Madden 23 Devs Promise ‘Most Polished Version In a Long Time’ After Years Of Buggy Releases
There’s no denying that the Madden NFL is in a rut this generation. Since the release of the Xbox Series X/S and PS5, EA’s long-running NFL simulation has consistently hovered around 65 on Metacritic. The complaints are the same: lackluster, drab presentation, and modes that don’t keep up with the competition.
Many fans have followed Madden’s decline until Madden 13, which formed the basic template for the current version of the series. Others go even further back. No matter where you start, you can’t ignore ingrained discomfort in reviews, social media, and more. EA has protested over the past few years that it’s in the minority and that the series works extremely well for the average player who isn’t very online. This year they are embracing it.
“As a game developer, especially when it comes to annual sports titles, the irony is not too heavy. [needing] Because there’s a reason these players say what they’re going to say about the game, and you need to understand why.There are 100 words out there that won’t tell you why. He may have one or two words to tell us why. It’s what those players want. ”
“A bit like anime”
Oldenburg and fellow producer Mike Mahal go through reviews and social media posts “line by line,” grouping bugs and other issues into groups and pulling legitimate criticism out of the usual noise about annual sports games. It states that it is trying to classify. What EA Tiburon came up with in response to all this criticism is basically going back to basics. This is a seemingly unexciting approach, but if you strip away all the usual marketing hype words like the confusing capitalized “FieldSENSE,” it’s a very basic, much-needed, rebalancing of actions. You can find what it looks like. field.
In other words, EA may finally be moving away from what has made Madden “Madden” for so long and into something closer to real football. At its core is a desire to move away from “too animation-based” gameplay. In other words, it feels like you’re constantly gaming Madden’s mechanics every time you pick or throw a play.
“Our players told us very strongly in their own words, not ours, that Madden has become too animation-based. One word,” says Oldenburg.
In Madden NFL terms, this means using “emergent, organic, natural” systems to escape the so-called money plays and formations that dominate YouTube every season. The defense has received significant improvements with a focus on gang tackles, pass coverage, and quarterback containment.
“Broadly speaking, I think the only changes we’ve made this year in Deep Zone and Pass Rush will help address the money play issues, especially the Deep Crossing Route issue I’ve already talked about. Added Zone Drift Logic So zoners are conscious not to keep drifting across the field without a vertical threat so they can take advantage of that deep crossing route,” says Oldenburg, with Madden’s various defenses allowing It mentions a pattern that has been to devastating effect for several years. AI habits.
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Oldenburg also talks about formation modifications like the Gun Bunch. The Gun Bunch has been underwhelming over the years because it can be easily adjusted to open up most of the field.
“I think we posted a pretty good time this year,” says Oldenburg.
Feedback from the beta so far confirms the impact of these changes. Madden 22 is the backyard The Madden 23 has been to many players in the way he resembled football, how easy it was to roll out of his pocket, throw the ball into a wide-open receiver, and break into corners and flats. It should be a rude awakening.
“I think it’s probably arrogant on our part to think that some expert level gamers in our community can’t find a glitch in the Matrix so to speak, but we definitely play for play and give feedback. We’re asking for feedback and trying to address it with everything we’ve heard so far,” Mahar said.
For some reason, it’s clear that most of Madden 23’s focus is on reworking gameplay this year. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into Franchise Mode or Madden Ultimate Team if the urgency gameplay isn’t fun.
The real test is whether EA Tiburon can deliver a polished game. The Madden NFL has been heavily criticized in recent years for bizarre bugs and glitches that have been constantly mocked on social media. To that end, Oldenburg says refinement is Madden 23’s “top priority”, “especially from a gameplay perspective.”
EA Tiburon wants to catch bugs using something called “vision hooks”. It combines bots and other technologies to quickly reproduce nasty problems. Also, the Madden team is allocating additional resources to fix bugs during production.
“We believe the Madden 23 game will be the most polished version of Madden to date,” says Oldenburg. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be perfect, but I’m going to say the team is still striving to get there. It can be hard to get there. is our goal, Poland is our number one priority and we know we will not reach our goal if players believe our game is buggy.”
the question mark is still there
Elsewhere, Madden remains a question mark. Face of the Franchise — Madden’s tutorialized story mode — strips away elements like college football mode, while arcade modes like The Yard have received only cosmetic upgrades, with resources replenished by the franchise. It’s been spent overhauling the mode’s free agency.
PC players, on the other hand, continue to be impatient. Asked why the PC version hasn’t kept up with the console release, an EA spokesperson said, “We have a passionate group of players enjoying Madden NFL on PC. , the PC version of Madden is the current generation version and we are working towards that in the future.”
When Madden 23 arrives later this month, it will be EA’s latest attempt to firmly establish the franchise on current-gen consoles and restore some luster to its faded legacy. Fans will get to see for themselves if Madden 23 succeeds when it enters Early Access on his August 16th.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Senior News Editor and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Any tips? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
