would become THE $$ maker for EA? That people would pay for upgrades and form leagues over it?

I think we might be surprised what people would pay for in Franchise...with the big caveat that it does not take away from the core of the mode. People might pay to have legends unlocked to put on their Franchise team. There could be a 'fantasy' online franchise where legends show up in your drafts. Would they pay to import their MUT team into Franchise? Heck, it even seems they'd pay for 'new' gloves, cleats, and hand warmers to 'customize' their players. Idk man, it's an interesting group of gamers for sure.

Personally, I don't care what people do with their franchises, as long as i can keep doing what i want in mine. If they want to pay to have a 99 OVR team, go at it.

[roadman]

I would love to see all kinds of options in the game, but I think if you start monetizing CFM, it's has the potential of pulling people away from MUT.

They have a good thing going with MUT, why roll the dice and take a chance at another area and splitting up revenue?

I'm in the same category, I don't care where or what people spend their money on, I've never paid more than retail for a game and that won't change.

[BleedGreen710]

Quote: Originally Posted by deu22ces

I think we might be surprised what people would pay for in Franchise...with the big caveat that it does not take away from the core of the mode.

I remember in NCAA football towards the end they had 'timesavers' you could spend money on to improve your dynastys. It was about $20 for a bundle with all of them. I dont think it had a negative effect on the modes popularity or reputation. This doesn't necessarily relate to CFMs relationship with MUT but I thought it was worth pointing out that EA did in fact at one point have micro transactions on one of their franchise/dynasty modes.