Get EA to Make a Better Madden Game and Stop Buying
The Developers and the Company are Just Phoning It In At This Point
Football Fan and Madden Fan
I’ve been a fan of the Madden NFL franchise since the turn of the century. I tried my best to stay at least within a few years of the current Madden title on each console that I’ve owned. At the beginning of the 2000s, Madden was graphically a far cry from its current iteration but was a good game.
The first console I owned a Madden title on was the Sony PlayStation. I’ve also owned multiple Madden titles on Super Nintendo, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Xbox One. The graphics on each game get slightly a bit more detailed but that seems to be the only aspect of the game that has improved. Even that fact is debatable when you see certain players in the game that look nothing like they look in real life. For an example of this, take a look at how coach Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers looked in Madden 21.
Developer’s Part
You could argue that because developers are spending more time on making the game look more real that other aspects of the game could potentially struggle. You know, because every year, they get certain star players to come into the studio and practice their football moves in front of a green screen to get more of a realistic feel of an actual football game.
Glitchy Game
This would make us assume that the actual gameplay would look more realistic. Then you see weird plays on the field that look like glaring technical glitches that you would’ve never have seen in previous generations of the same game. I’ve tried to give the developers and the company the benefit of the doubt in previous years but these oversights and lack of attention to detail aren’t going to be corrected because EA continues to earn millions and millions of dollars a year in revenue from releasing these games and billions as a company as a whole.
Ultimate Team, AKA Cash Cow
Another major problem with today’s Madden game is the emphasis on the profitable aspect of the game, Ultimate Team. This is a mode of the game that is focused on competitive online gaming against other “Ultimate Teams” and is basically where the technique of pay to play and microtransactions come in the most. To have even a playable team in this mode, you’ve got to spend money in their online store to purchase packs and different unlockable features.
It seems that EA has shifted its focus to making only one part of its game enjoyable and it comes at a major cost to the consumer. The actual sales of the game aren’t actually where EA is making their money. The majority of their earnings is coming from this aspect of the game.
Franchise Mode
Because EA is focusing on Ultimate Team, there is one aspect of the game that has continually declined in quality since its peak in Madden 2005. Franchise mode is ultimately the mode that most football fans would like in a video game that would make it the most realistic and playable. Features in some of the older versions of the game used to include things like the DNA of the mother and the father, more detailed draft information about potential prospects, and a more interactive crowd. Fans would actually leave during a blowout.
EA Doesn’t Care, All They See Is Franchise Doesn’t Earn
The point is, it seemed that at one point, the company actually cared about putting out a game that was true to the football fan’s perspective of football. Today’s game seems like it’s hyperfocused on making money and removing and adding features to franchise mode at will to make people long for a better product.
For me, I think this is them marketing themselves to still seem like they care without having to actually care and they can always dangle that carrot out that they will make the game better for football fans again without actually having to do the work to do so. They know that their franchise mode isn’t profitable. That wasn’t the point. The Franchise Mode of the earlier games is what got Madden to the popularity it has today.
Stop Buying EA Games. Period. Full stop.
Consumers must send a message to EA and tell them that their product just isn’t good enough anymore. They literally need to stop buying anything from the company, especially Madden. Another thing that needs to happen is that EA either needs to give up its exclusive contract with the NFL to make the simulation style game that markets the game or the NFL needs to realize that enough fans are upset about the direction that EA is taking the video game in and sever ties or open the field up to the competition.
Declining Quality and They Could Bring It Back
That brings me back to something I said earlier. Madden 2005 was by far one of the best games that EA released. It had Ray Lewis, Hall of Fame linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, on the cover that year. Madden had truly hit the height here. The game was so fun and detailed that it was the most well-received Madden series in franchise history. This game felt like a complete video game and its Franchise Mode was unrivaled by any before or since.
Competition Would Force A Better Product
Another reason I think they came out with this game that year is that they had major competition from another company that released a video game around the same time, 2K Sports. 2K Sports and ESPN got behind a game called NFL 2K5 that was actually more detailed and far superior to even that year’s Madden title. This is probably considered the best football video game of all time. This competition pushed EA to release a product that was better and this competition was good for consumers.
At the end of the day, people who played football video games could make a choice to play Madden or not. Madden needs that pressure again. This niche industry has become a monopoly and it’s only the consumer that suffers. Sure, there are a number of people who are content with the way things are now.
F*#$ You, Ultimate Team Fans, Get Your Own Game
They are Madden Ultimate Team fans who say that people who don’t like the game shouldn't buy it anyway and that those who long for a product of old are just nostalgic and are old-timers. They can have their own game. EA could release a game for them, and a game for us who really want the detailed franchise mode we’ve been craving for so many years. For now, don't buy their games, and teach them a lesson.
