Sports video video games are notoriously terrible. Rarely something about them adjustments from yr to yr except for roster updates and an occasional graphics overhaul. Gameplay stays comparatively the identical, thus the enjoyable stays about the identical as effectively. Actually, the enjoyable could also be reducing as a number of sports activities franchises flip their consideration to money-making modes like Ultimate Team or Diamond Dynasty, neglecting the modes that give the video games a public enchantment. EA Sports’ Madden NFL sport is arguably the worst offender.
I don’t should say how low the Madden franchise has fallen lately. Search YouTube and also you’ll discover a library of creators with in-depth movies concerning the unprecedented decline in high quality of Madden video games. You may in all probability do this with any sports activities franchise — FIFA, NBA 2K, MLB: The Show. Even a collection as beloved because the NHL collection has seen a substantial decline in shopper scores lately. However, with the recognition of soccer in America, Madden has roughly turn into the poster baby for sports activities video video games’ mediocrity, and this previous week, Madden might have made their greatest blunder ever, an actual critical whoopsy-daisy, if you’ll.
Madden’s Christmas blunder
If you’re not up-to-date with Madden information, I don’t blame you. I haven’t performed Madden 23 since like Week 4 of the present NFL season, and I solely purchased it as a result of I’m a weak-willed particular person who succumbs to see stress approach too shortly. However, I hope you’ll nonetheless get upset once you understand what Madden did to its consumer base.
It all began on December 26, when Madden gave its customers a defective franchise mode for Christmas. I assume they had been all on EA’s naughty checklist for not stealing different individuals’s bank cards to purchase extra MUT packs, I’m undecided. Regardless, for some unknown purpose, individuals had been having bother logging into Connected Franchise Mode, which is the one mode some individuals, together with myself, play these days on Madden. It’s a method to conduct seasons with mates and play towards one another in a “realistic” setting.
If I can’t play related franchise mode, I’m not taking part in their horrible sport. Thankfully, they had been investigating the scenario, and it could hopefully solely be just a few days earlier than Connected Franchises had been again up and working easily. No.
TWO DAYS! It took two days for them to get their second-most standard mode up and working! My phrase, the incompetence of EA Sports by no means ceases to amaze. Okay, no matter. Maybe it was an enormous difficulty that wanted to be resolved. At least it’s working once more and folks can get again to taking part in their mates. After all, the official Madden Direct account had given gamers the thumbs up on Connected Franchises.
This was tweeted out the following day. Oopsies! Turns out not the whole lot is solved. I do know we instructed you the whole lot was good-to-go, however in actuality, we simply wished our customers again in order that you could possibly begin spending cash on our horrible product once more. We don’t care about this sport mode, so we put minimal effort into fixing it, and as soon as the masking tape began to carry, we instructed you all that it was okay to return. That wasn’t the case although.
That’s how the tweet above felt. EA Sports had been neglecting franchise mode, and now that there’s an issue, they mainly don’t do something, hoping that minimal effort will maintain them over because it at all times has.
The Madden 23 information retains getting worse
Unfortunately, minimal effort didn’t simply not work this time, it might have destroyed a number of customers’ recordsdata.
“Hello Madden Franchise Community,
We wanted to provide you with an update and next steps around your Online Franchise, CFM Leagues and FOTF saves from 12/28.
From the Developers: On Wednesday 12/28 around 2:45 pm EST, Players trying to access the Franchise server were given an error that leagues were unavailable. The issue persisted until 12:45 am EST on Thursday 12/29. Unfortunately, if you logged into Franchise leagues during this time, your data was affected due to a data storage issue that resulted in Franchise files being corrupted.
Note: Players and leagues who did not log in during that window, your leagues were not impacted and are currently safe to log into and play.
First off, we are sorry that this happened. We know how important your franchises are to you and we are actively working on a fix to restore some files via a backup as soon as possible. However, not all affected leagues can be restored. The team is currently projecting around 40% of leagues to be recovered. We will communicate an updated timeline next week around the potential restoration of save files from a backup.
