Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

[XtremeDunkz]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

I wish someone who had access to these guys would ask them about what they went on and on about during Madden 10 release. The fact that OF was amazing because it was all server side and they could update it at ANY TIME, even after the game has been released to add new features during the year. EA could save so much face by adding features to OF as soon as they are ready this coming year.

[GiantBlue76]

Regardless of whether we like the decision or not is irrelevant... EA has given us access to the hows and whys of their decision making process and their decisions make perfectly logical business sense. When did telling the truth about your decision process amount to being an excuse?

Later

Why is it that it's always the case that in order to get one basic feature we need to sacrifice something else? I'd love to know why we couldnt get both online franchise improvements and online communities? Wait, I forgot, online communities prevented then from working on it, from working on gameplay areas and also audio. That is weak. It is what it is. League manager will get us through this year.

[alkamist]

still not going to buy this yrs game, sorry but no update to Online Franchise is an upgrade of Madden 11 in my eyes, pretty much all I see is an upgraded of players, and the fixed exploits, and bugs... yea they added new stuff for Offline Franchise but come on, they could had add that as a 800 MS Pts through xbox... Maybe its time to change it up and add a update to madden 12 and have us pay 1200 MS pts for it for ONLINE Franchise which than they will be making more money because of the add on..

So in my eyes, all they did was a roster patch, and fixed exploits, and bugs that M11 had... not worth 60$ will probably wait for black friday which it will probably be dropped to 39.99...

My eyes are on this yr Fifa 12, Gears of War, and possibly 2k... Was going to buy NCAA and madden but to me was an upgraded game of rosters, and they tried to fix the bugs, and exploits of both yrs of games...

Which is easier to dl the rosters... Thanks again EA but I dont play online PVP because of the fact of Nano's and cheezers that use QB's that just run the ball all the time... whats the point, thats why we set up leagues to play people we know, Had a league set up we played 10 and 11 and had 5+ yrs going.. 15+ people in our league...

[DUDERMAN]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

If they really can update throughout the year (which we have yet to see), all I really would want is a slider set... which it seems in now in every mode but online franchise.

If they want to hold off on the big updates as a selling point for next year, fine. I don't like it, but I've learned to accept it.

However, it's real hard to keep people invested in the mode when 6 people go between 14-2 to 16-0 every year. A slider set would greatly help this. So everything aside... I just would like a slider set.




...but it isn't gonna happen.

[threattonature]

This is such a backwards way of looking at it. If there was a better online franchise mode then maybe there would be more players online using it. The online franchise is so barebones of course you're not going to have many people giving it a try.

Once I saw how big of a joke the online franchise was I immediately sold back my Madden as well as many of my friends who I do the dynasty with. I have a 5 man dynasty and an 8 man dynasty that I usually run with NCAA Football and we were all looking forward to switching to Madden this year to give it a try.

[lofeazy]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

Remeber in a year are too.They will be pimping online Franchise as a new feature are a upgrade.

[blocknose]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

i assume this is done on the server side like the Online franchise so can they at least make sliders available in online franchise mode even if it takes setting up a communitie

[vert56]

I think its funny that they cite demographics as empirical evidence that the online franchise players are in the minority and, thus, the lack of demand made focusing on other features more pressing.

If they built an online franchise mode that was worth a damn then I bet it would become pretty popular with the kiddies. As long as online franchise mode is an after-thought for the devs it will continue to be one for consumers.

insult to my intelligence EA.

this annual "we couldn't do this" or "we had to cut that" business is beginning to make me very tired.

I just cannot wait until someone else is given the right (as if this should be a question at all) to develop an NFL licensed product.

I would even be ok with a Football sim that was not licensed by the NFL but had all the bells and whistles that the consumers ask for, like a fully fleshed out, fully realized online franchise mode for instance. The ability to create your very own team (jerseys, stadium, name, city, etc) and enter into an online franchise mode with around 30 other users and go through multiple seasons together. That would be grand!!!!

[SageWonder]

Just to reiterate everyone's sentiments:

1) Hard to schedule games??? NCAA is the same way and OD receives love. What a weak argument.

2) If you guys would improve OF, more people would play it!!! Common sense here, geez.

As it stands, Online Franchise is just a looping league with a draft. It's NOT an Online Franchise mode. That's why people don't play it! You call it something it's not. No trade AI, no player contracts, no salary cap, it's not a franchise mode, yet you call it one. There-in lies the problem.

Posted using the power of knowledge.

