I think this is the big one...
EA knows that no matter what, there will be people that buy the game because
1. It is the only football game for the new generation consoles. So if you want to play football, this is it.
2. People like us. The hardcore fans that are going to buy it every year no matter what, that come to online forums to discuss the game, or that tweet at the developer to get news about it
3. People just looking to get the "upgraded version" Some people see there is a new Madden out, and they are just going to buy it.
But for EA, the big thing is attracting new people, because they now they are going to get all those sales I listed above. So as a company, why not make a brand new story mode and hope it attracts new players?
I am never going to be upset over a new addition to madden, however what I deeply fear with Madden is when they start to remove features.
What are they going to do with Madden 19 and Story Mode? Spend another 3-4 years developing a new story? Just scrap it all together? Give you the same story mode, but with a few tweaks? Will this continue to take away from CFM?
There are a lot of questions that have come up for me since EA Play.
Now with Draft Champions, MUT, Play Now, Story Mode, and Franchise are they going to have to split up their resources each year to improve these? Franchise Mode only makes up 20% of the game modes, and I really do fear for its' future.