Ohh that's bc it IS being manipulated. Few years back the implemented what's called "DDA" dynamic difficulty adjustment, which is basically their version of cheating in order to hurt better players, and help really poor ones who would give the game up (n more importantly, stop buying packs)It's a very intricate system where they've spent literally millions of dollars researching how to basically make a child's mind addicted to gambling mechanics. You may think this is hyperbole or exaggeration or whatever, but feel free to look up how there are several countries now that have taken to banning Madden in the ultimate team mode for their entire country where it's literally illegal, as a gambling tactic for children the country outlawed ultimate team. They wrote it INTO LAW. The United States and others have laws enacted to stop monopolies from happening, but if you change the name to franchising and then you give the NFL $5 billion dollars every 3 or 4 years, literally at most 5, then u "get" to have your monopoly illegally apparently. Just change the word from monopoly to "NFL franchise". People pay all this money to be "partners" and by now, these things have become billion-dollar industries. EA makes over 1 billion dollars a year just off of their microtransaction purchases alone so they'll never be able to truly improve a game where people are spending far more money than in other games, despite quality being abhorrently low, A few years back it got raided the worst video game of all time 0.2 out of 10 on metacritic. Not the worst sports game of all time The literal worst game ever played by users. Yet reviews who get rewards from Madden, like YouTube personalities, spend literally 10k a year, but make it back usually off of 3rd part money spending sites where they make a massive cut of the revenue. So not only do you have a microtransaction store you've got dozens of little kids collecting their points and trading their Christmas and birthday money that their mom gave them, on packs that won't last even one year. In most cases the card they just paid LITERALLY 50$ for an 87, will not even be starting for their team in approximately one to 2 months. but the real backbreaker is that people simply buy this game regardless of quality. People remember the old days of Madden and want to have some fun and use it like a fantasy football tool sorta, but they can't bc it's no longer a true simulation of the game of football 🏈. They've created something completely different that I call "jiggaball3000". You can be completely wide open in the pocket with an 87 or 88 ranked quarterback with very good skills in most thresholds near 90, vs. A 72 ranked opponent, where every single position they have, is VASTLY worse than every position player I have, yet their speed of 82 acceleration of 83 absolutely DUSTS people like Marcus peters with 87 speed and 88 acceleration. What they basically done is just thrones statistics out the door for solo battles at least. They speed players up when they need to win, they change entire game mechanics. Really closely watch the game stutter whenever you're on an important third down because the game is trying to process more information (screw you over based on past performances). They know how often you pass to the left they know how often you pass to the right they know how much you pass up the middle they know if you run zone they know if you run man to man they know pretty much all the statistics you do. And track them, so that they may change THEIR tactics on the fly. I have seen teams that have excessively low talent, go unstoppable with the same 3 pass plays, over and over. There's two to three in particular that I call "made plays". Even if their quarterback is just absolute garbage and ranked 72 with no abilities, he will throw LADER guided darts to inferior athletes who are making their break that the EXAACRUALLCT microsecond the ball is thrown, meaning no MATTER WHAT u call, or TUALLY is. ell u play, they HAVE to score or else every game would be exposed for what this game is, a very poorly made, buggy, poorly optimized arcade football 🏈 simulation. I knew it was BAD a few yrs ago, when they started making majority of challenges "arcade mode". Simulation mode is slightly better than competitive, but my god, I truly despise "competitive mode" bc all that ACTUALLY means, is that they're now "allowed" to tamper with the games sliders to draw THEIR crappy players up, and your players u just paid 1000$ for, VASTLY inferior. Abilities offset it some, but that leaves u and basically EVERY other player with the same players, EVERY year. I see other peoples teams, and realize, oh great, even when I get the 88 bo Jackson, so did EVERYONE else who paid for a "guaranteed" decent card. Only no Jackson inexplicably plays VASTLY worse than people who have been in the league maybe a year, often times rookies. Theres simply SO many ways they cheat players, that even if somehow they fixed the gameplay, you'd still be buried a mile deep in the 💩 wasteland of 150% sliders for solo battle teams, while yours are secretly "nerfed" down to 50%. These statistics are NOT shown to the player, but I assure you, feel free to email EA, it's "in the game". Been in for YEARS now. They pretend each year like things are different, but they aren't, EVER. They'll make a small improvement to player physics, but "forget" that players who spent 120$ EVERY year, need servers to play, so I'll literally never preorder again. Get into it at around Halloween on sale, get ur team up in a week or two, and most issues in the game by this point will have been patched out. I noticed their pattern. Start of season, BIG money Rollin in. People r stuck with these truly GOD-AWFUL performances from