Madden NFL 16 News Post

Don't Start Your Madden NFL 16 CFM Until New Patch Arrives, According to Developers

10:54 AM - August 26, 2015 by BTW

Last night, during Game Changers Radio, Kolbe Launchbaugh, Creative Director of Madden NFL 16, advised everyone to wait until the upcoming patch (no estimated date yet, but we have seen "less than six weeks" thrown around by the development team) arrives before starting their CFM.

He talks about it at roughly the 13 minute mark.

They are aware of everything the community is bringing to their attention
They are addressing many of those items in a patch coming soon (no estimated date given)
You should wait until the patch is released before starting your CFM, as some of the fixes will require client side and server side fixes

No details have been given on what fixes are being implemented as of yet, but for now, it would be wise not to start your Madden NFL 16 CFM yet.

As for what could be in the patch. This is all speculation but here are some of the known CFM issues:

Ratings boost from drive goals making some players go over 100 overall. There is no workaround right now, drive goals are always on even if you don't keep notifications going on your screen.
Regression being overly harsh on offensive linemen (seems to be more pass blocking than anything else) that causes their ratings to fall quite drastically. This appears to stem more from SuperSim or simulating games as linemen give up too many sacks and then regress.
Rookies coming in that are not scaled to the new speed/deep accuracy ratings Madden is using on default rosters. So many new rookies can come in after season one and be better than most everyone else in the game at certain things. (This one seems like it would obviously be a reason you have to start your franchise over because rookies are put in your Year 1 CFM from the start of the season.)

Other issues we are tracking but haven't confirmed on staff ourselves:

QBs getting too many carries during a game (in SuperSim but not regular sims).
Re-signing players to really crazy bargains (that is, superstars taking major discounts).

Game: Madden NFL 16Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 24 - View All

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Member Comments

# 21 SFNiners816 @ 08/26/15 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	They likely didnt know about the bug until the game was released. Also its not realistic for them to delay a release for a bug in a mode that not everyone plays and will likely be patched in a few weeks tops.

This just isn't any mode this has kinda been the backbone off he game for over a decade and a half. It is very unacceptable for a sports game in the 2010s be released without the ability to play a functional franchise mode. This is the first time I can remember them saying to delay starting the mode. There have been events in the past that had freezing issues that required restarts if you came upon them, but nothing like this in which a dev guy is telling you not to start a mode. Plain and simple, there is no excuse for this not to be discovered, especially since it was discovered rather easily by many in the first 10 hours of playing the game.

# 22 dubplate @ 08/26/15 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howboutdat


	He said some things could maybe be fixed on server side, but others couldnt be and there was no way to undo something , like if your league already drafted and got them speed wrs. They couldnt undo stuff like that. Which is why he advised people to wait. My only concern here is this. There are alot of issues with CFM.We need ALL of them fixed, not just some or most. Most all of these issues are Huge problems for cfm.After last year, and being handed the confidence and regression issues , and not touched at all, not even really acknowledged by them , im not going to be running my league thru a bunch of bs for another year because they didnt fix stuff. We paid for a full experience, if we get one that we are told " sorry we ran out of time" , then i think im just all around done with Madden for good. We just suffered thru a horrible year for CFM due to things just left that way to work on this one. Then we get this one and it has more issues than the last one. That to me , will be unacceptable if all of them are not fixed before even thinking of going on to work on 17. You cant build a house half way, find out there are a ton of issues with it, fix only a few and then keep building the house on top of those issues. It will only continue to create more and more issues in the future. All of this has to be fixed before moving on to 17. If not they will spend half the time working to fix whats left from 16, then all the new stuff they add for 17 will be just as bugged as this due to "lack of time" to find the bugs because they spent too much time working on 16 bugs for 17. Somewhere they have to stop this cycle. I get it, they have limited time. So spend just 1 year, fix all your problems, give us a great game, then work on your new stuff, and that would free up more time to actually test it more.

Already drafting players and not being able to undo that I totally understand. If that is the case I can just wait to draft before the patch is implemented.

Console patches have become a dual edged sword in recent years. On one hand I am grateful it is possible, but on the other it allows developers to release products with modes that aren't playable out of the box and that is just bad business.

# 23 gilder121 @ 08/26/15 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brightline


	What are the specific issues that are not working but are being addressed?

