EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

[Toupal]

This last week Star Wars: Battlefront II fans were able to do something that many have tried before... That is force EA to make a change in how they approach their recent release.

For those of you that are unaware, thanks to a reddit post that gained plenty of steam from other followers, EA's Marketing Strategy to pay for upgrades and new releases was put in the spotlight. After receiving a ton of grief, EA then released the following statement and action:


What does this mean for Madden?
Those of you familiar with Madden, NBA Live, Battlefield, or any other EA game are extremely familiar with with EA's "pay to play" strategy. This is extremely prevalent for Madden's My Ultimate Team where a huge emphasis is put on users paying real money in hopes of getting a good player card out of a pack of cards.

This model has received plenty of criticism in the past, as users made several arguments such as:
-The ethics of paying real money and rewarding money over skill
-The "E Rating" despite some making the argument that it is borderline "gambling"
-Other game modes taking a backseat to MUT

Before comparing "apples to oranges" between "Battlefront and Madden", the similar system that EA has relied so heavily on has come under fire from not only the players, but a much more important to entity to EA... That entity is The Investors.

In a CNBC article, EA appears to be in a touch position with not only displeasing their fans, but displeasing the investors to the company.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/17/wall...wars-game.html

Is the sky falling for EA? Absolutely not.

However now that their heavily criticised system has come under fire, and EA showing the willingness to make a change to their game given enough criticism shows an opportunity for other EA titles to make a push with EA for a change.

[roadman]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Maybe we can force a discussion at OS like the one over at Reddit. From that point, maybe we can force EA to stop making MUT and that will lead EA to lesson their earnings overall and force the investors to bail. Once the investors bail, EA will stop producing Madden and another gaming company will be able to swoop in and a produce a real NFL game.

[Thunderhorse]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

I don't think you've even seen the worst yet when it comes to Madden. 2K's stock has made big gains this year and I think the entire sport niche is going to take notice at how efficiently and effectively they've forced consumers to pocket up more cash if they want to have a pleasurable experience day 1. We don't even have to get into the shady stuff, like patching and editing the game so user's individual players fail to live to expectations - encouraging them to create new ones and pony up more cash.

2K has really figured out how to bend the consumer over the table, so to speak, this year. You can't play MyCareer (realistically) unless you drop the money, which is something you don't have to worry about in Madden. Both products offer card games that generate revenue as well.

If anything Madden is leaving money out there. I think we can probably expect, in the future, to see something similar within that game until the community as a whole has had enough.

[kehlis]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

It's my understanding that Disney, who EA has exclusive rights with to use Star Wars, is the one who forced EA's hands with Battlefront. Not the fans voice or the thread on Reddit.

If that's true, it would take the NFL stepping up and voicing their displeasure with microtransactions and negative feedback which as we all know, we are in the minority with regards to how we feel about Madden.

[reverend_heat]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Was just gonna post this, Disney is the reason for the change. EA of course acted like it was the fan backlash that did it, it wasn’t. Don’t look for anything to change MUT wise

[reyes the roof]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

I don't know the details of what happened with Battlefront, but weren't they making you pay to use certain characters? I don't see Madden ever going in that direction where for instance, you need to pay extra to be able to use a certain player

[timhere1970]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

I don't know the details of what happened with Battlefront, but weren't they making you pay to use certain characters? I don't see Madden ever going in that direction where for instance, you need to pay extra to be able to use a certain player

Maybe a hisrorical player but not a current one.

[reyes the roof]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Maybe a hisrorical player but not a current one.

That wouldn't bother me. I buy the game to play with current teams/players, but if there was a historical guy I thought was worth paying to have I'd do it.

[MelR2000]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Maybe we can force a discussion at OS like the one over at Reddit. From that point, maybe we can force EA to stop making MUT and that will lead EA to lesson their earnings overall and force the investors to bail. Once the investors bail, EA will stop producing Madden and another gaming company will be able to swoop in and a produce a real NFL game.

I’m assuming you are being sarcastic. ��

[SyncereBlackout]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Maybe we can force a discussion at OS like the one over at Reddit. From that point, maybe we can force EA to stop making MUT and that will lead EA to lesson their earnings overall and force the investors to bail. Once the investors bail, EA will stop producing Madden and another gaming company will be able to swoop in and a produce a real NFL game.

