EA needs to hire a "ghost team" for Madden development

[Garrett67]

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

I ask because I'm unfamiliar: was MLB The Show 11 significantly more than an "upgrade" over MLB The Show 10? Or was it simply an iterative improvement that started from a much better base than Madden did on this generation of consoles? From the reviews, I got the impression that the latter was the case, in which case you might be holding a double standard. Again, not trying to say that Madden doesn't need to improve in areas, it does, and I'm not trying to say that you can't have your own opinion on what you determine is a good video game. But I think it might be unfair to expect an annual quantum leap from EA Tiburon when other sports games studios rarely if ever accomplish such.

In all honesty, it was basically the same but it also didn't need anything.
No game is perfect but The Show , like I said, never gives you those WTF? moments. It never really did. I started playing MLB in 2006 and the game played well ever since.
Madden was doing fine until 2005, then they stripped it for Next Gen (still not sure why) and they have been chasing their tail ever since. The game has improved and is much better than it was but I still stand by my 'competition' statement. Sales isn't their motivation, they will get their sales through their marketing, but they lack in execution sometimes.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Zombiecakes

Unfortunately, this will not happen until EA feels the NEED to. I mean, why should they alter their current system? That would cost extra money - lots of new salaries to pay to start a ghost team... but Madden sells like hotcakes every year without that level of development. So why should they change anything? As long as people keep buying Madden every single year, EA has absolutely no reason to change their incremental formula.

You answered your own question. The only thing that would resolve the issue is true competition, not a secondary development team working on innovation(s). When NBA Live implemented Synergy for more true-to-life individual play, the very next year NBA2K implemented it's own take using an expanded tendency system/animations/tie-in with [whatever the online service is called] to improve on it. Despite the disparity in quality, the baseball games continue to evolve from what they were - real-time presentation, graphics, commentary, new control methods, franchise depth, etc. have all been huge improvements over what came before them. Games like Call of Duty or Halo can't rest on their laurels because other developers are free to do their own takes (and bring their own innovations) on those genres like Battlefield or Killzone.

It's been said a billion times; here's a billion and one: Madden/NCAA are unique in that they have no true competition. And it's the reason Tiburon can sit back and say they're looking at bringing physics to their licensed football games "in the future" - because they can do what they want to do at their own pace. No matter how good Backbreaker, APF, Blitz, or some other unlicensed game could be it's always going to have a ceiling - there's going to be a point where most people prefer to play with real players/teams. Anyways, things are shaping up to be remarkably similar to how the PS2/XBox era ended. Lack of innovation in the football titles, saying "it's gonna come" next gen. Given all the years that's gone by many of us are just numb to it.

[LiquorLogic]

Who knows, maybe EA is already doing this without a "ghost team," or maybe they have a ghost team already in place. An engine is just a certain amount of code. Ian and company could be cleaning it up while planning to release a game with that new and improved code at some point in the future; maybe they're holding onto it and are going to release when they feel the market demands it, maybe the 18% decrease in sales is enough to convince them, or the code simply isn't cleaned up yet.

Maybe this is why it's taking them so long to turn this franchise around. Franchise was untouched last year; now if franchise gives us all, or most, of the things we've been begging for, would people really be foolish enough to think that Tiburon took a year off last year, in regards to franchise mode, and then gave us everything we wanted, in one development cycle, this year ? I doubt it. If we get a much improved franchise mode this year, they were working on it for two development cycles.

Maybe they're doing this with the game-play also; maybe their putting some "bells and whistles" for the back of the box, to sell the game, and to make some of their money back, while improving the underlying code that's causing all of the problems because, let's face it, Madden hasn't sold as much since gaining the exclusive license, and the suits can't be pleased with a 18% drop in sales.

[lofeazy]

Quote: Originally Posted by CHooe

Disagree wholeheartedly. Again, Madden is competing for market share with any other video game on the market. EA can't afford to sit on their hands and they know it, lest they be toppled by the Halos, Dead Spaces, Gods of War, and Forzas of the video game world. Particularly with the annual release schedule, EA must continue to push their product with new features and significant advancements every year to justify consumers buying the new version.