I would like to know this as well. A brief forum search found some issues with resigning players long term. My own play testing had found confidence becoming so high that it inverts, and the player becomes immediately terrible. Also, I have noticed a kicker disappearing.

Anything else?

# 24 Bull_Market @ 08/26/15 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by utfellar


	whats worse?? a company that routinely releases broken games and still hasnt learned in 2015 that they have to test their product before ripping us off...again. or, a company that tested their product, knew of the bugs, and went ahead with scheduled release? at least one is a company making a business decision, knowing its consumers really dont have any actions they can take. takes some balls to say f it...just release it...nobody will care in a month. the other is just incompetence at EVERY level. i dont know whats worse. ea lying about knowing about the bugs or failing to find them. pathetic.

Whats worse? Consumers who know this is EA's way of doing business yet continues to purchase their products. We have a decade of data with these guys, its the same every year.

Thank God for this site, I was almost lured in, again. As customers, we need some accountability as well.

# 25 EricFreakingBerry @ 08/26/15 12:21 PM

I've honestly never heard a developer flat out come out and say "yes, don't play this mode" because there's "1000 issues" and the game is basically still in progress. I have played beta games that are more finished and polished than Madden is on a yearly basis.

If they don't scrap the code this year and pretty much re-engineer this thing line by line next year, then I think I'll finally bow out of Madden for good.

# 26 dubplate @ 08/26/15 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricFreakingBerry


	I've honestly never heard a developer flat out come out and say "yes, don't play this mode" because there's "1000 issues" and the game is basically still in progress. I have played beta games that are more finished and polished than Madden is on a yearly basis. If they don't scrap the code this year and pretty much re-engineer this thing line by line next year, then I think I'll finally bow out of Madden for good.

It's a shame too because this year's game is great on the field.

# 27 gilder121 @ 08/26/15 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFNiners816


	This just isn't any mode this has kinda been the backbone off he game for over a decade and a half. It is very unacceptable for a sports game in the 2010s be released without the ability to play a functional franchise mode. This is the first time I can remember them saying to delay starting the mode. There have been events in the past that had freezing issues in the past that required restarts if you came upon them, but nothing like this in which a dev guy is telling you not to start a mode. Plain and simple, there is no excuse for this not to be discovered, especially since it was discovered rather easily by many in the first 10 hours of playing the game.

I agree to a large extent, but this mode has clearly taken a back seat to mut in recent years. It's all about the dollars and mut rakes them in. It seems like everything in the game is about getting you to play mut. It's actually really annoying.

# 28 jeremym480 @ 08/26/15 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brightline


	What are the specific issues that are not working but are being addressed? It would be helpful to know in making a decision of whether to start or wait.

From what I can tell from threads here and on Twitter these are some issues that they acknowledged:

Gameplay
- Tuning update for Aggressive catches being overpowered
- A fix for random Encroachment Penalties

CFM
- Ratings boost from drive goals with some players having ratings of 100+
- Regression not working properly (mainly from o-lineman)
- Rookies not adjusted to current roster (mainly inflated speed and deep accuracy)
- Re-signing contracts being off... someone on Twitter claimed that Dez Bryant signed a 5 year deal for 2 mil/year.
- Placing a player on IR no longer opens up a roster spot
- QB's getting 15+ carries a game while simming

Other
- Custom playbooks not working online

# 29 Sphinx @ 08/26/15 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricFreakingBerry


	I've honestly never heard a developer flat out come out and say "yes, don't play this mode" because there's "1000 issues" and the game is basically still in progress. I have played beta games that are more finished and polished than Madden is on a yearly basis. If they don't scrap the code this year and pretty much re-engineer this thing line by line next year, then I think I'll finally bow out of Madden for good.

Sorry man, as someone who works for a software company and deals with release cycles, there is noway they could redo the entire code in a year. The bugs we all come across are a direct result of the development cycle being so short. The only games that are comparable are other games that are released yearly, like nba2k,mlb the show,nhl and all of these games have had major bugs on release. Would you want all of those games to scratch their code and start over? Probably not, Madden, for better or worse is a victim of their own dev cycle.

