In just a couple weeks we will finally get our chance to boot up our annual dose of football gaming. With the typical cosmetic changes they like to call ‘improvements’ from year to year, we, the customers gamers are consistently let down when it comes to improvements in any mode that isn’t Madden Ultimate Cash Cow Team. In the process and over time the expectation has changed for this title. It has become almost acceptable in the eyes of sports gamers to have the same stale game presented with new colors of the same old glitter bedazzleing the same old mass produced massive disappointment that is Madden NFL.
Madden has become the litmus test for every other sports game to follow suit when it comes to ultimate team modes (a glorified playable fantasy football mode with a pay to win structure). NBA 2K (MyTeam) and MLB The Show (Diamond Dynasty) are similar in their own recent track records. All resources are being poured into ultimate team modes from the corporate level. One mustn’t forget that all of these games are produced and published by corporations like EA, Take Two, and Sony. The bottom line is we need to know what to expect as consumers when it comes to sports games (and first person shooters with an online Multiplayer focus) and it is incredibly simple. Our expectations should follow the psychological necessity to have better things than others and to win at whatever cost we are willing to pay.
If you aren’t the type of person to pay for any digital content outside of the game itself, you aren’t the focus of corporations like EA and Take Two. The profit margin they make on you is minimal compared to those that pour real money directly into the coffers of these corporations by purchasing add on content such as loot boxes, digital currency or cosmetic changes to your weapons. That means that for the most part I am actually not their target audience.
I have finally decided to stop taking it personally simply because I refuse to give them the satisfaction. Instead, we need to find ways to change the game to fit our own needs. As a friend once told me, ‘Play the game or the game plays you.’ – in this case it is 100% correct. I refuse to buy a single pack of digital cards for ultimate team modes. I will use in game currency I earn by playing and I will play every game with the intent of enjoying my time rather than under the perception that winning means anything different from losing when the playing field isn’t level to begin with.
Here we are, two weeks from Madden 20 and I haven’t ever been less excited about this title. Franchise Mode is getting no real improvements and Ultimate Team has all sorts of perks attached to it with pre-order bonuses. The only improvements they mentioned for Franchise Mode (CFM) involved using title updates later, after release. They didn’t even mention whether you’d have to restart your CFM in order to have the update in an existing save.
Madden 20 might have some shine to it in the first week or two, but there isn’t enough shine for me to buy this game on release day.
NoobTubeTV 