You disagree whole hearttedly. Can you please list all the NFL Football games that are out?(I don't bye the competing for the market share with FPS,action games,and driving games.

Like I said when your the only NFL Game and you sale 4+million Who care's if Halo are God of war out sells you.YOU GOT THE FOOTBALL MARKET COVERED.Because IF your a football fan What are you going to buy?Thats right MADDEN.IF your a FPS you can buy Halo,Call of duty,Battlefield3 and I can go on.

But less list the football games:NCAA,BB,Madden that 3.Now less list the NFL games:Madden

Like I said why do you need a ghost team?(I like the ideal but I don't live in dream land.EA is like any other bussiness Money first$$$$.)Like Roadman said its not money making for the suits.

[The GIGGAS]

Quote: Originally Posted by lofeazy

I don't bye the competing for the market share with FPS,action games,and driving games.

Then you don't buy capitalism. A consumer's video game budget is fixed. Let's say it's one video game a month. Madden, Halo, and CoD all come out in August (in this example). A consumer may be a fan of football, but if the consumer feels that Halo or CoD will be a better use of their money, Madden has lost the competition for that consumer's money.

Also, you say that football fans only buy Madden. That's a faulty assumption I'm not even going to continue to dignify with a response.

[LiquorLogic]

Quote: Originally Posted by The GIGGAS

Then you don't buy capitalism. A consumer's video game budget is fixed. Let's say it's one video game a month. Madden, Halo, and CoD all come out in August (in this example). A consumer may be a fan of football, but if the consumer feels that Halo or CoD will be a better use of their money, Madden has lost the competition for that consumer's money. Also, you say that football fans only buy Madden. That's a faulty assumption I'm not even going to continue to dignify with a response.

That's only if a consumer is a fan, to the same degree, of both genres, and the fan only has a limited amount of money to spend. The consumer could also ask for the game they didn't buy as a gift, or buy the game at a later date. Just because Madden may lose on this customer one month, doesn't mean they'll lose out on the next.The competition is there, but it's not as stiff. If there was a viable, NFL, football alternative which the customer prefers, EA loses the customer permanently. Of course they're competing with other genres; if you want to look at it that way, there is competition against every other product that's for sale; however, it's not that much of a competition. Otherwise, EA wouldn't have paid the NFL over a half a billion dollars to be the only football game in town.

[CM Hooe]

The GIGGAS nailed it, but I feel like adding my $0.02 here.

Quote: Originally Posted by lofeazy

Like I said when your the only NFL Game and you sale 4+million Who care's if Halo are God of war out sells you.YOU GOT THE FOOTBALL MARKET COVERED.Because IF your a football fan What are you going to buy?Thats right MADDEN.IF your a FPS you can buy Halo,Call of duty,Battlefield3 and I can go on. But less list the football games:NCAA,BB,Madden that 3.Now less list the NFL games:Madden

With regard to this argument, whether or not a game has an NFL license does not matter whatsoever.

Suppose EA does what everyone here is suggesting they do and they simply rest on their laurels, put new rosters into Madden 11 and release exactly that as Madden 12. That is, no additional dev time on anything; it is literally the exact same game with new rosters and a '2' on the end.

Word of that gets around, Madden 12 understandably gets bad reviews. People who would have normally bought Madden now don't, instead they buy the new Call of Duty / Halo / whatever.

That is the option football fans have if they don't enjoy Madden. Don't buy it and entertain yourself elsewhere. The XBOX360 and Playstation3 can play video games that don't involve helmets, pigskins, and uprights, contrary to popular belief. Then this so-called "football market" shrinks, and EA is forced to put resources into the game not only to improve it to an acceptable level but to counteract the lost sales and regrow the market.

This is why EA must improve the game every year, and why they must do their own internal research and development independent of the yearly release cycle, so they can maintain their current market share and then from there expand it. Good game design doesn't happen overnight.

[lofeazy]

Quote: Originally Posted by The GIGGAS

Also, you say that football fans only buy Madden. That's a faulty assumption I'm not even going to continue to dignify with a response.

Are there other video football games I am missing?How's that faulty assumption?(Who else buy video football games? Madden sold 4+million copys.)You telling me somebody who doesn't like football will buy a video football game just for no reason?