Official OS letter to EA

[TeeDogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

I dont see how this makes sense. EA paid the NFL hundreds of millions for just an exclusive contract. That is hundreds of millions that the NFL wouldnt have seen at all if they didnt sell the exclusive rights. Madden turned around and had a record breaking year in sales of its game. The only losers in this deal is us. Just from this board, there were many saying they wouldnt buy Madden this year...but we all know they did. How can you justify to the suits in the NFL or EA that their product is bad? The NFL made hundreds of millions, and EA is in the process of making hundreds of millions. That is a success wether we want to think so or not. If Madden sales dropped drastically, then there would be a point to this topic. But as long as Madden continues to have record breaking sales year in and out, no matter how little of an upgrade it is...then we have to accept the fact that EA has no vested interest in doing anything ground breaking ( for them anyways ) with the Madden series.

I agree 100%, i have said the same thing many times. But this may be our only shot because there is no way the masses are going to stop buying madden. At least this may bring some publicity and attention to the doorstep of EA.

[jrivera34]

Good luck with your letter, but EA will not do anything to Madden until the sales number come down and I mean drastically down. I like many others here have said I am not buying Madden and then I turn around and buy both NCAA and Madden. When we stay true to our word, then and only then will something happen. Also, don't expect one year to make a difference either.

To touch on the point about rebuilding the game, any game can do this, EA just refuses to do it with Madden because their profits are so high.

More Sales = Fix nothing the game is fine as is.
Letter to EA = More paper for EA to recycle until the sales go down.

[TeeDogg]

It should be made CLEAR in the letter that this is NOT a glorified wishlist! but dissapointment that the things that greatly advanced the genre YEARS ago on inferior hardware, By companies with less budget, still ahve not been met nor surpased by the worlds leading (and now only) NFL FB game developer. The hardcore should let them know this is unacceptble heading into their 3rd NEXT GEN version. again if it does no good, we tried.

If good pub sites and magazines that do reach the masses start to publisize these efforts who knows what the attention will do ?

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by TeeDogg

I'll admit when it was first mentioned I figured it would take an EA fan site to make a diffrence. But hey its worth a shot. maybe it will piggy back on the publicity of the live letter and get some attention, maybe more sites will join in. This could be our chance (the hardcore community) to be heard and addressed.

Hey man...nice idea. But please do me a favor. If you're the one writing the letter, give it to someone when you finish, so that they can clean up the grammar and spelling errors. If you want to be taken seriously, you have to make it look like you're at least halfway intelligent.

Heck, send it to me. I'm a decent writer, and my wife is an English teacher. I'll ever have her glance over it, just to make sure it's okay.

[xrams]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

I dont see how this makes sense. EA paid the NFL hundreds of millions for just an exclusive contract. That is hundreds of millions that the NFL wouldnt have seen at all if they didnt sell the exclusive rights. Madden turned around and had a record breaking year in sales of its game. The only losers in this deal is us. Just from this board, there were many saying they wouldnt buy Madden this year...but we all know they did. How can you justify to the suits in the NFL or EA that their product is bad? The NFL made hundreds of millions, and EA is in the process of making hundreds of millions. That is a success wether we want to think so or not. If Madden sales dropped drastically, then there would be a point to this topic. But as long as Madden continues to have record breaking sales year in and out, no matter how little of an upgrade it is...then we have to accept the fact that EA has no vested interest in doing anything ground breaking ( for them anyways ) with the Madden series.

your correct of course... however, the NFL still needs to know of the dissatisfaction with this deal which is the root cause of the shoddy product being sold... the NFL needs to know that EA is eroding the NFL name slowly but surely....

[muggins]

Put something in about 60fps and no choppiness

[ameagle]

TJ-

Here's a thought.....how about you set the example as a mod and PM the guy instead of insulting him in an open forum. Saying that he needs to clean up his grammar so he looks 'halfway' intelligent? Like me he's probably at work hammering away, trying to not get busted for being on a forum, and not paying strict attention to his grammar.

As for the OP:

The idea is sound enough...look at the amount of attention the IGN article is getting, or the open letter about NBA Live. I would have (and did) say that such efforts would be a waste of time. Perhaps still a waste. But then if you say nothing, well there's a 100% chance nothing changes. I've certainly come to respect that view in the last couple of weeks.

[PacMan3000]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

In that post...with one sentence...you answered your own question. Every year people complain about Madden, yet every year their sales are higher than the previous year. Each and every year many people say they wont support the game and buy it, yet they always do and come to the forums with the posts. In the corp world, the almighty dollar is the sign of success or failure. Each and every year Madden has phenominal sales. In the eyes of EA , Madden is an amazing success every year. Who cares of message boards rip the game, everyone still buys it and complains. What it will take is not buying the game. Its that simple. If Madden was to see a drastic slump in sales, then the suits that control the $$ would have to come up with a different strategy. This is the only way we will ever see Madden push the limits of the football genre. You cant justify spending more money and more resources on a product that is already a best seller. There is no reason. People that are going to buy a new football game are going to buy madden, there is no choice. So even if EA spent millions more on the dev cycle of madden and made it the greatest football game on the planet, they wouldnt see an increase in sales to justify the cost. Its simple business economics. Until we see Madden sales drop off and give the company a reason to upgrade their product, we will continue to see mediocracy. Vote with the wallet and not with meaningless words on the net if you want to see a change imp. I want to see a much better game myself, but ive accepted the fact that until Madden starts seeing a massive loss of revenue, then we know what to expect from year to year.

I agree, but just because tons of money is being made doesn't mean EA cannot and shouldn't want to improve their product. The NFL itself makes tons of money every single season, but the reason why they are the biggest and best sport in the nation is because they don't rest on their laurels. They constantly are trying to innovate--no doubt to make more money, but to improve the product as well. Thats why we see NFL expansion, games in different countries, different rule changes every single year, etc.

Paul Tagliabue once said, "Most people think, 'if it's not broke, don't fix it.' My motto has always been, 'if it's not broke, fix it anyways.' "

It's a great quote and EA should follow that lead. Hey, Madden may make tons and tons of money, but that doesn't mean the game cannot and shouldn't be better.