A Decade of Madden innovations, acknowledgement and reflection
A decade of dominance some call it. The pinnacle of sports gaming. The name in entertainment most synonymous with Football, Madden. Over this past decade Madden football has become the most popular sports game in the U.S. Over the decade its received annual graphics and gameplay overhauls. Brilliant innovations, such as the Playmaker, Franchise Mode, Hit Stick, and QB Vision. The games have majorly boomed on a consistent basis due in large part to their now “Built In” audience of dedicated fans. Over the years many of the technical innovations have been left on the cutting room floor and some editions of the game have suffered as a result (2006, 2007,2008). However the marketing giant EA Sports has managed to establish Madden NFL 10 as its best seller this decade, and added new features such as Online Draft Leagues, original AFL Uniforms, etc.
The real credit I give to EA is their excellent marketing skills. I’ve seen more Madden 10 commercials in the last 6 months than in the last 6 years. Celebrity football games, website ads, and TV spots equal marketing giant. To step away from marketing for a moment, the game in my opinion dosent get enough recognition for its great (but not perfect) gameplay. As I said before, over the years the EA Sports team, has slashed many of their own alterations to the game. Suprisingly Madden 10’s gameplay has been balanced because of the scale back. now the preplay offensive and defensive options are no longer overcrowded with tools, only hardcore players would use. Now due to the balance and easy accessability, many new casual Madden players have emerged as a result. Granted, no sports game will ever sell a freakish number of units like Uncharted 2, or Modern Warfare 2, but in a struggling economy with layoffs all around you have to respect EA for the great product they’ve managed to create.
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