If you logged in during the above window, we encourage you to start a new franchise as theEA mode is up and running. Stay tuned to @MaddenNFLDirect for updates around Franchise restoration.”
The above is an precise assertion from the Madden builders. The “too long; didn’t give a shit” model of this assertion is that anybody who tried to entry franchise mode between December 28 at 2:45 pm ET and December 29 at 12:45 am ET, had their file corrupted and finally erased. For merely making an attempt to play the sport, gamers had been gifted an enormous center finger, after Madden had instructed gamers it was alright to attempt to get again on Franchise Mode. Holy smokes, discuss your all-time fuck-ups. Talk a couple of hilarious gaffe, proper? I’m certain all these gamers liked shedding their six-year franchise the place they constructed a 93 total dynasty towards their mates with an X-Factor rookie linebacker. I’m certain none of them had been upset.
The assertion does say that among the leagues will doubtlessly be restored, however they don’t provide a timeline for that repair. They additionally venture that solely 40 p.c of recordsdata will likely be saved. In different phrases, greater than half of all recordsdata are gone eternally. In actuality, the quantity might be one thing like 5-10 p.c and Madden is simply making an attempt to avoid wasting just a little little bit of face by giving gamers a determine that provides them just a little little bit of hope that their franchise will likely be recovered. Pathetic.
Having bother logging in is dangerous, but it surely’s not an issue solely Madden has handled. Ultimately, if the issue was simply that some customers had been having bother logging in, even when it took two days to repair, gamers would have forgotten about that bother comparatively shortly. But to say that it’s okay to log in and punish franchise gamers for doing so…that’s a tear even Flex Tape would have bother mending. How can their consumer base belief something the corporate says anymore? I don’t care what number of dances and landing animations you add to the sport, I misplaced my 22-year-old X-factor quarterback Johnny Flanagan!
What’s unhappy is that Madden might actually attempt to save face by providing precisely what I mentioned above — an emote or animation that may make DeVonta Smith floss or one thing. I do know some individuals like that stuff, but when Madden does in truth do that as an “apology,” how little do they consider their followers? Yeah, I do know you paid $70 on the sport, and doubtlessly extra in MUT, just for us to erase your favourite save file. You have each proper to be upset. So right here’s an add-on that may make your gamers do a cool handshake, completely free. We’ll even throw in a twerking emote for less than $4.99. We certain do love our gamers. Get out of right here with that bullshit.
Like I mentioned earlier, I haven’t performed Madden in any respect in months, however franchise mode has at all times been what retains me a buyer, even when I don’t purchase each sport yearly. If I misplaced my 99 total defensive finish Javonte Morant, my 97 total cornerback Devin Burney, or my 98 total tight finish Allen Winn, every of whom I spent weeks creating into X-factors, I’d be completed. Madden could be going straight into the trash, proper subsequent to Gotham Knights and Babylon’s Fall. In reality, I wasn’t even affected, and I’d nonetheless do this. It’s simply the appropriate factor to do.
While I could not have been affected, fellow Deadspin author DJ Dunson was one of many unlucky souls whose league was tarnished by the mighty hammer of EA Sports’ incompetence. “I’m pissed. Very, very pissed,” mentioned Dunson, rage fueling each keyboard press of that sentence. I don’t blame him. According to stories, it wasn’t simply on-line franchises both. Even offline franchises succumbed to this terrible corruption disaster. No one who wished to play the one simulation-style soccer online game out there was secure. All I can provide is my condolences.
Seriously, issues aren’t going to get higher if this doesn’t harm EA’s pockets. Why would they attempt to enhance their product in the event that they know we, as a gaggle, are going to maintain shopping for the sport and spending actual cash on pretend cash to spend on digital playing cards? Stop shopping for Madden! They clearly don’t care about you, it’s time to cease caring concerning the sport.