Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

[charter04]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I don't disagree, I just think it matters where you are in life. We have three active kids and of course, all the stuff that comes along with that.(spouse, homeowner stuff, etc...) My days of drinking with the boys till sunrise seeing how many times the ambulance comes out and have bragging rights are well over. We need more options and more sim features added for those that want it. Options, options and more options. And JP, sometimes it sounds confusing when you state that they spent most of their resources on CFM. Actually, according to Kolbe, they spent most of the resources on CFM and game play. I'm just hoping game play has more options available vs what was shown for CFM.

Completely agree. Just give options. I'm in the same boat. Wife, 3 kids, job but, if I could run everything but, the game from my phone and it was fun I would spend lots of time on it. Lol.

Make it deep and optional as far as how much you want to do or let the CPU do.


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[oneamongthefence]

The only way I could see CFM getting a major overhaul with many more features is if they added micro transactions. It's not a profitable part of the game. It's why MUT gets yearly updates and cfm gets a few patches. I think that's why cfm is going downhill. I don't think it's a developer just more of a company issue.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by oneamongthefence

The only way I could see CFM getting a major overhaul with many more features is if they added micro transactions. It's not a profitable part of the game. It's why MUT gets yearly updates and cfm gets a few patches. I think that's why cfm is going downhill. I don't think it's a developer just more of a company issue.

Actually, Kolbe mentioned last year MUT received a lot of attention.

This year, he said CFM and game play.

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Wow this is a hell of a response to one sentence. I was just countering his statement that people were believed casual fans arent interested in franchise mode. But I'll bite. I dont have a quantitive measure that says that casual fans arent interested in the in depth franchise features. But you dont have one that says they are interested in those things. What I do have is years of experience talking to developers at 2k, EA and MS who have stated that their internal research shows that most fans dont go that in depth when it comes to franchise mode. In fact, I had conversations with 2k when 2k14 was released where they acknowledged that many of the sim features that they removed from 2k14 and added back to 2k15 werent added because they attract casual fans. They were added back because 2k is more committed to sim fans than most sports gaming companies. Another bit of evidence is that based on EA's MO, they are concerned with adding things to their franchise that interest casual fans. They dont seem interested in adding the features I listed. In fact, they've openly stated that they dont think some of those features would interest casual fans. Now I dont think that EA is just talking out of their ***. They have a marketing team that polls a broad set of fans and asks them what they consider important. I'm a sim player. I am focused on making the games I play as realistic as possible. I'm focused on stats being accurate. I would like to see more control in the game and more options. But I really dont care if restricted FAs are in the game. I could care less about 5th yr options. I care alot about formation subs but Im not naive enough to think that the majority of gamers care or demand that they are in the game. ****, the demand isnt even that high at OS. We have a formation subs demand thread here and its been open a week and its at 6 pages. This isnt even the first formation subs thread created. We have one damn near each year and hardly anyone posts in it. So if the demand isnt high on OS (the premiere sim gamer site) where else is it going to be high? Finally, I'm not arguing that EA should add more sim features to CFM. I'm not even justifying EA's decision to not include them. I'm not saying casual fans wouldnt enjoy some of these features. Still if your focus is on bringing in casual fans, I can understand why you would focus on other features that have a higher demand or your internal polling says more people are interested in.

You'll bite? Nothing was meant to be a hook. My post was not directed to your one sentence either, simply the first question.

It's funny, because when Madden was a much deeper and immersive experience from franchise mode where it had all of the things that you couldn't care less about, it was also selling nearly twice the number of units it does now with competitors in the marketplace and an NFL that had a fraction of the popularity it does now. Franchise mode was what put madden over the top as one of the most successful franchises in gaming at the time. The things they included that made you say, "wow, I can't believe they actually included that, that's awesome". Also, the metrics that you are talking about are things they gathered by examining whether or not someone played the mode often or at all. Does it ever occur to anyone that maybe people aren't playing the modes because it isn't fun or engaging? If it's boring, incomplete, or it doesn't work right, why would anyone play it?

