EA Has Enough Existing Code to Make a High School Football Game

An Open, Customizable Game Could Be a Rebirth

Zack White
Jul 30, 2017 · 3 min read

Let’s face it, Electronic Arts — and no other major game company for that matter — is going to make another college football game with the current status of the NCAA.

But there is an alternative to fulfill market demands and avoid another O’Bannon v. NCAA. Create a generic American football video game with legacy code.

It’s not a new idea. EA Sports & Tiburon have had create-a-team and customization features in their games for the greater part of fifteen years. Indie devs like Axis Games and IMV Gaming have been attempting to capture lightning in a bottle for the past few years but lack the resources to fully implement a winning formula.

One of the comments on the AL.com piece about the pair of college football fans behind IMV gaming referred to their dreams as “delusional”.

That’s why EA has to be the solution.

Axis Football 16 is the most polished indie football game in a long time, but it still can’t stand next to Madden.

Competition Against Itself?

But why would EA do this? They dominate the sport games market, specifically football, with exclusive partnerships. Some might argue creating a second game would hurt Madden’s market share.

But within the Madden “sim community” are a large number of disgruntled football fans who believe competition — even if it’s EA against itself — would be better than having an oligopoly.

While I agree competition is the hallmark of capitalism, EA has continued to improve its football franchise despite a lack of competition. I see the opportunity to create a hardcore game as a chance to test controversial features without risking failure with their cornerstone product.

If Madden is the “master branch” — from a developer’s perspective — , a generic football game would be the development branch and/or beta testing ground Madden needs.

Modding Madden

What would a high school football game look like? Basically, a stripped down version of Madden with an emphasis on customization.

Provide fans the tools to create the teams of their dreams, and they will be hooked. Team builder has kept NCAA 14 alive for a few years now, but imagine a game built for the current generation of consoles.

Development Timeline

Unlike EA’s current timeline for its sports titles, a game of this nature is better suited for a more agile release cycle, similar to Destiny and other MMOs.

A common joke online refers to each new edition of Madden as a “$60 roster update”, and from year-to-year, it basically is. Without the need for real rosters, EA can focus on features and use continuous improvement & continuous development.

EA already does this for tiny tweaks, but why not use the same philosophy for major versions?

Going Green

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the features EA & Tiburon could reuse to create a high school football game, mostly based on NCAA 14’s Dynasty Mode:

  • UI/UX Framework
  • Gameplay engine
  • Dynasty mode
  • Career mode
  • Online team creation & sharing
  • Custom playbooks
  • Roster editing
  • Generate names feature
  • Custom conferences

Pricing

Shut up and take my money.

What do you think? Would you play a generic football game by EA?

Zack White

Written by

I’m an old man trapped in a young man’s body.

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