EA says FIFA mode with loot boxes is the ‘cornerstone’ of the franchise in leaked doc

[oneamongthefence]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thunderhorse

There needs to be some acceptance that the community here is not representative of the general Madden consumer. MUT is actually a pretty good product, objectively speaking, without getting into the specific ethics of what some argue is "gambling". It literally speaks to gamers of all ages. Kids can pull their hair out trying to get contemporary players and "old heads" can have fun picking up old school players they grew up watching themselves. Conceptually MUT has always been pretty cool. I've been reading OS pine for franchise improvement for years and every year its the same. The money isn't there, the general population doesn't care, and economically speaking the opportunity costs of investing more resources in a game mode that is no longer the cornerstone of the franchise is literally a waste of time and money. It's not 2005 anymore fellas, this is what Madden is about. Its a Fantasy football video game centered around users earning/winning/trading/competing with the current and historically premier players of the league. Honestly, EA should be trying to contract with more apparel companies and perfect a virtual currency like 2K has done to drive consumers to spend more money on aesthetics in addition to the P2W foundations, enablement of more creative personalization of user's MUT teams, etc. It's the right business move.

Yeah but that experience falls apart when you go to play online and your free team has to play with people who threw down money or have more time to grind. And with abilities and the way speed is handled in this game you can't really compete. Unless you resort to cheese and glitches. I will admit collecting is fun but the act of using those cards is not a fun experience if you take those cards and play other users. I wish they would make matchups based on ovr so it's less pay to win. Team building is more rewarding in MUT than franchise but that speaks to the state of franchise more so than what MUT has to offer.

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[YoungRice880]

So, I'll be careful with my words the best I can. Of course this is what EA does. I disagree with an earlier comment about "most companies" doing that - that's so far from the truth it isn't funny. Hard-core misinformation there. How do I know? Because even though I rarely game, the handful I do play don't have pay-to-win. Take PoE for example, there is no pay-to-win but you can by visual changes. Many games are like this.

Imagine if you will that you bought Flight Simulator. I've never played it before, read an article about it, or seen any in game footage. But I have been on an airplane before and I've seen the game cover. I would have a certain level of expectations. If what I got was the ability to fly a hang glider or a small cesna and the plane randomly would stall or slowly fly backwards, or the wind would slam the plane to the ground... I would be upset. I wouldn't buy it and no one else would either.

EA is notorious for lots of stuff. They're a big corporation that churns out product over and over again. They've cornered the market on a game where the consumer "expects" a yearly investment to keep playing. Very few games behave this way - especially when there is almost no new content each cycle.

The Madden apologetics are just as... off-putting as the Madden critics.

[The Black Redneck]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thunderhorse

There needs to be some acceptance that the community here is not representative of the general Madden consumer. MUT is actually a pretty good product, objectively speaking, without getting into the specific ethics of what some argue is "gambling". It literally speaks to gamers of all ages. Kids can pull their hair out trying to get contemporary players and "old heads" can have fun picking up old school players they grew up watching themselves. Conceptually MUT has always been pretty cool. I've been reading OS pine for franchise improvement for years and every year its the same. The money isn't there, the general population doesn't care, and economically speaking the opportunity costs of investing more resources in a game mode that is no longer the cornerstone of the franchise is literally a waste of time and money. It's not 2005 anymore fellas, this is what Madden is about. Its a Fantasy football video game centered around users earning/winning/trading/competing with the current and historically premier players of the league. Honestly, EA should be trying to contract with more apparel companies and perfect a virtual currency like 2K has done to drive consumers to spend more money on aesthetics in addition to the P2W foundations, enablement of more creative personalization of user's MUT teams, etc. It's the right business move.

You are exactly right and I just want to add in that Once people started really complaining about the lack of new features in the franchise mode EA did own up to it.

[Americas Team]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thunderhorse

There needs to be some acceptance that the community here is not representative of the general Madden consumer. MUT is actually a pretty good product, objectively speaking, without getting into the specific ethics of what some argue is "gambling". It literally speaks to gamers of all ages. Kids can pull their hair out trying to get contemporary players and "old heads" can have fun picking up old school players they grew up watching themselves. Conceptually MUT has always been pretty cool. I've been reading OS pine for franchise improvement for years and every year its the same. The money isn't there, the general population doesn't care, and economically speaking the opportunity costs of investing more resources in a game mode that is no longer the cornerstone of the franchise is literally a waste of time and money. It's not 2005 anymore fellas, this is what Madden is about. Its a Fantasy football video game centered around users earning/winning/trading/competing with the current and historically premier players of the league. Honestly, EA should be trying to contract with more apparel companies and perfect a virtual currency like 2K has done to drive consumers to spend more money on aesthetics in addition to the P2W foundations, enablement of more creative personalization of user's MUT teams, etc. It's the right business move.

I dont have a problem with MUT or online arcade type modes, I have a problem with them neglecting Franchise mode, Superstar mode, and not properly representing sim NFL football. MLB The Show and NBA 2K seems to be able to do both.

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by Americas Team

I dont have a problem with MUT or online arcade type modes, I have a problem with them neglecting Franchise mode, Superstar mode, and not properly representing sim NFL football. MLB The Show and NBA 2K seems to be able to do both.

To be fair, there is a lot of complaining in the MLB The Show forum about how franchise mode hasn't received anything significant in years as well.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by Americas Team

I dont have a problem with MUT or online arcade type modes, I have a problem with them neglecting Franchise mode, Superstar mode, and not properly representing sim NFL football. MLB The Show and NBA 2K seems to be able to do both.

Quote: Originally Posted by mercalnd

To be fair, there is a lot of complaining in the MLB The Show forum about how franchise mode hasn't received anything significant in years as well.

Before this year with MYNBA, 2k only made minor additions to MyLeague the last 3-4 years of last gen. The problem is how far behind Madden is in Franchise compared to other games. At least 2k and MLB, they capture the core elements of the sport in Franchise. Thats what most want in Madden. They just want the Full NFL experience. Madden Franchise is missing a lot of basic NFL stuff.

When you get the depth of NBA 2k and MLB, you can afford to focus resources elsewhere. If the biggest complaint is that there hasn't been major additions to a deep mode, that's not something to feel bad about. When you get to that depth, you just add on. As much as we love Franchise modes, it's not a mode that publishers continually pour resources into. Ultimate Team/MyTeam is a good business model. With the rising costs of Licenses and development costs, if you can recoup that and also profit majorly on microtransactions, thats where you are going to put resources into. So if you can get Franchise to the point where it can replicate the NFL experience with depth, that's all we can ask for

[PhillyPhanatic14]

...and the sky is blue.


This isn't news to anyone. It has been the most supported post-launch mode for years in FIFA and Madden. It has been the most profitable mode in each game for years. As a franchise/career guy I don't love their focus, but I'd have to be blind not to see that FUT & MUT are the focus of these games and have been for years.

[Instant C1a55ic]

Don't care, they can use all the advertising, tie-ins etc to get me into mut, but I won't do it. I don't play on-line, period. I have been a franchise guy for 21 years, and it won't change...ever. I don't buy the special additions of the game to get packs, and if my 59.99 pre-order comes with them, I sell or give away the codes.

If I wanted to collect cards, I'd go to my local hobby shop and buy them. Simple as that.

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