Does EA Know Madden is not that great?

[Jistic]

What they know is this game is still in the top 5 in sales after 6 months. In that respect it is great. IF it aint broke, why fix it? Would you?

I wish people would not buy it to force them to innovate more, but they have zero incentive to at this point.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I love these threads. Some fireworks will begin in 3.....2......1...... As long as people buy the game, then they are going to believe that they are doing something right and won't stray too far from what they have already done.

I would say you would be right IF there was competition. EA knows they are the only game in town. They could very well know thier game isn't that good. In fact I'd be willing to bet they know and chose to not spend to much $ in the game for the same reason, NO COMPETITION.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by russell05

Don't blame the developers those guys are hardcore fans of 'SIM' football just like all of us. But EA is still in the buss. of making money so every year there is a fight between the developers and the big wiggs.

No way are the EA developers "Sim" at all. In fact I bet if they had thier way there would be penalties for running the ball.

[xrams]

Quote: Originally Posted by jistic

What they know is this game is still in the top 5 in sales after 6 months. In that respect it is great. IF it aint broke, why fix it? Would you?

the game was broke... they fixed it by throwing cash at the NFL....

Quote: Originally Posted by jistic

I wish people would not buy it to force them to innovate more, but they have zero incentive to at this point.

And this is very easy to do... especially since Madden is only giving annual roster updates...

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by joeboo

Actually, that's not entirely true. The developers can't do anything about those items if the one's above them don't want them fixed or see no reason for them to be fixed. The developers are just doing as they're told.

And I would agree with you. But it reinforces my feeling that there's something seriously wrong at Tiburon and/or EA. I'm sure different companies have different procedures they follow in terms of the creative process taken to create a videogame. And it's obvious that the marketing dept. at EA wields a lot of power/too much power. You'll never see an EASports game delayed for creative reasons; the games get released like clockwork.

This is in comparison to the relationship between Bungie/Microsoft, where the suits would love to release Halo 3 when they want, yet Bungie's strong enough to say the game won't be ready until it's ready. I saw a show on E3 recently where the suits at Microsoft tried to get the guys developing Gears of War to remove the chainsaw for the E3 demo. The developers fought to keep it in and they were right - it was one of the coolest parts about the game that everyone loved. The suits conceded the right decision was made. I think back in 2003, people flipped out when the 2K folks decided to hold NFL2k4 an additional month, and it likely suffered in sales because of it. If I'm not mistaken they had just signed the agreement with ESPN and added some peripheral ESPN detail and additional online content, something that would come fully into fruition in NFL2K5.

Which brings me back to Tiburon. Either these guys are totally spineless, choose to exist in a vacuum and not acknowledge there are other devs out there doing better things, they don't know their jobs, or all of the above. I understand there has to be give and take between generally what the suits want (money) and the devs want (quality). That being said, I don't see how you nail a feature like stadiums yet miss so horribly on something as important as properly instituting a true next-gen football engine. They have a state of the art facility created to produce football games. Madden as a game is one of the iconic games of our generation. We've all seen video of actual NFL players begging to be better represented in their games. Given that, I can't believe a suit would come in and say, "Add a football helmet to every introduction and screw it up further by [insert everything that was wrong about the player introductions here]" and the Tiburon devs would be powerless to stand up and say "No, it shouldn't be that way".

I apologize for going on such a long rant. But this is just something as simple as player introductions. There are too many areas to point at where this next generation game is lacking. Player models. Player movement. Player interaction. Presentation. Either way, there's something wrong at Tiburon/EA. People can't say "It's EA's catering to casual fans that's causing the problems". That's just one of a lot of things wrong.

[Jistic]

Quote: Originally Posted by xrams

the game was broke... they fixed it by throwing cash at the NFL.... And this is very easy to do... especially since Madden is only giving annual roster updates...

You make it sound like Madden wasn't selling before they got the licensce. Madden is an institution more than a game these days. It practically has it's own TV show.

[The GIGGAS]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

And I would agree with you. But it reinforces my feeling that there's something seriously wrong at Tiburon and/or EA. I'm sure different companies have different procedures they follow in terms of the creative process taken to create a videogame. And it's obvious that the marketing dept. at EA wields a lot of power/too much power. You'll never see an EASports game delayed for creative reasons; the games get released like clockwork. This is in comparison to the relationship between Bungie/Microsoft, where the suits would love to release Halo 3 when they want, yet Bungie's strong enough to say the game won't be ready until it's ready. I saw a show on E3 recently where the suits at Microsoft tried to get the guys developing Gears of War to remove the chainsaw for the E3 demo. The developers fought to keep it in and they were right - it was one of the coolest parts about the game that everyone loved. The suits conceded the right decision was made. I think back in 2003, people flipped out when the 2K folks decided to hold NFL2k4 an additional month, and it likely suffered in sales because of it. If I'm not mistaken they had just signed the agreement with ESPN and added some peripheral ESPN detail and additional online content, something that would come fully into fruition in NFL2K5. Which brings me back to Tiburon. Either these guys are totally spineless, choose to exist in a vacuum and not acknowledge there are other devs out there doing better things, they don't know their jobs, or all of the above. I understand there has to be give and take between generally what the suits want (money) and the devs want (quality). That being said, I don't see how you nail a feature like stadiums yet miss so horribly on something as important as properly instituting a true next-gen football engine. They have a state of the art facility created to produce football games. Madden as a game is one of the iconic games of our generation. We've all seen video of actual NFL players begging to be better represented in their games. Given that, I can't believe a suit would come in and say, "Add a football helmet to every introduction and screw it up further by [insert everything that was wrong about the player introductions here]" and the Tiburon devs would be powerless to stand up and say "No, it shouldn't be that way". I apologize for going on such a long rant. But this is just something as simple as player introductions. There are too many areas to point at where this next generation game is lacking. Player models. Player movement. Player interaction. Presentation. Either way, there's something wrong at Tiburon/EA. People can't say "It's EA's catering to casual fans that's causing the problems". That's just one of a lot of things wrong.

Amazing post... I agree with you on all counts.

[lnin0]

Madden makes a load of cash for EA. Why would they not think it is great?

If people have problems with the way Madden plays or don't think EA is improving the series each year then they need to let EA know this by passing on Madden for a year or two. Until that day comes, EA will continue to bath in Madden money and feel it is unquestionably great.

...although someone at EA must have been a bit worried about Madden's greatness or why else would they toss the NFL millions for the exclusive deal.