# 30 SFNiners816 @ 08/26/15 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremym480


	From what I can tell from threads here and on Twitter these are some issues that they acknowledged: Gameplay - Tuning update for Aggressive catches being overpowered - A fix for random Encroachment Penalties CFM - Ratings boost from drive goals with some players having ratings of 100+ - Regression not working properly (mainly from o-lineman) - Rookies not adjusted to current roster (mainly inflated speed and deep accuracy) - Re-signing contracts being off... someone on Twitter claimed that Dez Bryant signed a 5 year deal for 2 mil/year. - Placing a player on IR no longer opens up a roster spot - QB's getting 15+ carries a game while simming Other - Custom playbooks not working online

So within the franchise mode progressing people,signing people And draft classes have issues. That is probably the 3 most important things to a franchise mode and each has a bug. That's just unbelievable.

# 31 redsox4evur @ 08/26/15 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilder121


	I agree to a large extent, but this mode has clearly taken a back seat to mut in recent years.

NO IT HASN'T...how many times does this need to be said. What changed in MUT between this year and last year? I'll wait for an answer.

Nothing.

What changed in CFM? Let's see being able to give owners more money to work with, scouting combine results, a draft watch list (which was implemented after E3) , a whole entire new scouting system, drive goals, etc. Now is this stuff the community wanted, yes and no.

# 32 LorenzoDC @ 08/26/15 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howboutdat


	He said some things could maybe be fixed on server side, but others couldnt be and there was no way to undo something , like if your league already drafted and got them speed wrs. They couldnt undo stuff like that. Which is why he advised people to wait. My only concern here is this. There are alot of issues with CFM.We need ALL of them fixed, not just some or most. Most all of these issues are Huge problems for cfm.After last year, and being handed the confidence and regression issues , and not touched at all, not even really acknowledged by them , im not going to be running my league thru a bunch of bs for another year because they didnt fix stuff. We paid for a full experience, if we get one that we are told " sorry we ran out of time" , then i think im just all around done with Madden for good. We just suffered thru a horrible year for CFM due to things just left that way to work on this one. Then we get this one and it has more issues than the last one. That to me , will be unacceptable if all of them are not fixed before even thinking of going on to work on 17. You cant build a house half way, find out there are a ton of issues with it, fix only a few and then keep building the house on top of those issues. It will only continue to create more and more issues in the future. All of this has to be fixed before moving on to 17. If not they will spend half the time working to fix whats left from 16, then all the new stuff they add for 17 will be just as bugged as this due to "lack of time" to find the bugs because they spent too much time working on 16 bugs for 17. Somewhere they have to stop this cycle. I get it, they have limited time. So spend just 1 year, fix all your problems, give us a great game, then work on your new stuff, and that would free up more time to actually test it more.

It's highly probable as well that whatever they get out next will be fast and lightly tested, so that the risk of introducing new issues will be high.

It think it's good to wait. Me, I didn't even get the game again this year because I expected this, and I'll wait until at least end of September 2016 to see where the game is then.

So far, what we see from CFM is and has been

# 33 EricFreakingBerry @ 08/26/15 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sphinx


	Sorry man, as someone who works for a software company and deals with release cycles, there is noway they could redo the entire code in a year. The bugs we all come across are a direct result of the development cycle being so short. The only games that are comparable are other games that are released yearly, like nba2k,mlb the show,nhl and all of these games have had major bugs on release. Would you want all of those games to scratch their code and start over? Probably not, Madden, for better or worse is a victim of their own dev cycle.

Define "major bugs" because I've bought MLB The Show and NBA2K games for the last 3 years within 48 hours of their releases and never once couldn't play a mostly bug-free franchise mode.

# 34 Phobia @ 08/26/15 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremym480


	From what I can tell from threads here and on Twitter these are some issues that they acknowledged: Gameplay - Tuning update for Aggressive catches being overpowered - A fix for random Encroachment Penalties CFM - Ratings boost from drive goals with some players having ratings of 100+ - Regression not working properly (mainly from o-lineman) - Rookies not adjusted to current roster (mainly inflated speed and deep accuracy) - Re-signing contracts being off... someone on Twitter claimed that Dez Bryant signed a 5 year deal for 2 mil/year. - Placing a player on IR no longer opens up a roster spot - QB's getting 15+ carries a game while simming Other - Custom playbooks not working online

This one in bold blows my mind. I played TWO, repeat ONLY TWO games last night and I had 4 of these. There is ZERO way this went undetected through all the bug testing phases, by some rare chance it did & no one caught it then I'd be truly speechless at what that job entails. My guess it was known about and being fixed in the process release date hit, its minor but still annoying when you see small annoying bugs like this make it in what is supposed to be a full retail launch.

