No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

[Profit89]

2-year cycle is a good move for the sports genre in general. And stop limiting yourselves to only two platforms with next-gen. There's no reason not to bring a game to all platforms nowadays. Tiger and NHL should have made their way back to PC years ago. Are you kidding me.

[tsp120]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

I'm pleasantly surprised at how this news is being received both here and every other forum where Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf is discussed. People are a lot more grounded in reason than I gave them credit. This is probably resounding positively in EA Sports' board room as well

I suspect this news wouldn't be taken so well if the newly released version fell short like a majority of its predecessors.

[RumbleCard]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15?

I've got a sense that they're taking a major hit over low sales of Tiger 14, and that's what cinched the decision not to go with a Tiger 15 release. The decision to focus on a quality release, based on a totally new engine, for the Gen-4 consoles is a smart one, IMO.

This is probably the real reason. Cost of operating a full boat and sinking sales would be a good reason to dial the team back, make cuts and gear up for next gen.

There is no way anyone, let alone a company like EA, would sacrifice money for a higher quality product. That's not big business. This has underlying fiscal reasons written all over it.

[Profit89]

One further thing.. Developers/Publishers should fully embrace modding. Treat the community as a member of the team. Like Bethesda with Skyrim. Great example of a symbiotic relationship between gamer and developer. The community can keep the games fresh and up to date. Happy consumer = returning consumer = long term loyal customer.

No offence to some developers, but they are short sighted and go for quick $... that's how you get dumb ideas like DRM. You piss off your customers when you go for the cash. Not a good long term move.

[Profit89]

Edit: I should have said Publishers not Developers. It's usually the publishers that come up with nonsense ideas like DRM, etc.

[cdawg44]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

I know we all like to bash EA a bit here and many other boards but they deserve credit for making this move. It is a risk for sure, but I strongly believe it will pay off in the long run for the next gen with the ambitions it seems the devs have for this series.

Plus having Tiger 14 being hands down the best golf game since Links 2004 and maybe superior to it in many ways doesn't hurt either. I'm gonna be playing this for a LONG while.

Bravo EA

[JODYE]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

Taking a year off only adds pressure to deliver a complete golf game.

And with the current engine, there is a LOT of work to do.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

A couple points:

1. This year's game is GREAT, so not getting a game next year is no big deal.
2. Sports games should be every other year releases in the first place.

Just a great decision, especially after the mess that was the transition to the current-gen from the PS2 era.

[DivotMaker]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

2-year cycle is a good move for the sports genre in general. And stop limiting yourselves to only two platforms with next-gen. There's no reason not to bring a game to all platforms nowadays. Tiger and NHL should have made their way back to PC years ago. Are you kidding me.

It is not a 2 year cycle. They are taking an additional year to get the next gen games started on the right foot.

As far as PC versions of NHL and Tiger, the PC sports game market just doesn't make sense right now to EA. sales of Tiger PC tanked badly from TW99 on and TW08 for PC did not even post a positive ROI. Would you invest in such a market?

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

It is not a 2 year cycle. They are taking an additional year to get the next gen games started on the right foot.

As far as PC versions of NHL and Tiger, the PC sports game market just doesn't make sense right now to EA. sales of Tiger PC tanked badly from TW99 on and TW08 for PC did not even post a positive ROI. Would you invest in such a market?

The PC market isn't exactly dead. That EA can't find a way to turn a profit on a golf game, a type of game this best played on PC, is kind of odd.

[Profit89]

It is not a 2 year cycle. They are taking an additional year to get the next gen games started on the right foot.

As far as PC versions of NHL and Tiger, the PC sports game market just doesn't make sense right now to EA. sales of Tiger PC tanked badly from TW99 on and TW08 for PC did not even post a positive ROI. Would you invest in such a market?

With both next gen platforms being PC based architecture (x86), it's non sensical to not make your games for all systems. Porting to/from each system being made so simple why would you limit yourself. It would make no sense moving forward.

[DivotMaker]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

The PC market isn't exactly dead. That EA can't find a way to turn a profit on a golf game, a type of game this best played on PC, is kind of odd.

Did you happen to see the Kickstarter results from Perfect Parallel trying to get their game funded? Dismal support. Do you see anyone else developing PC Sports games other than 2k Sports with a single basketball game. Please show me where the PC Sports game market is anything BUT dead.....

[Profit89]

Did you happen to see the Kickstarter results from Perfect Parallel trying to get their game funded? Dismal support. Do you see anyone else developing PC Sports games other than 2k Sports with a single basketball game. Please show me where the PC Sports game market is anything BUT dead.....

Golf is a bad example. The oldies are into it more so than the gaming generation. It's a dying sport.

And I postulate that the lack of PC support is part of the reason that gaming industry profits have been shrinking in recent years. I think developers should embrace all of it... Steam, modding, etc.. Make a great game with great multiplayer and let the community modify it and take over. This is normal in the PC realm.

With next gen, there is no line between console and PC, consoles will basically be mini-PCs.

Sports games have to decide if they are going to pander to the casuals or embrace the enthusiasts. And that means the whole 9 yards when it comes to enthusiasts... Modding, Single Player, Online Multiplayer, etc.. The enthusiasts spend money.

The WiiU was successfully modded today. I say embrace the culture of modding. Look at Steam.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

Did you happen to see the Kickstarter results from Perfect Parallel trying to get their game funded? Dismal support. Do you see anyone else developing PC Sports games other than 2k Sports with a single basketball game. Please show me where the PC Sports game market is anything BUT dead.....

Nonsense, EA knew there was money to be made and tried to tap into it using a different model with Tiger Online. Unfortunately, the product was weak (and was hurt further by being comparatively worse to the console Tiger games--a comparison that it couldn't escape since it was branded similarly). They certainly were right to think that a box game costing $50+ was going to fail on PC, but the game they produced was lousy and never had a chance.

[DivotMaker]

Re: No Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 15, Focus Shifts to Next-Gen and Tiger 16

Golf is a bad example. The oldies are into it more so than the gaming generation. It's a dying sport.

Sports games have to decide if they are going to pander to the casuals or embrace the enthusiasts. And that means the whole 9 yards when it comes to enthusiasts... Modding, Single Player, Online Multiplayer, etc.. The enthusiasts spend money.

The WiiU was successfully modded today. I say embrace the culture of modding. Look at Steam.

Absolute nonsense. Golf is not dying as a sport. Good Golf games are the problem.

The casual users make up 60-70% of the Golf game market. So you want to ignore them? See John Daly Pro Stroke Golf, Links for PC, etc.....

The WiiU is insignificant today for sports gaming. EA is not going to support the WiiU for sports gaming so who is stepping up? No one so far....