Long Term Future for Madden, Fifa, etc.

[onegroove7]

I was talking last night to my friend who has a 13 year old son and she was saying it's dumb how many kids now WANT to pay the extra money to get whatever extra stuff you can get in Fornite. I was saying it's the same thing with the sports games I play - EA makes almost a billion dollars every year from stuff like Madden Ultimate Team and whatever other pay to play game modes there are.

At first I was complaining about this stuff. I have no interest in MUT and it's annoying that EA pays little attention to other game modes.

But thinking more optimistically about it now, EA Sports is making more money than ever. It's INEVITABLE that they eventually start funnelling that money back into the game modes we all care about. Even though it's not a priority for them, they can't be THAT dumb to not recognize gameplay is the foundation everything else is built on.

I'm just saying it's time to be patient. Nothing's going to change soon but if EA Sports generates $10-20 billion over the next decade, their games should improve exponentially.

Any ideas on how things could be different in Madden 30 on the Playstation 6? Personally, I want to be playing first-person-football in my virtual reality helmet.

[jdelicce]

I also can t wait for Madden 30 and the virtual reality helmet to see the play challenge still non functional.

[Darth Aegis]

Madden needs to get out of the 2 man animation business or this game will continue to have issues & drag on like it has been. The shifting into place seems to be getting worse. FIFA did it in 2018 I think and removed them. Granted they have 3 studios working on FIFA I believe, but whatever it takes right. Madden imo should already be there, but hopefully next yr with 2k on their heels.

[JoshC1977]

I think it's going to be very interesting.

When video gaming first started; technology wasn't great. Games were simple, but fun. As technology advanced, so did the complexity and realism. People like myself, who grew up in the Atari/NES era saw that evolution.

The 2000s were very good for sports games; sure, the games themselves are vastly inferior to what we have now, but they were fun. And the fun factor of those games (on the field) allowed for deeper experiences within the modes to not be as overwhelming.

As the PS3/XBox360 era hit, games got more realistic. And this is where things went downhill...as the realism increased, so did the complexity. As the complexity increased, the fun factor decreased. This gen, the bulk of gamers began migrating to more simple modes (like UT) to offset the in-game complexity.

The interesting thing is that those "more simple" modes have themselves grown considerably complex - what's happened, the in-game aspects have been dumbed-down (resulting from H2H guys begging for "skill gap" - they know they aren't good enough to play a complicated game and they thus want it simplified). Now we have begun seeing even MORE simple modes emerge (like Volta, Threes, and SuperstarKO)....now, simpler games are becoming en vogue again...

I think there's only a certain amount of total complexity (modes + gameplay) that THE MAJORITY of gamers will take. Sure, there are us masochists that want complexity in gameplay AND modes (we're like ARMA players vs Fortnite/CoD players); but we're a much smaller following.

I think very simply that sports games are in a "we want simple/fun" cycle right now (and I suspect that will last through much of the PS5 cycle)....as gamers grow bored (and they WILL, eventually) with that, demands will swing back towards "we want more realism/complexity/depth". Eventually, it will swing back the other way.

[ShadyFan25]

Interesting Question. I think Madden 30 is a little too far out to speculate on. I'm gonna be predicting what I think we could see in franchise mode in five years, or in Madden 26.

Here's every key Franchise feature they've added since Madden 16. I think this gives us an idea of what they can do in 5 years of dev time:

• Dynamic Drive Goals
• Visual Team Depth Chart
• Player Card
• New Scouting
• Combine Stats
• Play The Moments
• Gameplanning
• "Big Decisions"
• Around The League Score Ticker
• Practice Squad
• Custom Draft Board
• Player Archetype Progression
• Coach Scheme Fits
• Draft Class Creator
• Immersive Environments
• Draft Stage
• Team Captains
• Pro Bowl
• Scenarios

If they can add all of that stuff in 5 years, I think it's fair to expect at least some of this stuff in Madden 2026:

• Coaching Carousel
• Play as a Coordinator
• Revamped Relocation/Create a Team
• Revamped Trading
• Revamped League News
• New Scouting System
• New Free Agency System
• Realistic Stats
• Custom Draft Storylines
• Training Camp/Mini Camp
• Realistic Draft Stage/Draft Coverage

[NYJin2011tm]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

I think it's going to be very interesting. When video gaming first started; technology wasn't great. Games were simple, but fun. As technology advanced, so did the complexity and realism. People like myself, who grew up in the Atari/NES era saw that evolution. The 2000s were very good for sports games; sure, the games themselves are vastly inferior to what we have now, but they were fun. And the fun factor of those games (on the field) allowed for deeper experiences within the modes to not be as overwhelming. As the PS3/XBox360 era hit, games got more realistic. And this is where things went downhill...as the realism increased, so did the complexity. As the complexity increased, the fun factor decreased. This gen, the bulk of gamers began migrating to more simple modes (like UT) to offset the in-game complexity. The interesting thing is that those "more simple" modes have themselves grown considerably complex - what's happened, the in-game aspects have been dumbed-down (resulting from H2H guys begging for "skill gap" - they know they aren't good enough to play a complicated game and they thus want it simplified). Now we have begun seeing even MORE simple modes emerge (like Volta, Threes, and SuperstarKO)....now, simpler games are becoming en vogue again... I think there's only a certain amount of total complexity (modes + gameplay) that THE MAJORITY of gamers will take. Sure, there are us masochists that want complexity in gameplay AND modes (we're like ARMA players vs Fortnite/CoD players); but we're a much smaller following. I think very simply that sports games are in a "we want simple/fun" cycle right now (and I suspect that will last through much of the PS5 cycle)....as gamers grow bored (and they WILL, eventually) with that, demands will swing back towards "we want more realism/complexity/depth". Eventually, it will swing back the other way.

Well said man and spot on! I also grew up during Atari/NES era and you are absolutely right. Games were simple but had a fun factor. As games advanced and became more realistic like the fun factor has decreased.

[therealsmallville]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYJin2011tm

Well said man and spot on! I also grew up during Atari/NES era and you are absolutely right. Games were simple but had a fun factor. As games advanced and became more realistic like the fun factor has decreased.

I grew up with Tecmo Bowl on Nes. I think what made many of those early games so much fun was the simplicity in the graphics which required us to use our imaginations. I had to imagine I was having a game winning drive with Montana and Rice, and if I ran a TD in at the pylon I imagined my player was reaching out with the ball for a miraculous play. As games got more realistic, taking away more of the imagination and replacing it with on-screen animations, we started to see the flaws in things that we never dreamed of before.

Jerry Rice in Super Tecmo Bowl couldn't reach out the ball for a goal-line TD, but in my mind he did, and it was amazing. With Madden 20, my mind wants Deebo Samuel to reach out for the pylon, but he can't because the animation isn't there. And it sticks out like a sore thumb.


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[reyes the roof]

Normally I play Madden until I get tired of it and then move on to the show. This year is the first time I wanted to play more but stopped because franchise becomes unplayable after about five years when every team becomes nearly identical. It’s going to be tough for me to buy it again until they improve its replayability