Poll of the Day > Gamers: "Madden is the same shit every year yet somehow worse"

(+) Yeah! (+)

Also gamers:

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1305490399708897286?s=20

---

The gamers who complain generally aren't the ones buying the games.

90% of the discussion you see about games online is coming from less than 10% of the audience.
---

gtfo with your logic and sensible points PO I'm trying to stir the pot here

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The gamers who complain generally aren't the ones playing the game.

Pretty much. It's well known that Madden has a very sizable fanbase of people who really only care about playing the same game with roster updates each year, which is exactly the audience EA develops the game for. Most of that fanbase doesn't align with the base that people generally refer to when they use the term "gamer."

As a side note, I feel like his comparisons between this year's video game industry and last year's need to be taken with a grain of salt, given that much of the world has spent a sizable portion of this year stuck inside and unable to do much except play more video games than usual. Granted, much of the world has also had their disposable income significantly limited by being laid off, so maybe it evens out. I dunno.

---

the same problem with movie "records": due to a growing population and inflation, you're ALWAYS going to be continually breaking records based on numbers of units/tickets sold or dollars spent.

---

adjl posted...

Pretty much. It's well known that Madden has a very sizable fanbase of people who really only care about playing the same game with roster updates each year, which is exactly the audience EA develops the game for. Most of that fanbase doesn't align with the base that people generally refer to when they use the term "gamer."

Exactly. A healthy portion of these customers are dedicated to this niche and nothing else.

My Dad is like that. He plays Gran Turismo and literally nothing else - not even other racing games. It's his thing and he buys Playstation systems exclusively for that.

---

I've said it before and I've said it again. Pick either Madden 04, 05, or 06 for the PS2/Xbox and just play that.

Outside of graphics looking better and online play, there is pretty much nothing Madden 20 does better than a game 15 years older than it.

Why do some people buy the newest one every year?
Like if youre a fan of the sport, i understand why you buy game at least once, but its not worth the AAA price once a year.

---

I've bought Madden at full price before, though I havent in 15 years and have not bought any madden at all in years(and even then it was an older edition for like 5 bucks used).

People buy the games because each year EA nebulously says "we added in a million new animations" (never mind the animation based gameplay is why madden is so poor in the first place) and some new small features that don't really make anything better, that a college level student could probably add to the game in a few weeks. Then you add in updated rosters to match the offseason deals, new rookies, etc.

Overall, if consumers were smart at a bare minimum we would tolerate a new Madden every 2 years, with a cheap roster update sold to the public in off years. Now, EA is trash, and the Madden team is trash, so I wouldn't expect a better game even if they had double the time to work on it, but in theory, these games need longer dev cycles so that it isn't just rinse wash repeat - not enough time to fix bugs and do everything your overlords want in one yearly cycle.

Ogurisama posted...

but its not worth the AAA price once a year.

Honestly, it's pretty rare to find a game that genuinely can't be said to be worth even $60. You're paying $6 per hour of entertainment if you get a mere 10 hours out of it, which is incredibly easy to do with the vast majority of games at that price point. That's really not a bad rate. Certainly, you don't have to look hard to find better rates among other games (I've gotten hundreds of hours out of many free games), but it's still good enough to be acceptable for most people (to say nothing of the fact that anyone who's buying Madden annually is probably getting way more than 10 hours out of it, particularly where that demographic often doesn't buy many other games). Generally speaking, gaming is actually extremely economical as far as entertainment media goes, even if you're paying full AAA price.

---

The people who buy "realistic sports games" are generally a different consumer base than other gamers.

They tend to just be sports fans, who are far removed from, and don't care about, the monetization of AAA games in general in the industry.

It's like how for whatever reason, the guy they had do the Google Stadia presentation, opened the presentation by saying "I don't consider myself a gamer, but I enjoy playing FIFA".
---

20 more years of Skyrim and GTA V!

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The gamers who complain generally aren't the ones buying the games.

Logic and basic reasoning have no place in a Far-Queue topic!

adjl posted...

Honestly, it's pretty rare to find a game that genuinely can't be said to be worth even $60. You're paying $6 per hour of entertainment if you get a mere 10 hours out of it, which is incredibly easy to do with the vast majority of games at that price point. That's really not a bad rate. Certainly, you don't have to look hard to find better rates among other games (I've gotten hundreds of hours out of many free games), but it's still good enough to be acceptable for most people (to say nothing of the fact that anyone who's buying Madden annually is probably getting way more than 10 hours out of it, particularly where that demographic often doesn't buy many other games). Generally speaking, gaming is actually extremely economical as far as entertainment media goes, even if you're paying full AAA price.

Most games aren't worth $6 an hour and many games won't give you 10 hours. More importantly, keep in mind that NF is $9/month and can give you more hours of entertainment than you have time.

9 times out of 10, I can't justify spending more than $20 or $30 on a game since everything except Nintendo titles tend to drop drastically in price within months of release.

EvilMegas posted...

20 more years of Skyrim and GTA V!

