It would be putting it nicely to say that
some people were unhappy about
Madden's Online Franchise mode not being updated this year. But since I had the chance to speak with EA designer Anthony DiMento about Online Communities, I figured it would probably be wise to ask about the oft-discussed Online Franchise mode as well.
Below you will find the excerpt from my interview that details what the thought process was going into the development of this year's online feature set:
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Operation Sports: There's a lot of people that are unhappy about not having any updates to Online Franchise mode this year, so was it a choice between Communities and Online Franchise this year, or was it nothing like that?
Anthony DiMento: I know everybody's excuse for Online Franchise is that they look at the numbers, and nobody plays it, and it's a vocal minority of guys. But at the beginning of the year, Ian's mandate (Ed. note: Ian Cummings is the former Madden creative director) was that we had to do something for Online Team Play (OTP). So if we're going to do something for OTP, it's got to be the Clubs feature -- that's in FIFA and NHL, basically what this whole foundation is built on. So there wasn't going to be time for Clubs and a full upgrade to Online Franchise, so rather than making a few minor tweaks to Online Franchise, we were able to manipulate the Clubs feature to create Communities -- you know create that head-to-head experience that goes along with all the ranked team play stuff that Clubs brings.
I mean I think what Online Franchise is all about from what I hear, and from my experience, is about playing together -- playing with your friends and playing against a group of guys you like playing with. And the biggest complaint we hear, other than it not being updated, is that it's really hard to schedule your time; that's been the problem here at the office, too. I have a Week 6 game, and I have one guy I have to play against. I'm just like, 'Hey, John, meet me online at 8:30. We're going to play our Week 6 game because the commissioner is going to advance the week tomorrow so we have to get this done.' And then either I have to work late and I don't it make in time, or he has to go pick up his wife at the airport or something like that. Guys just aren't able to coordinate.
It's frustrating already, so we felt like Communities is still giving people that experience they want playing together without having to worry about thinking about figuring out that I have to wait for that one guy. Now you can be in a situation where you can have 2,000, or if you're in five communities, 10,000 other guys potentially that you can get a game against, and people you want to play against. So it was a matter of priorities, too. Everybody plays ranked head to head, and we had more guys play OTP last year than we had play Online Franchise mode. Basically that is what it comes down to. |
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My Take: This explanation doesn't let EA off the hook for things that were said about improving Online Franchise mode well before this year, but it certainly seems wise to focus on the majority of football gamers first and foremost. In many ways, it reminds me of the way Criterion tends to do things with their online features. The folks at Criterion, who are responsible for the
Burnout franchise and
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, have had a great amount of success focusing on core online experiences that you are simply able to hop in and out of quite easily. Criterion's racing games sometimes get criticized because people look at them on the surface and see something that does not really look that deep. In the end, it's really more deceptive than anything. Something like Autolog is sometimes easy to dismiss at first glance because it's a part of every single portion of the game rather than being a set mode; the same goes for "Easy Drive" in
Burnout Paradise. However, if you stick around and actually play the games, you realize the simplicity gives way to a complex idea that was just implemented in such a way that it's easy to enjoy.
If Online Communities works correctly, then it should simply become a part of the way you play the game online. Imagining a scenario where you can easily hop online and get a game in against likeminded gamers either by going head to head or by going through the OTP lobby would add so much to the
Madden experience online. At the end of the day, it's about ease of use. If you hop online, and then have to deal with various barriers of entry before finding a quality game, you're going to be less likely to come back. If everything is streamlined, then you come back day after day because it's quick, easy and you're having fun.
Again, it doesn't solve the problems people have with already having a small, built-in group they want to play Online Franchise mode with on a daily basis, but it seems like that's a very small number of people in the grand scheme of things for EA. So if EA can bring more people back to the online features throughout the year, then it makes more sense that those formerly unconnected people will eventually want more from their experience, and thus a greater demand will pick up for more in-depth experiences like Online Franchise mode. Lastly, if Communities somehow enables EA to further streamline the ways you can connect with potential opponents, then that will help Online Franchise mode when it does inevitably get updated.