ian or anyone else from ea im sure your tired of hearin about this but...

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by PacMan3000

Thanks for chiming in, Ian. Also, didn't franchise mode come into existence due to Madden? I remember when it came out it was huge because you could finally build a team, rather than playing one season over and over again.

No... one of the later Tecmo Superbowls had a primitive form of a franchise mode, and Front Page Sports took the concept to a new level. Madden, however, made it mandatory for a sports game.

[Gridiron]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anti Honor

This is what happens when you speak for other people. I'm ALL about Franchise mode, which is why I've been so vocal about the CPU AI issues, including turnovers. Because, if franchise mode isn't any better than '08, I'd like to save the $60 I'll be spending on the game. I mean, I'll play some online, but I'm a franchise guy. I'm looking forward to the blog, and any other info about franchise mode, that'll sway me into buying the game.

Quote: Originally Posted by CowherPower

Umm.....yea,ok. Gotta love this time of year.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boregard

Franchise mode is Madden and without it it is not worth buying. Online sucks cuz there is no online franchise. Play a guy you don't know, he cheats, disconnects when you are beating his backside, uses lag and glitches to frustrate the heck out of you and then you try again cuz you are bored and wanna play a game of Madden and you get a new guy who does all of the above mentioned crap. I know about 30 guys within 15 miles of me who don't spend time on these boards cuz they are busy playing franchise mode, with other users, scheduling games, passing memory cards for PS2 cuz many of them stayed there due to next gen's short comings in franchise mode and the few who did "upgrade" to PS3 Madden are passing USB memory devices around.

Quote: Originally Posted by Boregard

The whole stinkin point of NFL football is to win the SB and without the franchise mode the game is hollow and empty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

LOL.

You guys are kidding yourselves and misunderstanding my point.

I never said one time that franchise was unimportant, but the idea that it's the "backbone" of the Madden franchise is a ridiculous idea. No--and understand this well--the "backbone" of the Madden franchise is, always was, and always will be, the GAMEPLAY ON THE FIELD. Period. If Madden dropped franchise tomorrow I'm sure you'd all think the game would fail, but boy you couldn't be more wrong. I'd bet the sales they'd lose would be so minimal by comparison it wouldn't even make a dent and plenty of you would still buy it anyway even though I'm sure you'd say you wouldn't right now, lol.

If you think that the majority of the people who buy this game care about franchise anywhere near the level that people at a board like OS would, then you have some wild illusions about the overall market of who buys this game. You've lost touch with reality. I've been to every popular Madden community online, and I've seen very few threads screaming about franchise. Threads about everything else FAR outweigh it. FAR. It's not even a contest. But again, if you wish to live with illusions be my guest, it's just that the proof of it disproves your belief. Just check around for yourselves, tally it up and compare it to everything else.

EA on the other hand understands it much better, which is the reason they've publicly made mentions about making the game more accessible to the casual gamer. They know where their bread and butter sales are coming from. The casual gamer is not playing season after season after season after season of franchise mode, and doing a bunch of micromanagement tasks, but the fact that you actually believe they do is pure comedy.

Keep the laughs coming though guys. It's entertaining. LOL.

And to Ian: just keep in mind that Madden '08's franchise was indisputably broken, yet the game still sold Millions between 360 and PS3. So obviously, its failures didn't derail the train. It didn't help, but it didn't derail it either. I'm pretty sure that at the end of the day, you would have to agree that the gameplay on the field is what Madden's most important aspect is. If not, I'd be worried. Gameplay trumps all.

[cowboysfan440]

yes i would still buy the game im not going to lie about it but it sold millions because of name also it doesnt hurt that its the only nfl game on the market. idk what threads your lookin at because i see an awful lot of franchise people on them and if you think about it what would you say is the best madden ever? for me its madden 05 ive also seen alot of ppl say this as well and in 05 franchise was the main focus, now i agree gameplay is the by far the most important thing but its no coincidence that probly the best madden ever had the best franchise mode ever

[tombrokaw]

I don't need a single damn new feature. I just don't want my franchise to freeze in season 3 then after the patch (4 months later), season 5.

That's just an untenable product.

(And yes i restarted franchise twice)

[jrp1918]

Much of Madden 08 was broken, not just franchise, and it still sold millions...

[Nza]

Most people who buy Madden even if they value franchise mode wouldn't have known about the issues without buying it first, so they can't take back their sale can they? Displeasure about 08's franchise mode impacting sales would come with 09 sale figures.

Realistically though, a year is a long time, and a game isn't really that expensive, so even those burnt by 08's franchise mode would likely buy 09 even just to see if it's fixed. That may not always be the case every year though if it remains to be a problem so getting it fixed is in EA's interest for sure.

I can understand online gaming but it must get terribly boring after a while. Taking the same team, game in game out - I could only do it a few times. I love the draft and the early offseason in the NFL (i.e. FA), so my main interest with Madden is building teams over the years, building rivalries deep into franchises, watching rookie studs turn into stars with HOF credentials, and basically just watching the league unfold year in and out in front of me. Every year is something new. Well, ideally it is anyway - unfortunately Madden franchise has made it hard to keep franchises long term viable, with its terrible salary cap system and shocking CPU roster management AI. It will be a cold day in hell before those two features are properly addressed I would imagine.

[cowboysfan440]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nza

Most people who buy Madden even if they value franchise mode wouldn't have known about the issues without buying it first, so they can't take back their sale can they? Displeasure about 08's franchise mode impacting sales would come with 09 sale figures. Realistically though, a year is a long time, and a game isn't really that expensive, so even those burnt by 08's franchise mode would likely buy 09 even just to see if it's fixed. That may not always be the case every year though if it remains to be a problem so getting it fixed is in EA's interest for sure. I can understand online gaming but it must get terribly boring after a while. Taking the same team, game in game out - I could only do it a few times. I love the draft and the early offseason in the NFL (i.e. FA), so my main interest with Madden is building teams over the years, building rivalries deep into franchises, watching rookie studs turn into stars with HOF credentials, and basically just watching the league unfold year in and out in front of me. Every year is something new. Well, ideally it is anyway - unfortunately Madden franchise has made it hard to keep franchises long term viable, with its terrible salary cap system and shocking CPU roster management AI. It will be a cold day in hell before those two features are properly addressed I would imagine.

[texbuk84]

i thought that the franchise part of madden was ok for the most part. i didnt really have a problem with it except for the unrealistic stats that was in the game. now its not the best and sometimes we need to remember that this is just a game. we want the realizm of football so much that we forget that these guys are working hard to try to forfill the needs of millions of gamers and thats just not possible for the required time that they have to put in the project at EA