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As you all are well aware of there is a global pandemic going on right now. This has and still is affecting the lives of millions of people. The beautiful thing about life is we learn ways to adapt to our situation. The multi-billion-dollar gaming industry – along with many other industries – have already adapted to the current climate. However, that does not mean it is business as usual.
Currently, game developers are working from home. This includes EA’s Madden NFL department. Their world has been flipped upside down. They had a system in place that the developers (devs) were used to. Now they have to adapt to a completely new system. This affects more than you know. First of all, it can affect motivation, morale, stress, uploading/downloading data, and release dates. The game’s release dates have already been delayed or are warned that delays may happen by companies, such as Nintendo. An example of the uploading/downloading data is one developer stated to The Verge that they are not connected straight to the data servers as they would be at the office so it could take a lot longer to get resources. This is especially so if a game has large data repositories.
The Madden 21 Franchise Department
Humans are built to adapt to situations no matter how hard it may seem. Coping with the stress, however, is something that easier said than done. We, as the customer, need to be understanding about EA Madden NFL’s situation. Specifically the devs. They are working harder than ever to deliver content we all love and on time.
However, there are no excuses for the fact that it seems that the leaders of Madden NFL only heard us franchise fans when the #FixMaddenFranchise hashtag was trending on Twitter. If the leaders of EA Madden NFL do not deliver then they need to give up the simulation mode to 2K. They put out the following response to it in a Tweet in July:
We can only hold the leaders of EA Madden NFL to their promise on focusing more of their energy on franchise mode in their live service updates the executive producer noted in the gridiron notes. But we should be understanding about the dev’s situation and the fact that EA is finally addressing franchise mode for Madden 21 and beyond. It has been long overdue.
What We Can Expect From Madden 21 Franchise Mode
Since EA’s recognition of our voices in July, we cannot expect to see some game-changing editions to franchise mode for Madden 21, at least right when Madden 21 releases. We should, in return, recognize their professional handling of our petition as well as recognizing their stay at home situation. However, we can expect to see some content dripping throughout this year through updates. But do not expect a franchise experience of an open-world or a player mode that is much different than Madden 20. We know the EA Madden team can get creative, they have been in the past. But in the meantime, we can always enjoy their brand new game mode “The Yard”. I know we will enjoy it! It also brings new content for us content creators, so we thank EA for that.
Anyway, how far exactly will they go? Their Madden team is getting more bandwidth “to deliver a greater investment in core Franchise features through Madden NFL 21 post launch support”, which is great news but let’s hope it sticks. The anticipation of what kind of features they are going to implement is real.
Unfortunately, since they didn’t start the franchise talking until July of this year, we know we cannot expect something ground-breaking upon release. I personally believe that the real change to franchise mode will be for Madden NFL 22. It just makes the most sense because they will have more time to plan and prepare. As the Madden NFL team states,
We have to first acknowledge that this work requires a lot of planning. So, while we can’t commit to an exact timeline right now, we can share areas where we are targeting meaningful change in Madden 21 and beyond.
Madden NFL Team
Remember, they are working from home so we have to be patient and understanding. This kind of progress and communication with us franchise fans has never been quite like this. Some of you – including us – have been so frustrated year after year for being ignored. It is also completely understandable to be skeptic. You should always have some level of skepticism in life when it comes to any kind of information. Now, our voice seems to have been heard. Especially with their new forum, we talk about below.
Furthermore, we can also expect a new experience in the post-season. The note just states that the post-season and Super Bowl presentation will be improved and refreshed. Not sure exactly what that means but we will be the first to let you know on our YouTube channel so make sure to subscribe to us there! They will also be updating the relocation uniforms and logos. More information can be found in their Aug 3rd, 2020 Gridiron Notes article.
Madden Voice
There is a brand new platform the Madden NFL Team is working on called Madden Voice. It was utilized during the closed beta and EA saw promise in it. You can expect to hear more about EA’s Madden Voice forum in the near future. I know we will update this article and our Madden community once EA releases more information. They state, “This is an online forum where community members are able to share feedback and upvote priority topics that our teams are able to review, investigate and identify the best way to address them.” We need to make sure we utilize that forum to better franchise. This is a very smart move by the Madden NFL Team so kudos to you all! Very long overdue, nonetheless, I hope this helps improve our franchise experience immensely for Madden 21 and beyond.
To conclude, we recommend that you support the Madden NFL Team by grabbing yourself a copy of Madden 21. We do make a small commission if you use our affiliate link to make a purchase for Madden NFL 21 – Madden NFL 21. You can Throwdown on The Yard, participate in our Madden 21 challenges to get yourself ranked in a league among our community, and, last but not least, give Madden as much feedback as you can to help the devs deliver on franchise mode on their new forum, Madden Voice when up-and-running.
We will report back with an update article to see what kind of progress they have made to Madden 21 franchise mode.
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