Madden Creative Director, Ian Cummings is Leaving Tiburon

[Lexicon]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

Shocking, but understandable (Him wanting to go elsewhere to make more money)

This sucks. Whomever comes in better not take another 8 steps back with the excuse of "I'm learning. Give me time".

I'm not liking the future of Madden right now. As someone above posted, the dev team appears to be in disarray. Coupled with the quarterly losses reported,and the overall economy the way it is, there could be a time in the not-too-distant future where Triburon and the Madden team close up shop for good.

Think it can't happen? Well, it happened with Aces Studios, the company behind the successful Flight Simulator series for the PC.

Overreacting? Maybe just a little, but I'm still concerned. Ian looked to be the "captain" of the ship, and was steering it into the right direction. Now he's leaving, and the ship will be without a captain for who knows how long. In the meantime, how will the series be affected? Guess I'll have to wait and see......like I've been doing for the past several years.

Why do you have such high expectations for a new director? Ian's been director for a while now and the game is not where it should be. Scores were down last year. I've heard more people say they didn't like it than people say they did like it. That doesn't mean it's Ian's fault, but the new director is going to be under the same restrictions as Ian. Hopefully this will be the end of the exclusivity deal. This is a perfect example of why the deal is bad. We're dependant on EA for an NFL game, whether it's good, bad, or incomplete.

[coogrfan]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

They could wait until the games came out, so EA have to hired a new person to replace Ian to that person continues the M12 cycle??

Never like his atitute, but i wish the best for him...

I read this five times, and I still don't know what he was trying to say.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

How long before the very people that openly despise the Madden franchise say they'll miss Ian?

About as long as it took for them to want David Ortiz back. I despise Madden, but I'm indifferent on Ian.

I personally think the bulk of Madden's troubles are caused from an expensive license eating into development funds and too much of the remaining funds getting diverted to casual friendly areas like Madden Ultimate Team and gameflow/plan. It doesn't matter who is in charge if the money for the game keeps getting allocated to areas like these.

[Lexicon]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

I personally think the bulk of Madden's troubles are caused from an expensive license eating into development funds and too much of the remaining funds getting diverted to casual friendly areas like Madden Ultimate Team and gameflow/plan. It doesn't matter who is in charge if the money for the game keeps getting allocated to areas like these.

Exactly. Peter Moore has the ultimate say.

[Dog]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

My faith in Madden has all but evaporated

[Hooe]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

I did find his removal of the "_ea" from his Twitter handle curious; he did this on April 1 though (IIRC) so I didn't make anything of it.

In any case: thank you, Ian, for taking the time to reach out to the Operation Sports community to get our feedback on the game, and also for your efforts towards making the Madden game what it is today. Best of luck to you wherever you're off to next.

[aTTckr]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

Wow. I really didn't expect that. Thanks for the new vision you brought to Madden Ian. He proabably got frustrated with the garbage engine and the ea executives and understandably so.

Hope to hear soon from your new game.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

In any case: thank you, Ian, for taking the time to reach out to the Operation Sports community to get our feedback on the game, and also for your efforts towards making the Madden game what it is today. Best of luck to you wherever you're off to next.

x2. Be well Ian & don't be a stranger

[wheelman990]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

It's really hard to say how the series will turn. Personally, I would like to see a entire new team and for Peter Moore and the gang to let the new team lead. Ya, they might make it a worse game....but IMO the games already ruined.

I think it needs a fresh feel. This is the 7th year on current gen(xbox 360 06,07,08,09,10,11 and now 12!). This game feels very stale. Even if the game was great(which it isn't) it would need new life just to feel fresh.

I would like to see EA get away from the arcade feel, and move to a annimation style more like 2k. I guess I am just wanting a more sim style game then EA currently offers.

[WakeUp]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

Who is stepping in?... That is the question.
Is it too much to read into the format that these guys are going into (facebook mini-games) and wonder if that had anything to do with the product we have seen since Madden 09?

What's to wonder? Madden 11 dropped like 600K in units from the previous year and was never steady over the past few. I doubt this was a fully voluntary move, and the whole "he left for more money" angle is funny to me. If people think making Facebook games in a small startup with an uncertain future is going to make you more money any time soon than being a head dev at EA, then they'll believe anything. Remember the lack of enthusiasm (some could even consider rudeness) from him in the videos he was in for Madden 11? Something was up at that point. The writing was on the wall. Only thing that surprises me is that we're not hearing of other head guys there going too, but it may not be far off.

I can't say it bothers me one bit. Remember that this is the same guy that lashed out at the Youtube community saying that us finding and posting videos about the problems in Madden was an indication that we had no lives. Besides that being unprofessional, a good designer would realize that if we can see that many big problems at all it's an indication that your game is broken. Point blank, if every single lineman on a pass play can miss their primary assignment and allow rushers in free with out breathing on them, you have a broken game. That's not the communities fault and the communities aren't wrong for pointing it out.

I welcome change and more of it.
gl

[Tengo Juego]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

I did find his removal of the "_ea" from his Twitter handle curious; he did this on April 1 though (IIRC) so I didn't make anything of it.

Hasn't it always just been @ian_cummings? And if he changed that, why not he rest of his profile info?

[FootballDetails]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

I personally think the bulk of Madden's troubles are caused from an expensive license eating into development funds and too much of the remaining funds getting diverted to casual friendly areas like Madden Ultimate Team and gameflow/plan. It doesn't matter who is in charge if the money for the game keeps getting allocated to areas like these.

Excellent points. I completely agree.

[wheelman990]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

I also think the new project leader should get paid off how well the game sells/review. Sad but true

[spankdatazz22]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

How long before the very people that openly despise the Madden franchise say they'll miss Ian?

I don't consider myself as openly despising the game, but had my run-ins with Ian once he became prominant with the series. I've never been an Ian-fan, but respected his willingness to engage the community even if it came off as over-hype a lot of the time. I don't see this as a huge loss, because the series has been in the "it's on the right track" phase since the Phil guy was lead. And truthfully none of them have introduced anything significant, from "Game that Adapts to You" years to Pro-Tak, which started out bad and was never cultivated. I guess the person that did Head Coach did some good things but I never played that game. It's great that Ian's gotten a better position to move onto, so congrats to him.

The series has long needed an MVP-like makeover, and fresh ideas/willingness to new approaches are needed. But still could be a situation where the marketing department wags the dog, and the game remains more hype than substance. Regardless, will be interesting to see going forward.

[Hooe]

Re: Ian Cummings is out

Hasn't it always just been @ian_cummings? And if he changed that, why not he rest of his profile info?

Nope, he was "@ian_cummings_ea". To the latter, only he knows.