Madden 10 servers shutting down October 1st, 2011

[DUDERMAN]

http://games.ign.com/articles/118/1181839p1.html

Quote:

"The decisions to retire older EA games are never easy. The development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired," EA said. "But as games get replaced with newer titles, the number of players still enjoying the older games dwindles below a point -- fewer than 1% of all peak online players across all EA titles -- where it's feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these games up and running.

August 11, 2011 Online Service Shutdown:
- Army of Two for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Army of Two Demo for Xbox 360
- Battlefield 2142 Demo for PC
- Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox 360
- Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Demo for Xbox 360
- Medal of Honor Airborne for PlayStation Portable
- Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for PlayStation Portable and Wii
- NASCAR 09 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (North America)
- NCAA Basketball 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NCAA Football 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Need for Speed Most Wanted for PC and Xbox 360
- Need for Speed Undercover for PlayStation Portable
- Skate for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 Demo for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

October 1, 2011 Online Service Shutdown:
- Madden NFL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
- NHL 10 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360


Everyone still playing online franchise on 10 will be forced to make the jump to '11 or '12 soon.

[kbomb1upc]

Wow. EA is starting to look worst and worst in my eyes. I'm still playing Madden 10 and was looking forward to finishing one more season before I start one up in Madden 12 but EA has screwed me yet again. First they lie about working on online franchise for Madden 12 and then the shutdown the online franchise I was playing. Man I'm so happy for myLeagueManager because I would have skipped this Madden too.

[wheelman990]

I bought Lord Of The Rings Conquest when it first released and absolutely loved the online multiplayer experience like no other game has really offered(real time skill based, not turn based). Within 12-14 months from the title being released EA shut down the servers! The bad thing about that game was, the singleplayer and offline stunk, so the game was worthless after online multiplayer was no more.

I think if we are going to have to pay a extra $10 for online play from EA, they could give us more the 2 years. This is a simple tactic to get all the Madden 10 online guys to buy Madden 12. Very sad.

[The Amaizen Blue]

But... But... I still play NHL 10

[RedZoneD25]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbomb1upc

Wow. EA is starting to look worst and worst in my eyes. I'm still playing Madden 10 and was looking forward to finishing one more season before I start one up in Madden 12 but EA has screwed me yet again. First they lie about working on online franchise for Madden 12 and then the shutdown the online franchise I was playing. Man I'm so happy for myLeagueManager because I would have skipped this Madden too.

Usually I don't respond to posts like this, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to this time.

I'd like to start with this blanket statement: ALL EA Sports' game servers go down after two years (can't say if it's company-wide, I don't really pay attention to other EA releases). It is not a personal attack on anybody, they just need to clear space. Two years is actually a pretty long amount of time for online sports gaming in today's society. Most people I know were over Madden 10 the second Madden 11 was released. Some even before that. Not saying it's your fault or that you don't have the right to be upset...but majority of people have been moved on for quite some time.

Second thing, when did EA lie about Online Franchise? I don't recall once them saying "Madden NFL 12 will have an improved Online Franchise" in that exact phrasing. They may have implied it would be easy to update in the past, or that it wouldn't be ignored, but they did not say they were actively developing an improved OF for M12.

Third, leagueManager has actually teamed up with EA Sports (alright, maybe that's not the right term...but EA Sports has hooked them up with player information, contract information, and other things) to deliver the best possible Online Franchise experience this year. So, although they didn't make any improvements on the actual disc or servers, the capabilities are still there to have a good league.

I guess my point is, I understand your frustration, but turning off the servers is nothing more than standard operating procedure.

