Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

[RaychelSnr]

As with all games, we posted a poll for NCAA Football 12 just as it was being released. Not surprisingly, the initial gamer reaction to the game was overwhelmingly positive with 85% of respondents saying the game was good to great.

Fast forward two months, we recently re-ran a poll with essentially the same question. With all of the problems and the patch which still hasn't been released, gamers opinions have cooled significantly. The game now gets a 57% favorable rating, with the people saying the game is bad has jumped from 4% to 20%, a huge increase.

What do you think about this change? Expected/unexpected/worrisome for EA?

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

I expected it. And it is not too worrisome for EA because this happens almost every year.

I mean this lightheartedly but videogamers tend to whine excessively and they love hyperbole.

[coogrfan]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

I think the really significant thing here is the much smaller total number of votes in the second poll. How much of that is due to people waiting for the patch vs just giving up and moving on to other games?

[LucianoJJ]

Patches matter. If people choose to move on to other games, that's fine. EA already has their money. Future sales could suffer, if EA doesn't seem to respond to customer concerns, and their game quality is considered poor. I used to check out all EA Sports games, no matter the sport. Are we reaching a point of burnout with EA?

All that being said, NCAA 12 could be fixed with a good patch, and I would feel that I got my money's worth.

[RaychelSnr]

I think the really significant thing here is the much smaller total number of votes in the second poll. How much of that is due to people waiting for the patch vs just giving up and moving on to other games?

That's insignificant since the second poll hasn't had two months to collect votes. It's had something more like 36 hours

With experience after about 1000 votes, the percentages don't change much % wise (maybe +/- 5). We could go into how statistics work...but I'll leave that alone for now

[sniperscout75]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

I honestly feel that one of EA's biggest deficiency is communication with its respective customer base. In the months prior to release it seemed as though every week we were being updated on the game and its features. Once it hit and the problems which were/are glaring we have only been left to speculate among ourselves as to what they are/arent doing.

The one time we got a really good opportunity to hear about the patch/fixes to the major bugs in the game was the interview with Ben on 8/18 and to be honest it sickened me to listen to it as to the way (in my opinion) he underplayed and for all intents and purposes blew off the concerns of the community regarding the bugs.

This is my own personal opinion but if they would at least communicate better as to what they are doing about these issues as opposed to leaving us to our imaginations I for one would not be nearly as critical. I have felt in the past they were unfairly criticized however this year my opinion has changed vastly on that.

In my own personal profession I know that being upfront with people, acknowledging mistakes, and letting them know that one is attempting to alleviate such problems goes a long way.

[coogrfan]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

That's insignificant since the second poll hasn't had two months to collect votes. It's had something more like 36 hours

With experience after about 1000 votes, the percentages don't change much % wise (maybe +/- 5). We could go into how statistics work...but I'll leave that alone for now

I don't think I made myself clear.

What I trying to get at was to ask if there was a significant number of people who (like myself ) hadn't voted in the second poll yet because they were reserving judgement until after they see the effects of patch #2.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

Considering how vocal posters have been here, I'd say anyone still waiting around for the patch who is still holding out hope are in a very small minority, unfortunately. It's a shame that most of the people are currently making up that 15% gain in bad/poor.

Personally, I would like to see an honest comparison as to who voted good/great at release, compared to what they voted in the past two days.

[Eski33]

It is a slanted poll. Everyone knows the game's issues and that a patch is due out soon. I would say the responses reflect disappointment in the lack of timeliness of the patch rather than the game itself.

Put out this same poll post patch.

[KingV2k3]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

Might not have been such a dramatic drop off if EA released Patch #2 in a timely manner...

I'd be curious to see if there's an uptick after it HAS been released and "lived with" for a bit...

[JerseySuave4]

It also has a lot to do with people overrating it when it was first released. 2,700+ people, over 50%, said the game was GREAT when it was released. Lets be honest, the game was not GREAT then and its not GREAT now. At best it was good then and its good now. But people were antipating this game and were so excited for it so they get the game, maybe play 1 or 2 games and are still on that excitement high and come on here and say the game is amazing.

[stoncold32]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

I think the really significant thing here is the much smaller total number of votes in the second poll. How much of that is due to people waiting for the patch vs just giving up and moving on to other games?

Yep. And those who stuck around movd down to the "average" and "poor' options

Whe nthe patch drops, it'll be more of the same. In the first few hours, people will be on here proclaiming the patch to be an entirely new game experience and how this is now the best footballl game ever. But after a few days, that'll die down and the truth will come out.

Dont get me wrong, I hope this patch is all that I just described....but I'm just not getting my hopes up based on EA track record

[DaSmerg]

The current situation should be very worrisome for the EA Sports division. The economy is helping both NCAA and Madden right now, not hurting them. There isn't a big appetite for risk on the investment side right now which is a real shame. The football game genre is ripe for plundering and TBH, I'm a bit suprised (considering in a recessed economy pretty much everything costs less vs. a boom) that someone isn't stepping up...a la what happened in basketball, hockey before it and soccer twice before that.

[steelernation28]

This entire generation of football has been a critical failure for EA. That hasn't worried them from releasing below par games before. Why should they worry about it now?

[GiantYankee]

Re: Gamers Opinions Cool on NCAA Football 12 With Time

Expected. I have learned that after the initial excitement and playing for awhile you start to see some of those annoying issues (LB super jump, Psychic Dbs, endless tinkering w/sliders) that make the game difficult to play at times. After playing almost non-stop for two weeks I've decided to put the game down and wait for the patch. What's really annoying is to read the reviews that come out right away and there is no mention of these issues. That leads me to believe they have been addressed. Guess not. I still have love NCAA Football but with so many other forms of entertainment (including other video games) I don't want to spend time before every game adjusting all of the LBs that I play jumping ability or the DBs coverage. I simply don't have the time anymore to make these edits when I'm already pressed for the time to play one game.