Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

[Steve_OS]

Let's travel way back to November 22, 2005. This was the day the Xbox 360 launched...

Written By: Phil Varckette

Click here to view the article.

[hyacinth1]

When people asked EA if the trailer was how the 'real' gameplay would look, they doubled down and said 'it would look better'!

[misterkrabz2]

I have little to no faith EA will do anything different with the Madden franchise. It'll be the exact same game and play exactly the same but with better graphics. 

[canes21]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

These new consoles would have been a fine time to rebuild the game for the new generation. The game isn't at a place where even the die hard fans would be completely against a rebuild. It is about universally accepted at this point that Madden now is now as good relative to its time as Madden was when the 360 and PS3 were coming. Many still consider Madden 05 to 08 on the PS2 the best games in the series.

Tiburon is way too scared to ever rebuild again, it seems. madden 06 remains fresh in every football gaming fan's mind to this day if they were there for it. That said, Madden has continued to be the slowest advancing game between the big 3, NBA 2k, MLB The Show, and Madden. It seems for awhile there, annually we were told by devs that the foundation of the game was too much of a mess for them to really make the progress they wanted. We have been told by ex-employees that things have basically not changed from what was mentioned in this article. Leadership still struggles to efficiently lead teams, there is a giant disconnect between the executives and the workers doing the actual work.

This new generation was the perfect opportunity to rebuild. Yet, Madden is going to just port over what we have now and it's hard to imagine things being much different for the series moving forward. Technology has not been the limiting factor for the series, at least not the hardware of the consoles. There have been internal issues. We've heard the stories of how EA developers have called working with Frostbite a nightmare, yet the executives demand all games be built on the engine.

Madden is not a terrible game at this point. It's an okay game with plenty of pros and cons, but it needs a fresh start. The series has been stuck in the mud for too long. 2k is rebuilding their game. They did the same thing this past generation as well and now they have a game that is 10x deeper than Madden and is generally considered the better game. Their rebuild paid off and their game actually has seemed to hit a wall due to the limitations of the consoles this generation, so they went and decided to rebuild the game once again for the new gen.

Madden needed that as well. It needed to be built with this generation being the focus. It needed to be built on a foundation that allowed them to actually make significant progress each cycle. Instead, we're getting the same complacent game on the new consoles that are significantly stronger.

Maybe this gen will be different, but I will not hold my breath. The consoles and their hardware have not been what has limited this series. It's the disconnect inside of Tiburon and the lack of a solid plan that has caused the series to seemingly add things at random and never build anything up. One year the focus is on X, the next on Y. Madden never builds anything up over multiple cycles and it shows how short-term the vision constantly is with the game.

[Pray_iv_m3rcy]

Youd be a fool to expect more from EA Tiburon at this point. I expect the bare minimum in upgrades in next gen. Same game but better lighting and textures.

[callmetaternuts]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

#FixMaddenFranchise

We’re waiting.



Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[ChaseB]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

These new consoles would have been a fine time to rebuild the game for the new generation. The game isn't at a place where even the die hard fans would be completely against a rebuild. It is about universally accepted at this point that Madden now is now as good relative to its time as Madden was when the 360 and PS3 were coming. Many still consider Madden 05 to 08 on the PS2 the best games in the series.

Tiburon is way too scared to ever rebuild again, it seems. madden 06 remains fresh in every football gaming fan's mind to this day if they were there for it. That said, Madden has continued to be the slowest advancing game between the big 3, NBA 2k, MLB The Show, and Madden. It seems for awhile there, annually we were told by devs that the foundation of the game was too much of a mess for them to really make the progress they wanted. We have been told by ex-employees that things have basically not changed from what was mentioned in this article. Leadership still struggles to efficiently lead teams, there is a giant disconnect between the executives and the workers doing the actual work.

This new generation was the perfect opportunity to rebuild. Yet, Madden is going to just port over what we have now and it's hard to imagine things being much different for the series moving forward. Technology has not been the limiting factor for the series, at least not the hardware of the consoles. There have been internal issues. We've heard the stories of how EA developers have called working with Frostbite a nightmare, yet the executives demand all games be built on the engine.

