I must be missing something after hearing reviews from the closed beta

[goillini03]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

This dismissive line of thought is the primary reason I typed as many words as I did to explain how Tiburon counts QB1 as a component of Franchise mode. It's very obvious that they do count QB1 as a piece of Franchise, so it's useful to understand how and why they might count it as such. In hindsight, Longshot was probably too focused on narrative and teaching on-field football game mechanics to ever really position itself as a franchise lead-in. It ended up being better as a standalone story. Playing the role of a quarterback going through the actual scouting combine and draft process - as opposed to some contrived game show plot device detached from how the NFL actually works - is a more natural fit for the franchise mode introduction, and integrating actual franchise mode gameplay (assuming Scenario Engine delivers what EA says) will also certainly help.

Thanks for the response. I still think that this is a reach. Much like I would say that RTTS had has little to no impact on The Shows franchise mode. I hope you are right, but seems like they same song and dance.

[JayhawkerStL]

The problem is that he number of people that need a deep franchise mode, something that is more than a glorified season mode, is really small and not worth investing in.

Even though 2K’s franchise mode is heralded, it’s MyCareer and MyPark that drives the enormous sales. At the very least, EA has bought into that line of thinking, as they have invested in NBA Live’s The One and NHL’s World of Chel at the expense of franchise. And those modes are easily the best part of those games. And they have avoided a deep realistic franchise mode in Madden for years.

If you are a die hard franchise mode guy, then I seems wrong to ignore it. But if you are a publisher of AAA sports games, then you have to go with what you think will sell the most and drive the most revenue. And if you think revenue should not be the priority, then you really don’t have a case EA will be interested in hearing.

Therefore, it is what it is. You can either find the mode to be good enough for you $60, or you don’t. Pretending that long threads bashing the devs and decision makers, or getting dozens of people to tweet at devs is making a difference just sets you up to be unhappy year after year.

For me, the last thing I want is for EA to be more like the Madden 01 to Madden 13 games I hated. MUT had a lot do with that, as it was a mode that focused on what I liked about football video games. All EA has to do is decide who they want to cater to.

If MUT comes out, and gameplay gets more boring, then I will move on to something else. Might be bummed, but won’t be bitter, because if they do, it’s because they think there is more money there. Seems like a waste of time trying to get a company to design a game for less sales just because I want it to be a certain way.

As it is, I’ve played more of all three sports (NBA, NHL, NFL) than at any time in my life. I’ll enjoy this while it lasts. Nothing lasts forever, though.

[ODogg]

If QB1 is like My Player in 2K then I likely won't even play franchise anymore.

Once 2k came up with My Player mode I slowly quit playing franchise as much and eventually quit playing franchise altogether.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Dingo72]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

If QB1 is like My Player in 2K then I likely won't even play franchise anymore. Once 2k came up with My Player mode I slowly quit playing franchise as much and eventually quit playing franchise altogether. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I play franchise coop with my dad. Single player modes are nothing of interest to me. Franchise and QB1 should be integrated with the same or similar changes to make both player types happy.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

What do you count as Franchise mode? I ask because it’s clear that Tiburon counts QB1 as a single-player experience built either on top of, in supplement to, or as an introduction to Franchise mode. They’d likely argue it’s all three, and they certainly messaged the mode as such when it was first announced. Remember that QB1 and Franchise were tied together at the hip in the same blogs and reveal streams. Knowing how they are messaging the components of the game informs how I would evaluate it. I think, if I were the hypothetical Dude In Charge of Madden 20, I’d base the internal evaluation of whether M20 Franchise met the internal goals this year based on the following: A - QB1 delivers a quality experience on its own, and it must review better with users and critics than Madden 19’s dismally-received Longshot: Homecoming as a baseline; B - QB1 feeds more new players into the Franchise mode ecosystem, thus expanding the total number of users touching the game’s most popular mode; and C - once beyond the QB1 content and playing the traditional franchise experience, the existing structure paired with the more subtle mode quality of life improvements, tuning changes, ratings rebalancing, and new core gameplay features keeps new and returning players in Franchise mode for longer periods of time than M19; they must play more games, finish more seasons, do more drafts, and generally touch more pieces of the mode more often. Retention of users in particular is super-important, as people who stick around with Madden 20 this long probably really like the game and will plan on buying M21, engaging with Ultimate Team in some capacity, or both. What I certainly will not base the evaluation on is how many items I ticked off the community wish list. That clearly wasn’t the focus this year, and also if I approached game development that way I wouldn’t end up with the if-nothing-else cohesive product which Madden 20 is shaping up to be. Every major new feature announcement for Madden 20 complements a second major game feature: X-Factors fills the Pro Bowl with awesome players who have unique abilities and makes the Pro Bowl better; the Pro Bowl adds authenticity to Franchise and makes it better; the Pro Bowl adds authenticity to QB1’s cinematic experience and makes it better; X-Factors adds gameplay depth to QB1 and makes it better; X-Factors changes the meta of building good MUT teams and makes MUT better; X-Factors changes the optimal player and team development strategies in Franchise and makes Franchise better; etc. That synergy between gameplay systems is a great thing for the game. It clarifies the game’s development and makes the game easier to sell, both internally and to customers. We’ll see how it reviews and plays at the end of the month when it comes out, but as of today Madden 20 looks like it might be the most laser-focused Madden game ever released. I realize that none of this is what franchise power users probably want to hear. I’m gonna guess most people here dismissed QB1 the moment it was announced. QB1 as the cinematic lead-in hook for Franchise is clearly the creative direction Tiburon went this year, though, so the success of that mode is my best guess as to how they might evaluate their progress internally. If you don’t count QB1 as part of Franchise mode, though, then we can’t have a productive discussion about this as you’d be willfully ignoring Tiburon’s obvious total vision for the mode this year.

I wasn't asking if what they are doing is a good business decision. Drawing people into a particular mode should not be the motivation. Quality should be.




Anyway, as for QB1, it can be a fun mode IMHO if they:


(A) Allow you to change from a franchise to QB1 (thus making it actually part of franchise instead of parallel to it), that way you won't be forced to mess up the draft if you play it.


(B) Allow you to play as an existing real life player, as opposed to a made up one.


(C) Expand it to veterans as well.




Without any of that I doubt I'll be very impressed as it would just be a mode made almost entirely of assets already present, making it less of a new addition and more of a slight modification.

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

How much money does EA make from franchise? Is that a quantifiable number?

Not really the point, though. They make enough to make it better. Not every video game studio and their funders make every decision based only on money. I KNOW this for a fact because I am very close to people in one indie studio making a game (which was released as an early access but is still in development, to great reviews btw) and reasonably close people in another who just recently released one, and both of these studios (from developers to the bank rollers) are making or made the game they are/did because they love what they do, they love the genre, etc.


One particular person in the first studio spent four years working alone living off of selling development assets in his spare time because he loved what he was doing so much and was motivated primarily by quality.





So, it's not impossible for a developer from top to bottom to value quality as much as profit, and to do things because they play homage to the genre. To put in extra hours without more pay ONLY because they want the game to be true to the genre it is representing.




EDIT- to be clear I'm not taking Tiburon to task. I'm talking about the suits. If I were one of those rich boys, I'd be funding the game to make it a great American Football game as the primary motivation, and everything else would be secondary, unless I was literally bleeding money.

[howboutdat]

Quote: Originally Posted by ForUntoOblivionSoar∞

Not really the point, though. They make enough to make it better. Not every video game studio and their funders make every decision based only on money. I KNOW this for a fact because I am very close to people in one indie studio making a game (which was released as an early access but is still in development, to great reviews btw) and reasonably close people in another who just recently released one, and both of these studios (from developers to the bank rollers) are making or made the game they are/did because they love what they do, they love the genre, etc. One particular person in the first studio spent four years working alone living off of selling development assets in his spare time because he loved what he was doing so much and was motivated primarily by quality. So, it's not impossible for a developer from top to bottom to value quality as much as profit, and to do things because they play homage to the genre. To put in extra hours without more pay ONLY because they want the game to be true to the genre it is representing. .

I would also point this out . Name 5 games that were very high quality and widely considered good games that did not make money ......


You make a high quality game, its going to sell and your going to make money. Franchise is only a part of Madden , not the full game. As i stated earlier we all know EA mindset is get as many people to buy the game as possible. The more whom buy it, the higher the number of people will end up buying MUT coins. It would make sense to put some more of that MUT money into franchise ( since some want to falsely claim franchise does not make them money) and thus draw in more people buying the game and raising the number of people buying micros.

[DeuceDouglas]

Quote: Originally Posted by goillini03

I have no idea why QB1 would be considered a franchise mode. We heard that Longshot was a franchise mode lead in as well.

It's considered franchise mode simply because it lives in the same ecosystem as everything else under the franchise name but in reality, it should be considered franchise mode as much as Coach/Owner mode should be considered a Superstar mode. One you control a single player, the other you control an entire team/organization. One you deal with multiple levels of roster/team management on a weekly basis, the other you deal with absolutely none of that. They're two entirely different experiences hence why you've seen pretty much every other sports game in existence treat them as such.

Longshot wasn't really a part of franchise in any way and was clearly intended to try and bring in new users and funnel them into MUT. And despite being under the umbrella of the franchise name, QB1 is basically an extension of Longshot that adds little-to-no value to either coach or owner mode. The scenario engine could easily live regardless of QB1's inclusion and even trying to skew it as an some kind of introduction to franchise mode is pretty shortsighted as well. With exception to using the scenario engine and overlapping gameplay features, player mode is hardly going to teach or even provide a user with any kind of significant assistance or useful knowledge in preparing a user for taking on coach or owner mode because of how different the experience and tasks are in both.

Does player mode help a user know the rules of or inform what purpose the practice squad serves? Nope.

Is it going to help them understand and be able to navigate in-season roster management when it comes to injures, pending free agents, trades, etc? Nope.

When they reach the offseason will they encounter any kind of similar experience with the combine, scouting and draft that they had in QB1? Nope.

So sure, it is a part of franchise mode and it might get users into the mode but similar to Longshot, it also doesn't offer much cohesion with or any significant benefits to the other two-thirds of franchise outside of that player mode realm just as adding things like coaching staffs, restricted free agency, compensatory picks, etc. wouldn't offer anything of significance to player mode. They're conflicting modes that absolutely have their own place but they shouldn't both be under the franchise moniker or treated as such.

[goillini03]

Deuce, I agree. That is why I cannot consider it part of franchise, or even a franchise lead in. You will not be doing any actions related to franchise mode, only playing the games and making an individual player decision. I can see the point you make about it being in the ecosystem and how that would loosely tie into franchise because you are essentially playing games in a franchise minus any of the actual actions.

My part about Longshot was mainly just to say that when it was announced, there were people on this site who tried to “sell” the mode to others by saying that it would be a bridge/lead in to franchise/franchise improvements.