This is not a knock on the dev team since they can only do what they can do in a given time, but more a complaint that hard street dates hurt far more than help.

# 35 SolidSquid @ 08/26/15 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	They likely didnt know about the bug until the game was released. Also its not realistic for them to delay a release for a bug in a mode that not everyone plays and will likely be patched in a few weeks tops.

Which brings us to a bigger issue in my opinion, do they even do quality testing at EA Tiburon?

# 36 CM Hooe @ 08/26/15 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sphinx


	Sorry man, as someone who works for a software company and deals with release cycles, there is noway they could redo the entire code in a year. The bugs we all come across are a direct result of the development cycle being so short.

Yup. You have to fix as you go. Throwing out the code and starting over is more expensive than fixing what already exists, and rewriting the code doesn't guarantee that the new code doesn't have bugs as well.

Bugs are the nature of software development and, combined with the extremely aggressive deadlines across the entirety of the AAA video game industry, an unfortunate fact of life.

Tiburon will release a patch soon enough.

# 37 kingsofthevalley @ 08/26/15 12:37 PM

Thanks for the heads up, but I'll probably start my CFM anyway.

One, I don't have that much extra time on my hands so I don't think I'll make it through a full season before the patch comes out. That solves the draft problem.

Two, I make the players work very hard for even the slightest bit of yards, so I highly doubt that ANYONE (Player or CPU) will EVER complete any drive goals lmao!! That solves the problem with confidence shooting through the roof during games.

Are there any other bugs that I might not be aware of yet?

# 38 LorenzoDC @ 08/26/15 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sphinx


	Sorry man, as someone who works for a software company and deals with release cycles, there is noway they could redo the entire code in a year. The bugs we all come across are a direct result of the development cycle being so short. The only games that are comparable are other games that are released yearly, like nba2k,mlb the show,nhl and all of these games have had major bugs on release. Would you want all of those games to scratch their code and start over? Probably not, Madden, for better or worse is a victim of their own dev cycle.

I can only speak for NBA2k on that list, but that game has not nearly been as bug ridden as Madden has in recent years. It's main issues have been server access and reliability for online play. That's not about the code, it's about the cloud based infrastructure.

And as far as franchise modes go, you can't even talk about Madden and The Show or NBA2k in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence.

Madden just can't hide behind the short development cycle. It's not as if the cycle is a new phenomenon - they've been at this a long time. If you do project management and code building right, you build on layers year by year and make expansions and improvements off a solid foundation. Madden, like everyone else, put in a new foundation with the new consoles. And yet it has had more problems, false starts and steps backward.

I really think it's the EA culture that is not designer friendly, leaving the design and engineering side unable to do stable planning, investment and infrastructure building because they are subject to the whims of the bean counters and marketing suits year on year.

# 39 King Gro23 @ 08/26/15 12:41 PM

Yea thank god can super sim get dealt with too. I'd like to see realistic time of possession also
The qb carries Ryan tannehill in my dolphins cfm week 9

Through 8 games tannehill has 826yards passing 3 td 2 int and he has 113 carries SMH

# 40 redsox4evur @ 08/26/15 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingsofthevalley


	Thanks for the heads up, but I'll probably start my CFM anyway. One, I don't have that much extra time on my hands so I don't think I'll make it through a full season before the patch comes out. That solves the draft problem. Two, I make the players work very hard for even the slightest bit of yards, so I highly doubt that ANYONE (Player or CPU) will EVER complete any drive goals lmao!! That solves the problem with confidence shooting through the roof during games. Are there any other bugs that I might not be aware of yet?

The drive goals are very attainable especially for the defense. I played a preseason game last night with Pit (me) vs. Jags. And some of the goals were get a solo tackle with player X and keep the Jags out of the red zone. And on offense the goals were a little harder to complete but they were still easy like catch a touchdown with Antonio Brown or get 30 yards rushing with Williams or complete a reception to Le'veon Bell.

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