[kbomb1upc]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaveS_OS

Usually I don't respond to posts like this, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to this time. I'd like to start with this blanket statement: ALL EA Sports' game servers go down after two years (can't say if it's company-wide, I don't really pay attention to other EA releases). It is not a personal attack on anybody, they just need to clear space. Two years is actually a pretty long amount of time for online sports gaming in today's society. Most people I know were over Madden 10 the second Madden 11 was released. Some even before that. Not saying it's your fault or that you don't have the right to be upset...but majority of people have been moved on for quite some time. Second thing, when did EA lie about Online Franchise? I don't recall once them saying "Madden NFL 12 will have an improved Online Franchise" in that exact phrasing. They may have implied it would be easy to update in the past, or that it wouldn't be ignored, but they did not say they were actively developing an improved OF for M12. Third, leagueManager has actually teamed up with EA Sports (alright, maybe that's not the right term...but EA Sports has hooked them up with player information, contract information, and other things) to deliver the best possible Online Franchise experience this year. So, although they didn't make any improvements on the actual disc or servers, the capabilities are still there to have a good league. I guess my point is, I understand your frustration, but turning off the servers is nothing more than standard operating procedure.

For one thing I know that EA shuts down servers 2-3 years after the game comes out but this was before they started doing online franchise. Nothing EA has done has extended the life of Madden more than online franchise. I've never played a sports game for more than a year not only almost 3. Online Franchise has changed the way I play sports games and their policies should reflect that. This is more of a move to get people to buy their new Madden because there are still plenty of people still playing Madden 10.

And don't you remember all the quotes EA made about online franchise being server based and they could make changes whenever they want to. But for 2 years I've been stuck with a bug that pick Playoff teams that have a tied record by alphabetical order... And also don't forget that they said they weren't going to do anything for online franchise for Madden 11 because they were going to spend the time and effort on Madden 12's franchise and online franchise. So instead, they open some ports and give their work to a member of the community...

I'm usually the guy that takes EA's side but the past few weeks they have really been ticking me off.

[TNT713]

Read the box...

EA usually tells us the date that we can expect online services to end. For Madden 10 that day was 30 days after the 2009-10 season. That day is was a LONG TIME AGO. In essence they have borne the expense of maintaining those functions for a more than full year beyond their obligation.

Remember, they are a business. Every day we played beyond March, 09 2010 was not guaranteed.

Later

[RedZoneD25]

Quote: Originally Posted by kbomb1upc

For one thing I know that EA shuts down servers 2-3 years after the game comes out but this was before they started doing online franchise. Nothing EA has done has extended the life of Madden more than online franchise. I've never played a sports game for more than a year not only almost 3. Online Franchise has changed the way I play sports games and their policies should reflect that. This is more of a move to get people to buy their new Madden because there are still plenty of people still playing Madden 10. Online Franchise received one of the lowest play rates in the surveys the team took for Madden 11. Why spend development time on something nobody uses? (I know, I know, more people would use it if it was better)...Regardless, I'd be willing to bet far more people are playing Madden 11 than 10, and that already small number still on ten will be even fewer when Madden 12 comes out. It's a conflict of interests, not a hype of their new game. They have to be able to support Madden 12 and other new releases online, and keeping old servers makes that challenging. I felt the same way when they shut Head Coach 09 off last year, so don't think I'm some uninformed guy just telling you to be happy. And don't you remember all the quotes EA made about online franchise being server based and they could make changes whenever they want to. But for 2 years I've been stuck with a bug that pick Playoff teams that have a tied record by alphabetical order... And also don't forget that they said they weren't going to do anything for online franchise for Madden 11 because they were going to spend the time and effort on Madden 12's franchise and online franchise. So instead, they open some ports and give their work to a member of the community... I do remember those. For two years, everyone else has been stuck with the same bugs. re: what EA said during Madden 11, they said they wanted to focus on GAMEPLAY and decided not to address Franchise Mode, not that they were holding off for Madden 12. Before saying this past week that nothing changed for OF, there had been minimal reference to it during this development cycle. There are other tools available (LM) to help make OF more fun, but I can't convince you to accept them. I'm usually the guy that takes EA's side but the past few weeks they have really been ticking me off. Well, it isn't about sides. Frankly, you'll either have to accept it and play Madden 10 offline or purchase a newer Madden.

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