[dkp23]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

I think it is very clear when you think about the business side of this. If the Online Franchise was updated, we all would be happy to hear the news, but if you look at the game as a whole, will it improve sales? Probably not, so why?

Take all the changes to gameplay (im not even going to say improvements because i dont think they were), some presentation changes, and update on franchise, there isnt any major feature that is BRAND NEW to the game except for upgrades that can get people to buy the game again. You can say custom playbook but any casual gamer that doesnt buy madden isnt going to be interested in it. The upgrade of items already in the game is probably not enough to help help sales because everybody is going to say "same old game". They need something new every year and every year it is another gimmick that nobody cares about. Online Communities may turn out to be successful, but lets be honest about it. It is just another playnow quick match system with a small section carved out from the whole community. So instead of a friend system, we got online communities.

If EA is listening to the community and doing it for the core madden players, why wasnt online franchise improved? People say that usage in online chise is too low to justify, but that is what the core madden gamers want! Last two years, the core madden fans have spoken, we want online franchise updated with a full set of features to make managing a franchise realistic....Remember, whether the OS community is a small portion, these communities are the CORE MADDEN FANS! If you are listening to the CORE MADDEN FANS, then you listen to sites like OS...All the other core communities are probably saying the same exact thing, EA is screwed us by not working on online chise.

If anything needs to be sacrificed, it is Superstar mode! What a waste of resources...At some point, EA needs to realize that madden's success is the core fans and they need to utilize us for free advertising. Free advertising the old fashion way - "WORD OF MOUTH"...You make the core fans happy, the core fans will get the word out to on the fence former fans and new potential fans. Turning the game into arcade football with glitches and gimmicky features wont do that and it has shown over the years with sales dropping...Or EA can always reduce the price and sell more units and spin it and say they sold more units than the previous years...There is always a spin to everything...

[aaronrodgers012]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

Whats so hard about giving players a schedule and having them play that at anytime rather than week by week like 2k basketball does it or the Madden 2009 Leagues did it. Scheduling problems eliminated. Or stop making a garbage product and more people will play. Or stop making the game easier and your fan base wont continue to drop.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

still not going to buy this yrs game, sorry but no update to Online Franchise is an upgrade of Madden 11 in my eyes, pretty much all I see is an upgraded of players, and the fixed exploits, and bugs... yea they added new stuff for Offline Franchise but come on, they could had add that as a 800 MS Pts through xbox... Maybe its time to change it up and add a update to madden 12 and have us pay 1200 MS pts for it for ONLINE Franchise which than they will be making more money because of the add on..

So in my eyes, all they did was a roster patch, and fixed exploits, and bugs that M11 had... not worth 60$ will probably wait for black friday which it will probably be dropped to 39.99...

My eyes are on this yr Fifa 12, Gears of War, and possibly 2k... Was going to buy NCAA and madden but to me was an upgraded game of rosters, and they tried to fix the bugs, and exploits of both yrs of games...

Which is easier to dl the rosters... Thanks again EA but I dont play online PVP because of the fact of Nano's and cheezers that use QB's that just run the ball all the time... whats the point, thats why we set up leagues to play people we know, Had a league set up we played 10 and 11 and had 5+ yrs going.. 15+ people in our league...

Come on dude... it's fine that a lot of people wish they had updated online franchise more, but it isn't the end of the world. People have been waiting for offline franchise to get updated since this was on the original XBox, and there's no way in hell what they've added could just be added as DLC. They've made drastic changes to the offline franchise and from the sound of it, player tendencies and ratings as well. Plus the tackling has been improved big time as well.

[rootofalleli]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

This will make me unpopular, but I think they probably contemplated making substantial changes to online franchise and realized it wouldn't work.

Changing any one thing probably involves changing whatever that one thing interacts with. In the case of online franchise, I think the devs were unable to do anything terribly exciting without some kind of domino effect.

Adding communities is a separate project. It's a noticeable change that may not interact too much with other code elements. Talking about "priorities" in this context makes it sound like all changes are equally complex, when that just isn't the case.

I've tried to make changes in how we do things where I work, and sometimes really important changes that I know would make our clients happier are just not possible in the short term. Not unless we're willing to break a lot of our functional systems, anyway.

[Bonee]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

In the end, where is the difference between OTP and my PSN Buddylist?

[splff3000]

Re: Online Communities Took Precedence Over Online Franchise in Madden NFL 12

Sooo, it seems like people aren't having a hard time scheduling OD games in NCAA. I'm just saying.