I'm not sure what our numbers are to even cause that much of a "trend"

for example, one of the many Reddit posts had roughly 80k upvotes. assume 1/2 of those are throwaways, so 40k upvotes. Do we have 30-40k unique users here on OS forums to focus their commenting and tweeting for a solid 24-72 hours?

I'm legitimately asking because i'm not sure.

[fballturkey]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

It's my understanding that Disney, who EA has exclusive rights with to use Star Wars, is the one who forced EA's hands with Battlefront. Not the fans voice or the thread on Reddit.

If that's true, it would take the NFL stepping up and voicing their displeasure with microtransactions and negative feedback which as we all know, we are in the minority with regards to how we feel about Madden.

The fan's voices and backlash that sprouted from Reddit (and most importantly spread to major news sources) is the reason Disney went and pushed EA to make the pain stop immediately, so it's not really accurate to say it wasn't their doing. If there were that sort of reaction to something Madden did the NFL would probably react similarly.

But we're not going to build up that kind of reaction over MUT because, by and large, people are pretty happy with how MUT works. A lot of people don't like it (I don't like it) but a lot of people do and it's worked that way for years and will probably continue to.

I'm not sure what they'd have to do to get that sort of reaction from Madden. Lock teams behind a paywall/insane unlock requirements? The NFL would never allow that and EA wouldn't try anyway. Pay to win features in CFM would have to be very severe for anyone outside us to care and make a stink, and I honestly can't think of a plausible thing they could do that would make that happen.

I think MUT has taken would could be a really interesting game mode and ruined it due to P2W considerations. My ideal MUT (which I would love) would look very, very, extremely different than what we have now, but it is what it is and there just isn't pressure to change it. We're not going to build up this much steam over it, that's for sure.

[JayCutlersCig]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

“Does this change anything?”

Nope. Until there’s actual uproar in the community, nothing’s gonna change. Then again, Star Wars fans are arguably 10x more passionate about the franchise than Madden fans are about their game.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Toupal]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

I'm not sure what our numbers are to even cause that much of a "trend"

for example, one of the many Reddit posts had roughly 80k upvotes. assume 1/2 of those are throwaways, so 40k upvotes. Do we have 30-40k unique users here on OS forums to focus their commenting and tweeting for a solid 24-72 hours?

I'm legitimately asking because i'm not sure.

I think if people are passionate enough about it, the consumers can make a change.

However the history of EA doing as they please has left a lot of people pessimistic on making a change.

But what we have learned from this, is that it is not EA we have to convince, it is another entity entirely. Similar to the way Disney forced EA to change Battlefront. we need to convince the NFL that Madden is not doing their game justice.

On a side note as well, Battlefront is under investigation in Europe as a form of gambling. Granted the NFL is not that big in Belgium, this may lead to a domino effect similar to Ed O'Bannon and NCAA football.

[roadman]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

Make it sound so simple that is so easy to tell the NFL that EA is doing an injustice to it's customers when the sales don't confirm that, the NFL and EA have a pretty solid agreement and the NFLPA and EA are strong, too.

[xCoachDx]

Re: EA's Monetary Strategy Under Fire- Time for Change?

I don't think you've even seen the worst yet when it comes to Madden. 2K's stock has made big gains this year and I think the entire sport niche is going to take notice at how efficiently and effectively they've forced consumers to pocket up more cash if they want to have a pleasurable experience day 1. We don't even have to get into the shady stuff, like patching and editing the game so user's individual players fail to live to expectations - encouraging them to create new ones and pony up more cash.



2K has really figured out how to bend the consumer over the table, so to speak, this year. You can't play MyCareer (realistically) unless you drop the money, which is something you don't have to worry about in Madden. Both products offer card games that generate revenue as well.



If anything Madden is leaving money out there. I think we can probably expect, in the future, to see something similar within that game until the community as a whole has had enough.

Big difference between 2K and Madden is that 2K actually gets a lot of realistic gameplay aspects right whereas Madden gets hardly any at all. 2K can do what it wants because their gameplay backs it up. Madden has been an atrocity for years so it cannot follow the same path.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk