Low Expectations? Why?

[bucky60]

I have absolutely no expectations at all, since it appears that Madden will not be available on the PC.

[phootball]

Quote: Originally Posted by StevieTheD

Your economics may be a bit flawed. Corporations will produce at the lowest cost possible. Especially in an industry where the price is essentially fixed, the object from the corporation's perspective is not to make the best product, but to produce a product at the lowest cost possible that will still produce desirable amount of sales. There is, in fact, very little need to innovate without the presence of competition. (They only exception to this would possibly be the case when there is the threat of a competitor entering the market, but an exclusive license takes care of that.) The reason for this is simple: innovation and product enhancement beyond what is needed to maintain a certain sales level costs money and just reduces profits. I agree that competition or a lack thereof has no impact on the desire to make money, but the presence of competition certainly affects a corporations game plan. When EA makes more money the shareholders will get their money (although since EA doesn't offer a dividend none of EA's profits go to shareholders directly) and it will be reinvested. However, in all likelihood it'd be reinvested somewhere other than Madden. If Madden is so successful then there is no need to spend more money on it (any more than is necessary to maintain an expected level of success). EA will spend its money to develop other products and take up larger market shares of those games. It'll do things like improve Bad Company to take away from Call of Duty and NBA Live to take away from 2K's NBA games. That being said, the only real hope for a truly great Madden game rests on the developers. EA will only pump X amount of money into Madden. How the final product stands up to expectations depends on how efficient that salary and development money is used. From the looks of how things are going thus far for Madden 10, you guys sure seem to be ramping up efficiency. Cliff notes: While Madden's exclusivity of the market for NFL video games does not affect EA's desire to make money, it does effect how much money EA spends on Madden and what it is willing to make the costs. The X factor which will determine whether the game is profitable or actually any good is how good the development team is. And I have high hopes for this new team, because they seem to have their heads on straight and the passion to make it a good/great game.

Really well put. I think we have to separate corporate America (EA) from the the actual development team (Ian and Co.) I have very little faith in EA or any other corporation to do something/anything for the sake of quality. Corporate America is about profit. Spend the least, sell the most.

The developers on the other hand, can take pride in the quality of the work they do. I think Ian and Co. fall into this mold of striving for quality. I'm hopefull that this is the case...

[IStillDoWhatIDo]

I agree 100% and this has always been my sentiment. All I'll say is that if you're in an abusive relationship and your "husband" continuously abuses you, eventually you will take it and just be happy that he doesn't go across your head... estatic if he gets u flowers on valentines day.

Disappointment is how expectations get lowered.

[wheelman990]

Quote: Originally Posted by jerseyjay14

Why is it that the demands and expectations for madden from year to year are so low? It seems like everyone is fine with the game being just slightly better then the previous version. Its like fix a few bugs, tweak the AI, improve a broken feature and people would be super happy. for me that sounds like what a PATCH should do, not a new version of the game... When did expectations of what could be done drop so low? Especially jumping from 1 console to a next gen console. I remeber madden 2001 for the PS2. That game was unreal. it blew me away. from the graphics, to the gameplay to the presentation. it was out of this world and leaps and bounds ahead of anything we had seen in the past. even the incremental upgrades from 2001-02,03,04,05 etc were all pretty big jumps with both innovation and gameplay upgrades. however since then, expectations are at an all time low. now we arent asking to be blown away... hell we are asking to bring us back to the level we were at on the old consoles.

Wow, Its like you were reading my mind when you wrote this. Well said! Madden 2001 on ps2 was a amazing game that year. It passed the great nfl 2k on dreamcast as the most realistic football game to date. Funny how close Madden 20008 on ps2 looked to 2001 isnt it? What has been going on for 8 years? Seamed like features were added, then cut, added, then cut. Throw in some polygons and edited rosters, and theres the new game.

I think people have got used to the year to year releases by Madden, and think all we deserve is a little better of a game, with a few new features. People even make defensive statements for EA on the matter, its crazy. Id rather have a game released every 3 years that is amazing and fresh,(and that offers downloadable rosters every year for $5-$10 online or something) then a half done attempt year to year.

