Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

[g2thecore]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

I wouldn't agree. The Madden team will only see my money when they give me a proper online franchise.

And that's fine. You have a right to do that. I felt the same way last year when I found out that offline franchise wasn't getting any love either. What I don't understand is why people were expecting them to have time to improve EVERY facet of the game in just one dev cycle. I mean think about. They improved gameplay, they overhauled the presentation aspect of the game, and they rebuilt offline franchise. It would be absurd to expect them to have the time, or resources to make any significant changes to the online portion.

I understand why people are disappointed, but I think a lot of you are very naive if you expected more.

[ebugaloo]

And that's fine. You have a right to do that. I felt the same way last year when I found out that offline franchise wasn't getting any love either. What I don't understand is why people were expecting them to have time to improve EVERY facet of the game in just one dev cycle. I mean think about. They improved gameplay, they overhauled the presentation aspect of the game, and they rebuilt offline franchise. It would be absurd to expect them to have the time, or resources to make any significant changes to the online portion.

I understand why people are disappointed, but I think a lot of you are very naive if you expected more.

If it gains new customers or saves current ones, EA can and should find the resources. If they lose 1% out of their 6 million yearly customers because of a crappy online franchise, that's $3.6 million of revenues lost. You think they can't find a couple of developers with that kind of dough at stake? To suggest it is absurd to expect an overhaul to online franchise is, well, absurd.

[mestevo]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

If it gains new customers or saves current ones, EA can and should find the resources. If they lose 1% out of their 6 million yearly customers because of a crappy online franchise, that's $3.6 million of revenues lost. You think they can't find a couple of developers with that kind of dough at stake? To suggest it is absurd to expect an overhaul to online franchise is, well, absurd.

Online franchise has always been half baked and underutilized. Just as offline franchise stagnated for a time. It will be improved in time, just not for M12. Those that made due will probably continue to play, despite some of their outrage voiced here, as systemic changes that affect every game played in Madden such as the tackling, most of the elements of the redone presentation, improvements to zone coverage, etc will likely all be enjoyed in online franchise games as well.

I don't think it's reasonable for sales to even take a hit from this, especially due to improvements in other areas.

[Smoke6]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

And that's fine. You have a right to do that. I felt the same way last year when I found out that offline franchise wasn't getting any love either. What I don't understand is why people were expecting them to have time to improve EVERY facet of the game in just one dev cycle. I mean think about. They improved gameplay, they overhauled the presentation aspect of the game, and they rebuilt offline franchise. It would be absurd to expect them to have the time, or resources to make any significant changes to the online portion.

I understand why people are disappointed, but I think a lot of you are very naive if you expected more.

Its not just 1 dev cycle, they have had 7 years to get madden near the quality we all hoped it would be at by now. On top of that, I recall them saying that this was the year we would see online franchise mode be significantly upgraded and has been in the works for over 2 yrs now and now we have nothing.

I do not understand the "most unplayed mode" talk that these devs keep saying when I was in atleast 6 online franchises up until a couple months ago and trimmed it down to just 2 as it got busier in my personal life. This is proof that we are indeed getting shafted when MUT gets everything those guys asked for and more.

If EA wants my money, then go ahead and charge for online franchise modes and features, but they better be well worth the price of admission and not just some "beta test" version and then have to shell out the next year for a full featured mode with DLC to keep it fresh and dynamic. But this is just me being mad talking, so dont think too much into that!

I am very upset at this and cant help but to vent about it on all my madden forums. I dont even know what to even think now, maybe its just time to move on. Maybe the casuals have won over the big wigs at EA, i'll just try to get into COD or something like the rest of the guys and just shoot people all day or get back into basketball.

I am very disappointed and I thought and heard that new features could be added in with an update like most other games now days, but EA is not even capable of that.

Now this "is madden building on a broken foundation" is really startin to come full circle now. Im gonna go thru this whole thread and read what the faithfuls have to say now. I am shocked!

[Smoke6]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

And that's fine. You have a right to do that. I felt the same way last year when I found out that offline franchise wasn't getting any love either. What I don't understand is why people were expecting them to have time to improve EVERY facet of the game in just one dev cycle. I mean think about. They improved gameplay, they overhauled the presentation aspect of the game, and they rebuilt offline franchise. It would be absurd to expect them to have the time, or resources to make any significant changes to the online portion.

I understand why people are disappointed, but I think a lot of you are very naive if you expected more.

I mean, all we have had this whole time has been their word!

We ask for certain things and they comment with subtle replies and blogs about hints of it being on the right track. Find out in 3 weeks or whatever!

Those are the words and messages we have clung onto these past few months, only to get out hearts stepped on after being coming off life support from the other good news about the changes made to the game.

[alkamist]

are you kidding me, after reading this i just might not buy this game, i only play this game for ONLINE FRANCHISE MODE. Ive never even played online PVP, or even set up a gay Offline Franchise, or even that gay Madden Ultimate Team crap... Well damn, this game is not even worth it, i was expecting big things this yr with the Online Franchise, guess not, now all this game is a upgrade of 2011, just like ncaa

MADDEN 11.5
NCAA 11.5
NBA Live 10 - NBA Elite Canceled

What more can you ask for... Thank god I kept Madden 11... Thanks again EA...

[Segagendude]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

***steps out of lurkdom***

I was going to refrain from commenting... mainly, b/c at this point it feels somewhat helpless to do so...

However, if the most my post will do is add to this thread... the number of Madden players who feel letdown with this news... then it's done it's job.

After reading several peoples opinions...

Here's my stance...

1. If you don't play online franchise or franchise in general... please refrain from adding your two cents about "not giving a damn..." ...when Superstar mode, online co-op mode, etc... were what you banged the drum for... we supported that cause. Support ours.