Madden is not a terrible game at this point. It's an okay game with plenty of pros and cons, but it needs a fresh start. The series has been stuck in the mud for too long. 2k is rebuilding their game. They did the same thing this past generation as well and now they have a game that is 10x deeper than Madden and is generally considered the better game. Their rebuild paid off and their game actually has seemed to hit a wall due to the limitations of the consoles this generation, so they went and decided to rebuild the game once again for the new gen.

Madden needed that as well. It needed to be built with this generation being the focus. It needed to be built on a foundation that allowed them to actually make significant progress each cycle. Instead, we're getting the same complacent game on the new consoles that are significantly stronger.

Maybe this gen will be different, but I will not hold my breath. The consoles and their hardware have not been what has limited this series. It's the disconnect inside of Tiburon and the lack of a solid plan that has caused the series to seemingly add things at random and never build anything up. One year the focus is on X, the next on Y. Madden never builds anything up over multiple cycles and it shows how short-term the vision constantly is with the game.

While I understand your rationale, I think the reality is if they did "rebuild" it's hard to encapsulate what that means in a sport game coming out every year. It's near impossible to do something like that in a year, and if it was bereft of features and gameplay elements because they wanted to go back to basics, there's just about zero chance folks end up cool with that.

[bucky60]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

Well, they have the license for like the next 5ish years. So they can make the same mistakes.

[goillini03]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

Well, they have the license for like the next 5ish years. So they can make the same mistakes.

Haha, I had the same thought! They can afford to do whatever they wish for another generation.

[TheRandomOne]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

Stop buying these games if you are annoyed

[miguelitoKache]

I have no Faith on Madden I lost the Love for the game Madden long time ago.. I don't buy or play the Game no more..
I tryed playing madden 20 but couldn't deal with the Arcade Game. So I returned the game.. I Moved On from Madden..

[SolidSquid]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

EA can and will do exactly what they’ve been doing. Gonna let the NFL shield sell the game for them.

[canes21]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

While I understand your rationale, I think the reality is if they did "rebuild" it's hard to encapsulate what that means in a sport game coming out every year. It's near impossible to do something like that in a year, and if it was bereft of features and gameplay elements because they wanted to go back to basics, there's just about zero chance folks end up cool with that.

If EA were to rebuild the game, one would hope it wasn't a decision they made that forced themselves to only have a year to work on it. In the hypothetical world where EA has decided to rebuild Madden for the next generation of consoles, this would have been a decision they made multiple years ago and there would have been a team working in the background to build the game from the ground up while another team focuses on the games that continued to release.

I wouldn't expect EA to decide to decide to rebuild the game up after releasing Madden 20 and then working towards releasing Madden 21 and it being completely built from the ground up. While that would not be surprising for EA to make such a silly and short-sighted decision, I think all of us in the "it's time for a rebuild" camp are saying EA should have laid out a plan to rebuild the game cycles ago and work in the background to do just that.

We know EA has the resources to have done that. Madden is a series where it is actually economically feasible for them to have split their teams up to rebuild the game from the ground up had they wanted to. 2k is rebuilding and I think it is safe to assume they've been working on this rebuild for multiple cycles in the background now. Even PES is rebuilding and while Konami has a good amount of resources, PES is not Madden which means it is even further behind Fifa, yet they've even found the ability to rebuild their game from the ground up.

Anyways, point is when saying Madden should have been rebuilt, it's saying this is something that should have happened over multiple cycles and be releasing this year with the new consoles. It's not us saying EA should have released Madden 20 then built an entirely brand new football game in 10 months and released it on the new consoles. Obviously that's not going to happen with a company notorious for their games receiving so little changes annually.

[Hshaw810]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

If they had a competitor i would agree that they cant do the same but lol. They can do whatever they want as seen for the last 10 years or so. If they had competition madden would be on the shelf with nba live

[illwill10]

Re: Why Next-Gen Madden Can't Make the Same Mistakes All Over Again

I still don't like the idea of forcing Madden to run on the Frostbite engine. I do agree that this would have been the perfect time to do a rebuild while having a "season update" like PES. I get the overall experience with the Madden 06 transition is burnt into EA's mind. But, this is the best time.
I just don't want next-gen Madden to feel like a shinier port. I want the Next Level Madden to feel Next Level. I don't want the same ole Madden just at higher res/frame rates and hardware benefits.