This right here tho 👆👌
They really need to move to a different model for their sports games. The development cycle for major updates needs to be longer, probably 3 or 4 years. Yearly updates should be improvements to the base game with roster updates and come at a substantially cheaper price point.
I agree for sure. I've been saying since last year that either they really need to take time off to get the new tech they're incorporating better tuned for gameplay, OR, they really just need to go to like a live service or something similar, whatever that looks like. Like... just a single "MADDEN" game that we buy, and they have us just pay for add-on content, expansions, updates, packs, and whatever else, etc... but only when the development of it has been properly tested and is truly ready for release, which could be months to years, then just live patch everything as they go.
I didn’t even contemplate a subscription based system and I wouldn’t have a problem with that either. 5 a month would recoup their single sale and likely get them more in the long run. I think they would have to find a price point of 10 to 20 for all sports games though and would likely be worth it if the product improved with the system.
Add some micro transactions for cosmetic things fans may want.
A lot of people probably would hate it, and I find it hard to believe that no one at EA hasn't, or wouldn't considered the proposal, but they must have their reasons. I just can't see that reason being revenue. They absolutely could make more way more off a live type service. I proposed as suggestion for M26, that if they added All-Time Teams, and rosters from previous years back into the game as they had a long time ago, they could include them in a virtual store and sell them in bundles, generating a ton of money just through the Creation Center, which could include all the cosmetic stuff as you suggested. Buy it, Download it, do whatever the eff you want with it in Edit Roster and whatever. Plenty of games already do this. Is it a great model for broke folk? No. But if it helps us get more of what we want into the game and buys them more time to actually develop appropriately, I think ultimately it becomes a win win.