Good point. No, make that great point.

I'm one who doesn't care, but I can understand why it's important to others.
Offline franchise is all I do, and if the situation was reversed,I'd feel the same way you do if online gamers were saying "who cares".

[g2thecore]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

If it gains new customers or saves current ones, EA can and should find the resources. If they lose 1% out of their 6 million yearly customers because of a crappy online franchise, that's $3.6 million of revenues lost. You think they can't find a couple of developers with that kind of dough at stake? To suggest it is absurd to expect an overhaul to online franchise is, well, absurd.

What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode? For the last 5 years offline franchise has gotten no attention whatsoever. What kind of decline in sales have they seen?

Look I can appreciate people being upset about this. Like I said previously, I was in the same boat last year when I decided not to purchase the game for the 1st time since 2001. I was upset that offline franchise (my favorite mode) was yet untouched. But I got why it wasn't touched. They explained that they would need to rebuild it, and that they couldn't do that during that cycle. The way I see it is, I'd rather they take an extra year to make some significant changes to the mode than to have them half-*** it with some crappy feature, and say that they improved it.

[Automatik]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

WOW, for the first time in a very long time I'm debating on not buying Madden. Can't even put a simple random rookie draft? Pathetic.

If the ice skating doesn't get fixed on the demo, then I'm not getting Madden 12. Gameplay>Graphics

[warren123]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

Disappointing. OF will be hyped up next year I guess, if ever. I play all the modes and salary cap wouldn't really matter to me in OF but something new would have been nice.

[CRMosier_LM]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

WOW, for the first time in a very long time I'm debating on not buying Madden. Can't even put a simple random rookie draft? Pathetic.

If the ice skating doesn't get fixed on the demo, then I'm not getting Madden 12. Gameplay>Graphics

No one has said anything about the draft other than rumors from OS members.

[GGEden]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode?

I can't count how many people in this thread have said they're canceling pre-orders, or made up their minds to skip M12 for NCAA12. That's now a category of "people not buying game because OF wasn't touched as promised, and nothing was ever done with the 'we've got OF servers to add things in people want'." Not just 'any old feature', but a very important mode for Madden communities. The number of people in that category can only grow as more people hear the news, and will represent a % loss of sales. There might be an increase % sales of people who don't care about online, or casual gamers, to offset that. But losing long-time stalwart Madden buyers is never a good thing.

As Tazdevil has always suggested, it should be one franchise mode, that can be filled up with humans or played single-player. Surely something so genius and simple. The problem is not only EA Tiburon's focus on cosmetics over game-play, but a lack of vision and ingenuity of how to design modes/ideas.

[ebugaloo]

What makes you think that they're going to lose 1% of their customers based on "no changes" being made to a game mode? For the last 5 years offline franchise has gotten no attention whatsoever. What kind of decline in sales have they seen?

Look I can appreciate people being upset about this. Like I said previously, I was in the same boat last year when I decided not to purchase the game for the 1st time since 2001. I was upset that offline franchise (my favorite mode) was yet untouched. But I got why it wasn't touched. They explained that they would need to rebuild it, and that they couldn't do that during that cycle. The way I see it is, I'd rather they take an extra year to make some significant changes to the mode than to have them half-*** it with some crappy feature, and say that they improved it.

They already did take an extra year.

I suppose the proof will be in the pudding (sales). They will also see it if certain gamertags, that showed up to play Madden 11 (and previous games) not return to play 12.

I would note that XBox unit sales declined by 300K, PS3 unit sales declined by 200K. That is with an increasing installed base of XBox and PS3 consoles, so that makes the sales decline look even worse. Assuming we have an NFL season this year, if you are right, sales should be slightly up from last year. If not, then their bet against online franchise may be a factor. I know a few users in here seem to be willing to vote with their wallets.

Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12.

[roadman]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Blog - No Additions This Year For Online Franchise Mode

I can't count how many people in this thread have said they're canceling pre-orders, or made up their minds to skip M12 for NCAA12. That's now a category of "people not buying game because OF wasn't touched as promised, and nothing was ever done with the 'we've got OF servers to add things in people want'." Not just 'any old feature', but a very important mode for Madden communities. The number of people in that category can only grow as more people hear the news, and will represent a % loss of sales.

If it's a deal breaker, then they shouldn't purchase it. We all have options and Offline Franchise people last year were held accountable to the same decision.

Heck, same thing happened a decade ago when HH Baseball decided not to upgrade Online Franchise. There were people that were very upset, but some people managed to get by with what they had to work with.

Offline Franchise has suffered immeasurably as well over the years and it's finally getting it's due. I see no reason OF won't follow the same path next year.

[ebugaloo]

They already did take an extra year.

I suppose the proof will be in the pudding (sales). They will also see it if certain gamertags, that showed up to play Madden 11 (and previous games) not return to play 12.

I would note that XBox unit sales declined by 300K, PS3 unit sales declined by 200K. That is with an increasing installed base of XBox and PS3 consoles, so that makes the sales decline look even worse. Assuming we have an NFL season this year, if you are right, sales should be slightly up from last year. If not, then their bet against online franchise may be a factor. I know a few users in here seem to be willing to vote with their wallets.

Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12.

Sorry, accidentally hit the submit button early. Let me finish my thought.

Lastly, while this may annoy some folks, I think it would be reasonable to charge a marginal fee for online franchise, as is done with NCAA Football 12. A working online franchise I imagine gets me 30+ hours of additional gameplay. If they charged me, say $3 to $5, that is insignificant relative to the incremental entertainment I get out of the game. By not providing this, it is lost revenue for EA.