Remember when they included online franchise in Madden 10? They didn't touch it for 11 because they said, "no one played it". Let's take a look. First off, online "franchise" had ZERO elements of franchise. It had no salary cap, no contracts, no team management. It was a successive season mode and that's about it. That's not online franchise mode. Hardly anyone played it, because it was too much work to manage all of that **** yourself manually. Then Tiburon says, "we took a look at our data and found that hardly anyone played it past a week or two". You don't say!!! LOL - I swear, you can't make this stuff up.

Anyway, I think we all agree that it would be great for these games to include the depth and immersion we once had (and then some), but also options that allow for easier accessibility for all walks of life.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

You'll bite? Nothing was meant to be a hook. My post was not directed to your one sentence either, simply the first question. It's funny, because when Madden was a much deeper and immersive experience from franchise mode where it had all of the things that you couldn't care less about, it was also selling nearly twice the number of units it does now with competitors in the marketplace and an NFL that had a fraction of the popularity it does now. Franchise mode was what put madden over the top as one of the most successful franchises in gaming at the time. The things they included that made you say, "wow, I can't believe they actually included that, that's awesome". Also, the metrics that you are talking about are things they gathered by examining whether or not someone played the mode often or at all. Does it ever occur to anyone that maybe people aren't playing the modes because it isn't fun or engaging? If it's boring, incomplete, or it doesn't work right, why would anyone play it? Remember when they included online franchise in Madden 10? They didn't touch it for 11 because they said, "no one played it". Let's take a look. First off, online "franchise" had ZERO elements of franchise. It had no salary cap, no contracts, no team management. It was a successive season mode and that's about it. That's not online franchise mode. Hardly anyone played it, because it was too much work to manage all of that **** yourself manually. Then Tiburon says, "we took a look at our data and found that hardly anyone played it past a week or two". You don't say!!! LOL - I swear, you can't make this stuff up. Anyway, I think we all agree that it would be great for these games to include the depth and immersion we once had (and then some), but also options that allow for easier accessibility for all walks of life.

Sure, you could blame the drop in sales on the lack of a deep franchise mode. Or you could blame it on the fact that its on significantly less consoles. Lets look at the numbers:

So according to Video Game Chartz, the highest selling Madden was Madden 10. It sold 10 million copies. That year it was released on the ps2, 360, ps3, psp, wii, Gamecube, DS, Gameboy advance and PC. Thats 8 consoles. Madden 15 sold on 4.

Now for the four lowest selling consoles, EA sold 2.1 million copies of Madden 10. Thats alot of sales.

You also could factor in that the install base in 2009 for the 360, PS2, PS3 and Xbox (215 million) is significantly higher than the install base for the One, Ps4, Ps3 and 360 in 2015 (177 million). More consoles equals more people likely to buy your game.

Now I'm not saying that the quality of the game didnt affect sales in any way. I think many people from 2009-2015 got sick of the lack of innovation and significant gameplay improvements and decided not to play the game anymore. But I dont think the fact that franchise mode is stripped down or more focused on casual players is a significant reason why sales have dropped.

[Hooe]

At its peak, there was reportedly a Sony PlayStation 2 in one of every three households in the United States.

That sort of market penetration simply isn't possible for video game consoles anymore on account of the prevalence of smartphone, mobile tablets, and to a lesser extent gaming PCs. That fact cannot be ignored when engaging in a discussion of a video game's sales.

Arguably, this is even more reason for Madden NFL to go the creative direction it is going. Since there are fewer consoles, the game must engage and appeal to a broader audience beyond even those specifically interested in football to meet its sales targets.

[zoom zoom]

Seriously, compare The Show's sakes numbers versus EA's MVP. They are not even in the same ballpark.

[JayBillups36]

It would be nice if they put a little more into defense players. I'm in a connected franchise and everyone is a quarterback but me. My friends have 18 drills to choose from a week and I have 2. I rarely get any chance to make a play as the AI never throws toward me like I'm 10x better than Richard Sherman. I have to corner blitz to acquire any stats at all which is lame. They're overall 99's 2 years in and my stats are 5000 a pop which I have to save for by doing ball hawk drills over and over. Every week I get negative confidence for "I should have had an INT" but they never target me once! Don't get me started on watching my offense on one on one games, with the squib kicks in crucial moments to never throwing the ball away or running for first downs. Watching AI vs AI on offense is so disappointing. Anyways whiny rant over, I retired and switched to QB . Overall it's lame