Let’s face it, Madden is running out of ideas with Madden 19
Madden NFL 19 is expected to be released on August 10 of 2018. Of course, this means that a fair amount of information has been released about the latest installment in the long-running franchise, so much so that interested individuals are more than capable of making a well-informed decision to buy or not to buy at this point in time. However, when one looks at what has been promised for Madden NFL 19, one can’t help but suspect that the people behind the long-running franchise might be running out of ideas.
What Is New in Madden NFL 19?
Simply put, there are new things in Madden NFL 19. However, these new things are not particularly innovative. Instead, they are no more than refinements of existing mechanics in the Madden NFL franchise.
For example, a fair amount of the marketing for Madden NFL 19 has been reliant on what is being called “Real Play Motion,” which is a small package of features meant to provide the player with increased control as well as more authentic-seeming movement. As a result, “Real Play Motion” includes things such as changes in how controlled characters will move on the football field, changes in how the controlled characters’ movements will look based on their statistics, and increased realism via increased observation of their real life counterparts. In other words, these are more similar in nature to being tweaks than to grand, game-changing gestures.
Likewise, the other promised changes have been even less dramatic in nature. One excellent example is how there will now be interactive touchdown celebrations, which aren’t actually a new mechanic to the Madden NFL franchise but rather something that hasn’t been in it since Madden NFL 09. Meanwhile, another excellent example can be seen in the proposed changes to the Ultimate Team mode, which should offer increased replayability but without actually coming across as a significant change from the previous state of things.
Curiously, it has been said that Madden NFL 19 will be featuring a story-focused, single-player mode, but even here, it isn’t something new but rather a follow-up to Madden NFL 19‘s Longshot. Summed up, it is clear that Madden NFL 19 isn’t going to shake the Madden NFL franchise’s reputation for being un-innovative, which is perhaps unsurprising considering that it has been churning out installments as though clockwork.
Is Madden NFL 19 Running Out of Ideas?
With that said, this formulaic game-making is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, seeing as how EA is still churning out installments in the Madden NFL franchise as though clockwork, it is clear that the franchise as a whole is profitable. If the franchise as a whole is profitable, that means that there are plenty of people out there who like it exactly the way that it is. After all, if they didn’t like it to some extent, it seems reasonable to assume that they wouldn’t be buying it.
In the end, it can be said that is what matters the most. Simply put, the primary purpose of video games is to entertain people. As a result, if the Madden NFL franchise is entertaining enough people out there for it to remain profitable, it is serving its intended purpose. Certainly, innovation should be regarded as a important selling point for video games, but at the end of the day, there is no way that it can be considered the single most critical factor that can either make or break such a product.
Unfortunately, it is perfectly possible to argue that the lack of innovation on the part of the Madden NFL franchise is a serious problem. After all, EA has an exclusive contract with the NFL, meaning that there are no other NFL-based video games that can be made at the moment. As a result, if someone wants to play a NFL game, their sole modern option is the Madden NFL franchise, which isn’t much of a choice at all. Sure, there are plenty of people who like the franchise the way that it is.
However, it is important to remember that there are also other people who are alienated by its formulaic nature, which is rather unfortunate for them. Theoretically, EA might be able to solve this problem by coming up with more experimental spin-offs that might enable it to capture this particular segment of the market, but EA is, well, not exactly famous for that sort of thing.
