EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

[reyes the roof]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

Sadly I think it's pretty clear how the decision makers view CFM versus a mode that can make money at this point. Put yourself in the decision making process as if your job depended on making money. You could try and increase base sales in a mode that doesn't have additional revenues (CFM). Or you could try and increase base sales that could also come with additional revenue (MUT). It's a very easy decision to make at an executive level. What frustrating for most here is we truly see the passion the dev team has, they just seem to be handcuffed with where they spend their time. I truly believe that the reality of it is that offline CFM players will really have to accept MUT and it's success if we want to see any progress in the mode we like the most.

I guess I just view some of the fixes they could do for CFM as low hanging fruit. Fix the broken stuff and you can easily get back some lost sales. They should still be able to put a ton of resources in to MUT

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by reyes the roof

I guess I just view some of the fixes they could do for CFM as low hanging fruit. Fix the broken stuff and you can easily get back some lost sales. They should still be able to put a ton of resources in to MUT

To CFM fans like you and I, it is low laying fruit. I don't disagree with you.

I'm saying that that you need to look at this as if you weren't even a fan of football, let alone video games.

If you were making a decision based on what option makes the most money, CFM is going to lose out going forward.

We have to accept it, hope for MUT's success and that CFM gets treatment when the dev team can. I know for a fact they want to.

[Toupal]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

To CFM fans like you and I, it is low laying fruit. I don't disagree with you. I'm saying that that you need to look at this as if you weren't even a fan of football, let alone video games. If you were making a decision based on what option makes the most money, CFM is going to lose out going forward. We have to accept it, hope for MUT's success and that CFM gets treatment when the dev team can. I know for a fact they want to.

After this whole EA Loot Box ordeal, and doing my own research, I strongly have to agree.

I know the devs want to make a good CFM, however EA as an entire company has done more harm than good.

EA has made more money this year than they have any other year, yet they spend less money on development that they did in 2009?

With CEO Andrew Wilson, this company will continue to spit in its' consumers faces, give devs nothing to work with, and play to the investors while trashing their name.

[reyes the roof]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

To CFM fans like you and I, it is low laying fruit. I don't disagree with you. I'm saying that that you need to look at this as if you weren't even a fan of football, let alone video games. If you were making a decision based on what option makes the most money, CFM is going to lose out going forward. We have to accept it, hope for MUT's success and that CFM gets treatment when the dev team can. I know for a fact they want to.

I know nothing about MUT except that it involves money and cards. I'm under the impression that the mode is a money tree and the people that play that mode are pretty happy with it. With that being said, if I'm in charge I'm trying to figure out if EA will see increased profits by using the same amount of resources on MUT as the year before, or will they start to see diminishing returns. That's the key, because if you can cut back slightly on the MUT budget and still print money with the profits it generates, then you can move those resources elsewhere and try and generate even more money.


I don't dispute that MUT is their money maker, I just think at some point they will turn it in to a well enough oiled machine that they can give it less attention while making the same amount of money and look at other areas to make money from

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

Sadly I think it's pretty clear how the decision makers view CFM versus a mode that can make money at this point. Put yourself in the decision making process as if your job depended on making money. You could try and increase base sales in a mode that doesn't have additional revenues (CFM). Or you could try and increase base sales that could also come with additional revenue (MUT). It's a very easy decision to make at an executive level. What frustrating for most here is we truly see the passion the dev team has, they just seem to be handcuffed with where they spend their time. I truly believe that the reality of it is that offline CFM players will really have to accept MUT and it's success if we want to see any progress in the mode we like the most.

I said this years ago whenever someone bashed 2Ks MyCareer mode. I feel the same way about VC. I don't care for any of that stuff. I don't play those modes and I leave tens to hundreds of thousands of VC on the table every year. It just accrues until i move on to the new game. It's just not my thing. I play MYLeague in my little sandbox basketball world and that's it.

I saw the explosion of MyCareer. I saw a baskeball game selling upwards lf 8 million copies. Just insane. I also saw 2K during that time hire Leftos (a huge franchise type) and others from the community to work on the game. That was possible, I think, because of how commercially successful the game was. And while they continue to grow their base they keep us "old heads" in the mix. I was playing yesterday and while the pre game show was loading it asked, "What mode are you most thankful for?" I chose ML, it was like 6.8% of the results. Lol. The rest were MyCareer and Pro Am. It is what it is.

I dont get mad when everything is about Pro Am and VC. More power to yall. As long as my mode is able to be feed in the process I'm good. That's where I'm at with Madden. I don't fault the devs. Rex seems like a strait up dude. And we all have jobs and bosses. I personally don't hold out much hope that the ship can be righted with CFM. Madden on the whole i think is in an alright state. Not bad at all. But not great, either.

Best case scenario, IMO, is for the suits or whoever to say "do what 2K" is doing and turn these guys loose. If an NBA game can sell 8 or 9 million copies then an NFL game should double those American sales. CFM won't get it there. I think it takes giving all of the respective communities what they want. If everything can't get in, cool. We hear you. We're working toward that end goal. You want an NFL sim (within the boundaries of what the NFL will allow), here. Want NFL Blitz (again, within the boundaries), here. Want NFL Head Coach, here. Want Road To Glory NFL, here. I think that's a recipe that could work.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by reyes the roof

Long term I agree with you but I don't see them cutting back on resources because of one bad year of sales. That would be like the Yankees having a firesale and slashing payroll because they had one bad season

All I can give you is my experiences working with different companies. When there were a down year in sales, everyone knew there were budget cuts coming to each department. It was up to the managers on how those budget cuts would affect each department. ie, less bonus, layoffs, vendor negotiations, cutting corners to cut budgets.

[triplechin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Junior Moe

Best case scenario, IMO, is for the suits or whoever to say "do what 2K" is doing and turn these guys loose. If an NBA game can sell 8 or 9 million copies then an NFL game should double those American sales. CFM won't get it there. I think it takes giving all of the respective communities what they want. If everything can't get in, cool. We hear you. We're working toward that end goal. You want an NFL sim (within the boundaries of what the NFL will allow), here. Want NFL Blitz (again, within the boundaries), here. Want NFL Head Coach, here. Want Road To Glory NFL, here. I think that's a recipe that could work.

I always imagine them boosting sales significantly if they copy 2K's MyCareer/Park and make it like NFL street. I agree that 2K does a better job than Madden on feeding all the mouths even though 2K had a lot of issues this year, Madden is terrible at it.

[mykelmosinee]

Quote: Originally Posted by triplechin

I always imagine them boosting sales significantly if they copy 2K's MyCareer/Park and make it like NFL street. I agree that 2K does a better job than Madden on feeding all the mouths even though 2K had a lot of issues this year, Madden is terrible at it.

EA will NEVER allow them to do ANYTHING that could be said to copy 2k5...they'd be admitting that 2k5 was a quality game, (and EA doesn't have the talent to do that, either, imo).
They'll continue to do as they've done and make the games play as fast as they can by offering very little in presentation and their "beyond broadcast" network presentation.
It sucks, but it's been 13 years, why would they change now?


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