Madden's future of CFM is alarming

[timhere1970]

It seems to me madden and other sport games are going the printer sales route. They can pretty much lose money on the printer but you are going to come back for ink. I can envision a future where madden arrives unsolicited in your mail box like a 1000 hours of free aol. They are depending less and less on disk sales each year. The model seems to be evolving to get the game in as many consumers hands as possible then set the hook and get them to break out their credit card.

[timhere1970]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

And the NPD sales don't include digital sales either. Sales start to increase again right around the black Friday deals through xmas as mom and dad rush out a purchase a game for junior. Since the license deal, people at OS have been rooting for a downward trend in sales in the hopes the NFL would recognize that and sign another gaming company. I don't see that happening anytime soon with the NFL's relationship with EA and vice versa, unless something comes along and totally reverses things. Since the introduction of CFM for Madden 13, there hasn't been much in considerable improvements for CFM and that needs to start changing, especially with other sports titles with deeper franchise modes. I not only hope Duece's mock up made the developers more aware, but the shots fired from the 2k team too. Those 2 factors need to start adding up to more concentration for CFM.

I hope that if the community is loud enough we may be able to get one more big ugrade to franchise before the mode becomes irrelevant to eA.

[reyes the roof]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

I hope that if the community is loud enough we may be able to get one more big ugrade to franchise before the mode becomes irrelevant to eA.

If they ever did get the franchise mode where we want it, they'd have a pretty good chunk of people willing to buy the game every year. They'd just need to make sure game play doesn't get worse from year to year and we'd pretty much pay $60 for a roster update to start a new cfm. Once they get cfm working properly it shouldn't really take any resources to maintain

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

I hope that if the community is loud enough we may be able to get one more big ugrade to franchise before the mode becomes irrelevant to eA.

I don't see why online and MUT can't be the focus while franchise improves along the way. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. 2K has been about online since 2K14. Offline "franchise" types took an L in 2K14. The game has grown tremendously since that time. Great, more money. At the same time the franchise modes have grown, too. Onliners who bring in the money are rightly, from a business perspective, taken care of first. Thats where the money and resources go. Cool. The offliners are thrown their bones as well. It's a win win. And it adds both quality and quantity to the product. Theres something in abundance for everyone, thereby appealing to the broadest audience. If you like basketball there is something for you. Like cards, here. Like street ball, here. Like building a team from scratch and controlling it, here. Like story mode, here. Whatever your thing it's there.

Longshot, though much maligned, is a nice quality addition to Madden IMO. It's something I'd at least play every year even though it isn't my primary mode. It just adds to the overall title. I feel the same way about MUT. It just loses its charm because all the players move the same. Part of what makes playing with different players is them looking and playing differently. Barry Sanders, Darren Sproles, how different are they really when playing? CFM could and should be deeper. I get that we aren't the most profitable demo. But by having more people drawn into it you increase the chances of getting more people into other money generating modes. It's not just about having a great robust franchise mode. There's potential money there too.

[mlb61]

Quote: Originally Posted by howboutdat

as with alot of things, numbers can be skewed if not looking into actual facts. Madden always rules August because its got no competition that month. Look at the games on that list under it, they are all old games on both consoles it listes. So yeah it was top seller over older games, thats not exactly mean it had outstanding sells. Someone here already mentioned that sales were down 10-15 % already. Next year that number will grow, and yes , they will be noticing when two years in row, sales numbers are going down.

According to theses analysts, it is the number 1 selling sports game for all of 2017. I want Madden to change for the better, but probably not in the way the most vocal group here does, and my attitude is different in that I don't think I speak for anyone other than myself (and I'm certainly not into prophecy, especially that of the "Verily, verily, I say unto thee. . . ." type.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

NBA Live was going to be canceled this year, and the only reason it is releasing at all is because they pooled their resources from other departments. The budget for NBA Live has been all but reduced to zero. It sells so poorly that it loses money year in and out. They are already in the works to rebrand the franchise and release with the next wave of systems hitting the shelf. As far as Madden goes, CFM will also be rebranded and the focus will shift more to the the ability to monetize "scenarios", like Longshot. The long term vision is to basically sell Madden as more of an episodic choose your own adventure and have your Create a Player basically play out across multiple years. Unless something extremely drastic changes and there is clearance from well above a few peoples pay grade Madden will continue to actually regress in the franchise mode while all efforts are put in to place to monetize "episodic" content to generate a more long term revenue stream.

I'd pay extra just for a 2004 level franchise mode (Madden 05 and ESPN 2k).

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by ForUntoOblivionSoar∞

I'd pay extra just for a 2004 level franchise mode (Madden 05 and ESPN 2k).

SO sad we have to say we would pay extra for something we should never...ever have to pay extra for.

[illwill10]

I was definitely going to be Madden 18 this year. I didn't buy 17, but felt it was good enough buy this year if they improved in certain areas. But then around Mid-late July, my hype for game died down completely, mainly from other sports games coming out around Madden. Then knowing that CFM only would see a few improvements, pretty much killed it for me. I didn't like how they hyped up Coaching Adjustments and Game Styles as CFM improvements when actually they are gameplay improvements. Draft Board only really effect Online. Hopefully CFM sees a big jump next year, but it is not easy to think so. Frostbite will still demand a lot of resources since it will be year 2. Longshot will demand a lot of resources if they continue on with it. NBA Live might still demand a lot of help next year because they might transition to Frostbite and they need a lot of work with there Franchise as well. So it is not easy to say Madden will focus on CFM next year.

I ended up renting Madden. After playing it for a little while, it really feels like Madden 17.5. Where as a offline gamer, I feel glad I didn't buy it this year. Where it is good enough to enjoy, but not enough depth to warrant a purchase.