Breaking Down the Two-Year Cycle For Sports Games

[RaychelSnr]

Release week for any AAA sports titles on OS is mercurial to say the least. After the initial excitement of playing a new game dies down, the comments often turn negative as bugs, glitches and other oddities are discovered. In what seems like a disturbing trend, games are shipped now with more bugs than ever, especially as developers attempt to push the envelope with new modes and ideas. Inevitably, this leads to posters calling this year’s iteration “Madden 15.5” or “FIFA 15.5” and so on. Just as one thing leads to another, the next t

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[IamMrFrost]

A two year cycle would be the better bet as very rarely are consecutive games in a series much different. A subscription based model would not work however. I can see them offering a 365 day window of free content and updates with the additional year purchased for a fee if you so desire. Perhaps that is a subscription based idea but that first year needs to be included in the price of the game. It doesn't always have to be two years either. Take NHL 15 for example. A completely unfit for retail game with all its missing features. It was the kinda game you got back in 1997. I would not want that for two years, but then NHL 16 comes along and the features that should have been there are returned. Now the issue here isn't the cycle but the start of a new generation of hardware. NHL 15 should never have been released but they had to because they didn't have a hockey entry.

MLB 15 with its new carry over feature was a great idea but basically sets us up for a year over year entry. With constant roster updates the game was good enough to last and what developers should really be working on is perhaps a model of DLC that isn't just levels but new features, animations, gameplay.. They can update the hell out of a game now a days so why not be able to have a 2 year cycle that allows them to basically ad the features they would put into the years following game without having to put a new version out. Charge of course, because people don't work for free, but it could be more economical for them and the consumer to just update games with new modes, features, graphics, whatever the case may be...

Now in saying all this, I am not a game developer. I don't know how it all works, but there has got to be a way to keep from being force fed the same game year after year at full retail when sometimes the game is just lasts years game with preinstalled DLC..

[GIZZYLOLLYPOPS]

This is pretty much guaranteed not to happen though. Will, I mean CAN say EA give up that money form their greedy hands? Why give up X million dollars for crappy gameplay and unhappy fans when the fans still buy it? We're the ones who need to change if we want them to change. I'm all for every other year sports games, but we need to change our ways for them to.

[rbiaci]

Keep it the way it is I'm not waiting 2 Years for a sports title look what there doing with tennis where is top spin ? No top spin 5 I See it becomes lame gamers like myself find other titles to play

[Capitol P23]

This is pretty much guaranteed not to happen though. Will, I mean CAN say EA give up that money form their greedy hands? Why give up X million dollars for crappy gameplay and unhappy fans when the fans still buy it? We're the ones who need to change if we want them to change. I'm all for every other year sports games, but we need to change our ways for them to.

Could not have said it better myself. If the gamers changed or just did not purchase that product it would send a direct message that Quality is always preferred over the Quantity.

@rbiaci I totally wish another Top Spin would be released. I actually enjoyed Tennis when I needed a break from the constant basketball Frenzy I was in from 2oo4 to 2o1o(Live & 2K).