This has got to be the year right?

[Darth Aegis]

I think next yr would be the yr if they started to start building on things from the ground up. Honestly with the new agreement with NFL I don't see a reason they would do that though now.

[4thQtrStre5S]

I stated 2 years ago that I predicted EA/Tib would greatly improve gameplay because of the move to esports, television and streaming. Last year I again stated the same prediction. Two years in a row I have been proven wrong. So I predict this year that gameplay will not change. There will be the same tragedy that is the OL/DL interactions; the same jump animations to catch passes so the defender can make a hit to dislodge the ball to create incompletions. Same wonky M2M coverage with DBs lagging far behind on receiver breaks.



I will hope for some great reveal on June 1st. It will be a sizzle reveal and a great disappointment. There will be a handful of threads on here attempting to predict what the sizzle video and reveal actually means for M21. Most comments will be wrong because many of us are too hopeful.



Madden will see a first day patch. Almost 2 months of complaints about gameplay before the first big patch. Something will be fixed and something will be broken. 2 more months of complaints and the next patch wont fix key issues because EA won't want to make changes that affect gameplay for the competitors just before the big tourneys begin.

Content will be plentiful, for MUT players.

QB1 will see a name change as we will be able to play additional positions. We will have more college team options. This will spark more talk about a new NCAA game. We will see little Franchise improvements because adding in story for the new playable positions will have used up more resources.



I might be willing to predict the monetization of Franchise which leads to consistent updates as in MUT but that may have to wait until M22 with the full cycle dedicated to the new systems.


**** What I hope, but won't happen - EA announces on June 1st that they have been working on a new engine for the past 2 years behind the scenes, or actually outsourced to an engine maker, and it will be running M21. Gameplay will be as clean and bug free as no other game prior. Player game logic will be crisp and well represented in ratings with an expanded range of player ratings. Franchise ratings revealed through an actual Combine system. The community is provided with Dev Tools for creating and sharing uniforms and stadiums.

[Mackrel829]

Quote: Originally Posted by sinthros

That's awful logic, especially for a video game title that's a literal monopoly. There isn't another option. And most people like football to much to not play a football video game. Also, referring to the original post, I'd like to believe what you're saying, except that in their Madden 21 trailer description one of the first things they mentioned was new celebrations. I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you.

It’s really not.

Money talks. Whiny posts on niche internet forums do not.

Your advice to the OP suggests that you don’t think Madden 21 will be worth buying, or at least that it won’t be much of an improvement. I’m sure there are many who feel this way, and many who feel that Madden hasn’t improved in years. Some would probably even argue that it has regressed. EA will never be incentivised to drastically improve their product while it continues to sell.

You want a better game? Stop buying the game until it’s better. This is even more applicable because Madden is a monopoly.

[CM Hooe]

I wouldn't count on it.

As is obvious from EA's own humble-brags about the record-setting successes of Madden NFL 20, the game simply doesn't need a rebuild to sell copies, to achieve good review scores, to keep users playing and engaged, or to sell MUT cards. From all four of those perspectives, the game is simply not broken. (Side note: if you have some other definition of success beyond "the game sells, the game reviews well, users keep playing it, and users like the game so much they spend money within the game", I would love to hear it.)

I assume the XBOX Series X / PS5 iterations of the game will continue to run in Frostbite and receive a significant graphical facelift, particularly with respect to environments, lighting and shading, and animation fidelity. Maybe also some 3D audio support. I imagine load times will improve drastically, mostly because the new systems have SSDs. However, I would bet that it's still at a base level gonna play like the game of Madden you already have in your console today.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I wouldn't count on it. As is obvious from EA's own humble-brags about the record-setting successes of Madden NFL 20, the game simply doesn't need a rebuild to sell copies, to achieve good review scores, to keep users playing and engaged, or to sell MUT cards. From all four of those perspectives, the game is simply not broken. (Side note: if you have some other definition of success beyond "the game sells, the game reviews well, users keep playing it, and users like the game so much they spend money within the game", I would love to hear it.) I assume the XBOX Series X / PS5 iterations of the game will continue to run in Frostbite and receive a significant graphical facelift, particularly with respect to environments, lighting and shading, and animation fidelity. Maybe also some 3D audio support. I imagine load times will improve drastically, mostly because the new systems have SSDs. However, I would bet that it's still at a base level gonna play like the game of Madden you already have in your console today.