I do have faith inMadden 2010 and Ian, but not enough to buy the game before a rental.

Quote: Originally Posted by IStillDoWhatIDo

I agree 100% and this has always been my sentiment. All I'll say is that if you're in an abusive relationship and your "husband" continuously abuses you, eventually you will take it and just be happy that he doesn't go across your head... estatic if he gets u flowers on valentines day. Disappointment is how expectations get lowered.

This is one of the best things Ive ever read, very funny and true.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

No company is happy with their current sales, every company wants to sell more of their product. Whether there is competition or not is irrelevant to EA's want and desire to make the most amount of money humanly possible (a common theme among businesses as you know). When EA makes more money, the shareholders make more money, the employees get paid more, more games get green-lit, existing games get bigger budgets, and everything is pretty much peachy. The best way to make more money is to make kick-*** games. And as a design team, we think that by setting a vision for Madden to be an authentic representation of the NFL is the best way to make a kick-*** game. Simple as that.

This is not even close to being acurate. Have you ever tried selling something on Ebay? You will realize because of so much competition from other sellers, the prices have been drivin down. Not to mention sellers having to put more time and creating better listings. Competition is wicked, and can put you out of buisiness fast, just ask Sun TV and Circuit City, how would they have done with no Best Buy stores? They would probably be here today. Competition does bring out the best for consumers, but not the corporates. If NFL 2k8, or NFL fever 2008 would have released a fantastic game that everyone loved, Madden would have not released the game we received in 2009 I can promise you that.

Again, 2010 might be a great game, but to say competition doesnt matter is treating us like we are mindless idiots, lol. Corporates are not wanting to release the best games, they want to make the most profit, which is achieved with lower cost in producing the product, marketing, and sales volume acheived at $60 a pop.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by wheelman990

Wow, Its like you were reading my mind when you wrote this. Well said! Madden 2001 on ps2 was a amazing game that year. It passed the great nfl 2k on dreamcast as the most realistic football game to date. Funny how close Madden 20008 on ps2 looked to 2001 isnt it? What has been going on for 8 years? Seamed like features were added, then cut, added, then cut. Throw in some polygons and edited rosters, and theres the new game. I think people have got used to the year to year releases by Madden, and think all we deserve is a little better of a game, with a few new features. People even make defensive statements for EA on the matter, its crazy. Id rather have a game released every 3 years that is amazing and fresh,(and that offers downloadable rosters every year for $5-$10 online or something) then a half done attempt year to year. I do have faith inMadden 2010 and Ian, but not enough to buy the game before a rental. This is one of the best things Ive ever read, very funny and true. This is not even close to being acurate. Have you ever tried selling something on Ebay? You will realize because of so much competition from other sellers, the prices have been drivin down. Not to mention sellers having to put more time and creating better listings. Competition is wicked, and can put you out of buisiness fast, just ask Sun TV and Circuit City, how would they have done with no Best Buy stores? They would probably be here today. Competition does bring out the best for consumers, but not the corporates. If NFL 2k8, or NFL fever 2008 would have released a fantastic game that everyone loved, Madden would have not released the game we received in 2009 I can promise you that. Again, 2010 might be a great game, but to say competition doesnt matter is treating us like we are mindless idiots, lol. Corporates are not wanting to release the best games, they want to make the most profit, which is achieved with lower cost in producing the product, marketing, and sales volume acheived at $60 a pop.

Part of what is saying is true as well. You certainly can't dismiss the fact that if Ian and co make kick butt games from now on, then corporate will be happy , shareholders will be happy and gamers will be happy.

Also, that competition argument is getting old in my opinion and I liked 2k myself. However, there are many debates about whether competition makes a product better or not. I don't have to go much farther down the road with baseball and basketball gaming. Competition hasn't made one side catch up all of a sudden. In competition, you will have winners and losers, one sides picks up the lions share of the business. Of course, that is not true all the time.