Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

Microsoft has confirmed they are releasing a new console for next gen. Even though Madden has made some strides forward this gen it still has a ton of legacy code holding the game back, no competition has kept them from innovating, and it's still far behind other top sports games. I just can't image Madden going into next gen in the shape it's in now. Here are my hopes for Madden next gen.

1. Build from the ground up with real football principles in mind, get rid of all legacy code and systems, rebuild player models, go 100 percent physics based, rebuild franchise mode. It will take several years to build all the game modes back up but they don't have much to build back up since it's so bare bones anyway. I rather this than another decade of the same old Madden, hopefully they have a ghost team already working on this.

2. Use the next gen transition to take a year or so off, for example if the next gen consoles release in November 2020 they should not release the first next gen Madden until August of 2022 which would be Madden 23. But knowing EA they are going to release next gen Madden the same year at console launch! then release again in August!

3. We get another serious threat to Madden. It doesn't have to be NFL licensed but it has to have good looking graphics, complete customization, and capitalize on Madden's weaknesses.

How do you think they should handle Madden next gen?

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

1) They aren't going to build from the ground up. What they can do is overhaul what needs to be overhauled. The Frostbite engine is a good engine and moving to it should benefit the series moving forward.



2) The NFL will not allow EA to skip out on annual releases.


3) Too many games in the past have failed without the license. We at OS may love the idea of a true football game that can be turned into whatever we want it to be, but the truth is the license sells. That is why it is so valuable. You can look at Axis Football if you want, but we're a long ways away from anyone making a football game that rivals Madden in terms of polish despite all of Madden's legacy issues.


In my opinion, Madden needs to overhaul as much as they possibly can and clean up as much as they can to allow for a lot of legacy issues to be removed and for new features to be added and expanded on. It feels like we've been told too many times in the past they've spent just as much time fighting the code as they have adding to the game.

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

Nothing I’ve ever seen from Madden would suggest they’ll start with a clean slate of code and move the title forward and instead they’ll port the old code to the next console with all the legacy issues just as they’ve done in the past. Unfortunately I don’t think gameplay and legacy issues are a priority for EA and they’ll most likely continue to focus on worthless content like longshot and gimmicky arcade stuff for casuals.

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

If they release Madden on last gen consoles then they wouldn't be skipping out on a year. Taking a year off to release on next gen could allow them more time to clean up and remove legacy code.

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

Sooner or later, somebody else will stick their foot in the water. They will be the ones to build from scratch.

Whoever that is may never catch Madden in terms of popularity or success, which is why no one has taken the plunge thusfar.

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

Strangely the thought of a new generation of consoles , rather than eliciting excitement fills me more with a sense of fear

Ether we will get much the same game as we have , probably better graphically, and a reason it that , " we couldn't do much this cycle as transition to new systems involved most of the cycle " but wait to see what we have in the future

Or a rebuilt game but lacking many features already in this gen , which will take 3 to 4 years to gradually re- introduce

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

Yes, and assign a dev team to this yesterday!

Re: Ground Up Rebuild for Next Gen?
 

They need too. I wish they would have done that this gen. When they announced that they weren’t going to building starting over, they announced it like it was a good thing. That they could continue to build on the game modes. That starting from scratch would cause the game to be bare for a couple years.

Many people defended them. But here we are. Years later. Gameplay is about the same. Yeah new features have been added (and taken out) but the core gameplay is still very similar. And the modes have hardly been touched.

Now compare that to NBA 2k. They started from scratch for nba 2k14. Still managed to get some type of game modes in. And the gameplay and graphics jump was amazing for the time. They still look good. Now they got modes out the ***. And that same core of gameplay.


There was such a little difference in the graphics jump for madden that year anyway. Felt like such a wasted opportunity.