Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[OctoberRust38]

Quote: Originally Posted by inkcil

Dude, that was hilarious! Is that for real? Wooooow.....LOL

Nah it was not real in his case..but I've seen it many times throughout the years on many forums by many, many gullible posters. Its quite sad.


Plus its always good to add humor to an unfunny situation.

I think its great that the sales are dropping! It took a few years longer than expected but the goggles are coming off, my friend. The sheep herder can no longer keep the flock in line.....These are great times!!!

Bring back 2K Football, so we can finally put to rest this Madden series for good or at least put it in NBA Lives position where it belongs

[REDRZA]

Quote: Originally Posted by green94

Candidly I pulled the number out of thin air... and I should have specified casual as non sim. Sim gamers are what make up this website and I would think we are a very small percentage of the overall sales year to year.

I disagree man, and i think EA is thinking like you and thats why this game hasn't progressed. I have been playing Madden since 1989 on Genesis. From the very beginning Madden was the most realistic football game around. 11 vs. 11, eventually real NFL players, coaches and teams, a numerous amount of plays and playbooks, the ability to audible and the list goes on.

It's just that over time the gameplay on the field hasn't progressed. IMHO, it hasn't progressed because its the game engine(s) itself. It's old, stale, and has ran its course. They need a newer, better, fresh NFL experience. I dont know why they have been so reluctant because based on their past efforts like Triple play becoming MVP baseball, KO Kings becoming Fight Night, and the NHL series getting done over have all been positive, higher quality, much better games, and their sales showed that.

As far as Madden's fanbase, to me at least, has always been a more hardcore fanbase. I think of midnight launches, loyal consumers who purchase every year. Tiburon just needs to make a better quality game. Just like NHL and MLB the Show, just make the most authentic game to the sport as you can and people will love it.

[REDRZA]

Quote: Originally Posted by OctoberRust38

Nah it was not real in his case..but I've seen it many times throughout the years on many forums by many, many gullible posters. Its quite sad. Plus its always good to add humor to an unfunny situation. I think its great that the sales are dropping! It took a few years longer than expected but the goggles are coming off, my friend. The sheep herder can no longer keep the flock in line.....These are great times!!! Bring back 2K Football, so we can finally put to rest this Madden series for good or at least put it in NBA Lives position where it belongs

Well if that ever happens i really hope 2K would put forth a true next gen effort, and not just re release the 2K5 engine like they did with APF 2k8. A real next gen 2K football would be great.

Also, would love to see what Sony San Diego could do with the NFL license. I could only drool thinking about a PS3 only NFL Gameday made by the MLB The Show team.

[gamemaster-2005]

only thing they got right this year was the superbowl presentation. LOL you get to go to the white house.

[RGiles36]

Quote: Originally Posted by REDRZA

Few things man. Yes, Madden 10 began to make the game more realistic. Madden 11 however, has gone completely the opposite direction with Gameflow which the CPU picks 1 play for you (and an imaginary offensive coordinator tells you how to run it. Yes i know all about game planning but i still do not like the CPU calling a single play for me). Then you add in the strategy pad, which i don't so much hate, but the fact of the matter is even during the load screens EA is telling you that the strategy pad "streamlines" all the options to one place. I'm pretty sure they "streamlined" it for "casual" players. Hardcore, long time fans don't need anything made easier. Then you have the fact that defense has taken a big step backwards. Calling a zone is useless, man can be beat, defenders dont react as fast as offenive players due to locomotion (Ian Cummings even admitted it), way too many broken tackles leading to big plays. Who like high scoring games with no real defensive strategy to balance the game? Casual players.

And we can agree to disagree -- no prob.

I'm not sure how M10 can be ruled more hardcore than M11. Run blocking (some of the best seen in football gaming period), catch debugging, locomotion although most agree it could be improved, gameplanning, etc: all of those improvements are for the hardcore gamer. Casuals don't care how the run blocking takes place -- they just want to make big plays with AP. They don't care if the pulling guard picks up the linebacker. Casuals can appreciate improved catching, but it probably didn't stick out as such a flaw in M10 as it did to us. Ditto locomotion and gameplanning...

I'm not saying that M11 wasn't geared towards being more accessible. But to suggest that the hardcore gamer had no place in the development of M11 is a fallacy.

Us hardcores can't have it both ways. Not you in particular, but it seems a lot of people here skipped out on M10 in spite of your assertion that it was a hardcore oriented game. In theory, what would be EA's motivation to continue in that direction if the 'hardcore' didn't support last year?

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by gamemaster-2005

only thing they got right this year was the superbowl presentation. LOL you get to go to the white house.

They managed to "lay the founadation" for the commentary.

[marktg30]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

And we can agree to disagree -- no prob. I'm not sure how M10 can be ruled more hardcore than M11. Run blocking (some of the best seen in football gaming period), catch debugging, locomotion although most agree it could be improved, gameplanning, etc: all of those improvements are for the hardcore gamer. Casuals don't care how the run blocking takes place -- they just want to make big plays with AP. They don't care if the pulling guard picks up the linebacker. Casuals can appreciate improved catching, but it probably didn't stick out as such a flaw in M10 as it did to us. Ditto locomotion and gameplanning... I'm not saying that M11 wasn't geared towards being more accessible. But to suggest that the hardcore gamer had no place in the development of M11 is a fallacy. Us hardcores can't have it both ways. Not you in particular, but it seems a lot of people here skipped out on M10 in spite of your assertion that it was a hardcore oriented game. In theory, what would be EA's motivation to continue in that direction if the 'hardcore' didn't support last year?

I tried to play Madden 10 last night. It was almost unplayable after I have been playing with Locomotion for the last month or so. I think from a gameplay perspective (animations, player control, etc.) it is head and shoulders above Madden 10. I won't be purchasing Madden 11 this year because of what happened (or didn't happen) to Franchise Mode.

FIRST BLOG for Madden 12 needs to be about Franchise Mode. PERIOD.

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by marktg30

I tried to play Madden 10 last night. It was almost unplayable after I have been playing with Locomotion for the last month or so. I think from a gameplay perspective (animations, player control, etc.) it is head and shoulders above Madden 10. I won't be purchasing Madden 11 this year because of what happened (or didn't happen) to Franchise Mode. FIRST BLOG for Madden 12 needs to be about Franchise Mode. PERIOD.

Fifa rebuilt it's career mode this year but that was after creating a game with great gameplay and selling very well the past couple of years. I think Madden are trying to copy Fifa's route but I think they have failed to create great gameplay and sales are going the wrong way so I wouldn't be surprised if one of the suits changed the plan.