Someday Bethesda will give us a new ES instead of re-releasing Skyrim =x

And someday Rockstar will make me care about GTA again. For now, IV killed years of good will. Thankfully the Saints Row series was there which captured the fun that Rockstar took out of GTA.

---

Zeus posted...

Logic and basic reasoning have no place in a Far-Queue topic!

Finally someone who understands

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The gamers who complain generally aren't the ones buying the games.

Idk about that. I know a bunch of people that complain hard about COD, and then go and buy it again the following year.

I believe that at one point in time, these games were really new, fun, and innovative, and these folks keep buying them to try and recapture the feelings of old.

Just a thought.

---

I'm pretty sure madden is a casual thing, not a "gamer" thing.

HornedLion posted...

Idk about that. I know a bunch of people that complain hard about COD, and then go and buy it again the following year.

I believe that at one point in time, these games were really new, fun, and innovative, and these folks keep buying them to try and recapture the feelings of old.

Just a thought.

Because CoD and Madden are apparently the same thing now.


---

Zeus posted...

Most games aren't worth $6 an hour

Eh, I'd disagree. I'm okay with saying that $6 an hour is an okay rate for any form of entertainment that I'm enjoying. If I'm not enjoying it, obviously it stops being worth that much, but if I'm not enjoying it, it's not going to be worth anything at all and I'd feel like my money was wasted regardless of how much it cost. For the most part, I'm not interested in anything more than that binary assessment. There are certainly games that are more fun than others, and if they don't beat $6/hour I'm more willing to give them a pass because of that, but I'm basing that value assessment on a baseline of "I'm enjoying this" (which I can say about most games I've played because I have a reasonable sense of my own tastes).

Zeus posted...

many games won't give you 10 hours.

Generally not when you're looking at $60 stuff. Indie titles? Absolutely. There are tons of 2-3 hour indie games out there with lower price tags. But when you're looking at $60 stuff, you are usually going to see at least 10 hours. Many rely on multiplayer or other such replay value to get there, so if you aren't interested in that, maybe they won't be worthwhile, but that's a consequence of your personal preference and not an issue with the game not offering enough playtime.

Zeus posted...

More importantly, keep in mind that NF is $9/month and can give you more hours of entertainment than you have time.

And I just made the completely voluntary choice yesterday to spend $5 on PSO2 after playing it for 350-400 hours at no cost whatsoever. You're always going to be able to find exceptional deals that offer even more entertainment for even less money. That doesn't mean $6/hour is unreasonable, just that it's not the best. That's about the same rate you get for seeing a movie in theatres (minus concessions), while being a whole lot better than any form of live entertainment, and better still than purchasing movies (which can be rewatched to increase their value. but that applies to any permanent purchase, including games).

Bear in mind that I'm considering that a reasonable maximum, not an average. As an average, that'd be pathetic. That's just the approximate line I use to decide whether or not I'm disappointed in a game's value. As mentioned above, I'll be less disappointed if a game that fails to meet that threshold is exceptionally enjoyable (Untitled Goose Game is a good example of this, where it's hard to justify $20 due to it being so short, but it was such an absolute joy to play that I didn't mind), but that's the basic way I approach the matter.

Zeus posted...

9 times out of 10, I can't justify spending more than $20 or $30 on a game since everything except Nintendo titles tend to drop drastically in price within months of release.

Honestly, same. My general attitude is that the games are generally worth $60, but that just means they're even more worth $20-30, and I'm fine with getting that extra value in exchange for a bit of patience (especially given my backlog). I'll spend the full $60 if it's something I'm really anticipating or I doubt it'll drop much any time soon (as you mentioned, Nintendo titles), and I'd usually say it's still worth that much even if I do wait for a discount, but usually I'll wait for a sale.

Zeus posted...

Because CoD and Madden are apparently the same thing now.

Annual installments that change relatively little about the core game, extremely popular, much of the fanbase isn't overly interested in the majority of games... They're not quite the same thing (if nothing else, CoD's not nearly as bad for changing nothing between installments), but there are definitely enough parallels for CoD to be worth bringing up in a discussion about Madden, particularly as a social phenomenon.

---

I know several people (some of them family members) who buy consoles and only have Madden and NBA 2K. They play nothing else.

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The gamers who complain generally aren't the ones buying the games.

90% of the discussion you see about games online is coming from less than 10% of the audience.

Idk I've seen a lot of people go on a full on tirade, just to end it with even though they know it's bad they're buying the game anyway.

Ogurisama posted...

Why do some people buy the newest one every year?
Like if youre a fan of the sport, i understand why you buy game at least once, but its not worth the AAA price once a year.

So, I dont anymore because I dont commit nearly the same amount of time to video games these days, but I used to buy it every year and its not hard to explain.

I was never a huge gamer and I kinda suck at most games so I only buy 3-5 in any given year. If I play Madden more than any of those other games, the 60 a year is not a huge expense because Im not buying many other games.

---

Dikitain posted...

I know several people (some of them family members) who buy consoles and only have Madden and NBA 2K. They play nothing else.

And there is nothing wrong with this. I know a dude who only owns racing games and flight sims. I used to know a guy who only played fighting games. Some people like what they like.

---