^^^^This is essentially what will happen. There are zero, or close to zero, motivators to make any significant changes to Madden.

I guess I have to hand it to EA for keeping so many people employed so they can earn a living; EA could probably fire half their staff and still produce Madden and make a larger profit. Hmmmm. Now there is an idea.

[Dblock1111]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mackrel829

It’s really not. Money talks. Whiny posts on niche internet forums do not. Your advice to the OP suggests that you don’t think Madden 21 will be worth buying, or at least that it won’t be much of an improvement. I’m sure there are many who feel this way, and many who feel that Madden hasn’t improved in years. Some would probably even argue that it has regressed. EA will never be incentivised to drastically improve their product while it continues to sell. You want a better game? Stop buying the game until it’s better. This is even more applicable because Madden is a monopoly.

You didn't really answer his main gripe though, where do you go to play a football game? Madden is it right now. It's not like NBA where I can play 2K or (if they decide to release on for the year) Live, or Soccer where i can play Fifa or PES. MLB is pretty much locked in to The Show, but you can still get a fix with OOTP or Super Mega Baseball.

I guess the only logical step would be to support Maximum Football, or continue to play older football games that you did enjoy, but then you run into the issue of not being able to provide feedback on the newest games and therefore never being able to make any impact on the things they try to fix.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I wouldn't count on it. As is obvious from EA's own humble-brags about the record-setting successes of Madden NFL 20, the game simply doesn't need a rebuild to sell copies, to achieve good review scores, to keep users playing and engaged, or to sell MUT cards. From all four of those perspectives, the game is simply not broken. (Side note: if you have some other definition of success beyond "the game sells, the game reviews well, users keep playing it, and users like the game so much they spend money within the game", I would love to hear it.) I assume the XBOX Series X / PS5 iterations of the game will continue to run in Frostbite and receive a significant graphical facelift, particularly with respect to environments, lighting and shading, and animation fidelity. Maybe also some 3D audio support. I imagine load times will improve drastically, mostly because the new systems have SSDs. However, I would bet that it's still at a base level gonna play like the game of Madden you already have in your console today.

Yeah, you're going to see them push Frostbite Next Level. With all the graphical upgrades you mentioned, and try to push Ray Tracing. I can already see the screenshots of reflections on helmets, visors, and Ray traced puddles lol. I can see them trying to make an improvement on weather effects. Also trying to improve on time of day transitions on games. I can see night games looking better. If you watch a real life night game at a stadium like MetLife on a 4kTV, it looks beautiful. I can see them trying to match that.

But as far as building from ground up, nope lol. Madden sees itself as "successful". When you feel you're already at such a high level, why should there a need to rock the boat and make drastic changes. Madden is at the point where higher ups feel like they just need to "innovate" by adding new features/modes.

I always felt the transition from 6th to 7th gen really was the dark ages for EA Sports. Their sports games all rebuilt on the fly and Madden/Live never recovered from it. They never went back to fix core issues. They keep doing bandaid fixes and adding onto a poor foundation. As I been saying a lot recently, Madden's AI has been severely poor last couple generation and CPU AI has to be so scripted. Then to now for EA to mandate their games to use Frostbite when it isn't a good for sports engines. I feel the issue with Madden isn't devs, its the higher ups not allowing creative freedom and dictating what happens. I feel is in need for another rebuilding from ground up phase. But not a rushed one that isn't revised. But, Madden isn't in the position where it NEEDS to make drastic changes.

[canes21]

NBA 2k is being built from the ground up for the new generation of consoles while it seems EA is going to continue to build on an old and unstable foundation.