cards without abilities, which makes the game nearly unplayable and incredibly unfun and tedious. Challenges r far too easy and boring, but that's by design, they used to give u team builders that made a HUGE difference early in season, but now they've simply bait n switched it for paid rewards now. You can't even get your daily bonus login, for at least 2nd year in a row, unless you physically open the competitive pass, which is like the nail in the coffin ⚰️ for an already broken game on its last leg. They literally don't hire people to fix the game, they hire people to monetize their already made products to the highest possible degree. On tournaments, they BAN NFL/Madden plays, bc they simply exploit the systems too much. They can't or won't fix them, so they just tell players they can't run certain plays. They've made a very simple game, so incredibly convoluted, there's just too much being processed by supercomputers basically @ this point. Human 🧠's don't run as quickly as supercomputers, therefore if Madden "feels" like making a 73 speed guy DUST your 89 speed guy, they just do it, and say, "yeah sorry kid, maybe u should go to the store to buy some better players, that'll do the trick!". When I have EVERY player, at 85-90, every position better than every position of opponent, you'd expect results. But I don't get them. Wide open passes "missed" despite the fact I can see better performances in football, literally @ my local high school. Last I checked, NFL players were better than high school. They give u a TRASH 🗑️ JOSH ALLEN, getting people hyped up to preorder, and yet AGAIN bait n switch, u get the 83 one. The GOOD josh Allen, is 86 and costs coin. Anything free will underperform dramatically compared to expensive players, regardless of statistics. That's the part that I think 🤔 truly ruins the game more than anything. I can "game the system" to some degree, but I can't go into my player ratings, see 74 speed/78 acceleration BLASTING my fastest players in the open field, tiny players throwing down my biggest strongest players. If they are in some made up defense that literally doesn't exist (as they play it), they'll have SIDE players not even guarding my man, psychically turn around, give up on their assignment, cover 35 yards in 3.2 seconds, dive, and stop a play thrown to a player who beat their man...only to have My Team, struggle with FAR bettee players and statistics, bc they "want" 2 make the games closer in score. They've got 2-3 plays, regardless of ur defense, ball is thrown at the MICROSECOND receiver or TE makes his break, meaning they can basically complete 💯% of their plays, with ANY player regardless of quality. Loosely swept under the rug, changed from BLATANTLY cheating, to "difficulty adjusted". The greatest lies are always the ones where a grain of truth is attached. In all honesty I know for absolute fact, some of what they're doing is LITERALLY illegal in several countries. Either through gambling/child gambling laws, pack odds, etc. If I pay for a card, I'll almost always come out with something relatively decent. Occasionally disappointed but rarely, or else u would stop spending right? I can tell a genuine difference in the game, when I even look at new players, or don't play the game for a day or two. First game back I beat two solo battles at 80 ranked teams, beat em both by MORE than 50 points in legendary solo battles. Then, I get to an 82, highest ranked player was 86 chase young, and I recorded the game to send to Madden I doubt they'll watch, but it's probably the most egregious thing I've ever seen in videogaming. Blatant pass interference not called often, yet if I lightly touch their guy down field, ur done, instant penalty. My players "mysteriously" run into each other, and that's where the REAL "MAGIC 🪄" HAPPENS. running in place, glitching, or just stopping to fall down. Beast mode Marshawn lynch, one of toughest backs ever, with Halloween upgrades I got him at 94, with a GREAT offensive line...yet chase young well outplayed him. Last year man was OP, so of course this year zone is. They do this every other year to make it seem like it's different. You get Bryce young, for "🆓" bc he plays like an inconsistent middle school player, literally. Then, inexplicably we get the THIRD free quarterback, before we really get anything else. 3? If you're gonna be "generous" with players, stop giving us trash QB'S every year for "free rewards". Even if they're relatively decent, their abilities won't be. If It says I have whatever chance to get an 81+ I'll be getting the 81 about 99.9999999999% of time. But, if you're on YouTube, you'll hit FAR more often, I think it should be governed by the Nevada gaming commission, bc otherwise there's simply no true way to check ANY of these alleged statistics. They've put SO much data into this game, they didn't even have "room" to put helmet stickers a few years back. Talk about poorly optimized. Bethesda and EA, oh and blizzard now, worst companies in America. I literally despise them. I truly wish we could all get together and do a class action level lawsuit against them. Just ONE year, competition from 2k, lawsuit, ANYTHING would scare them so much from losing their billions, they'd make the game better. But as it is, they're literally paid like kings to rip u off. Their customers. The most loyal ones pay the highest price, literally AND metaphorically. Beginning of season, they have teaha everywhere, and basically 1 at MOST 2 DECENT cards at every position. Meaning you'll have to pay THOUSANDS to have fun early in season. "Headliners" lol. Yeah, the headline that reads "I'm average at best". They've buried the actual game of 🏈, SO deep under these piles of garbage filler, that I truly just don't enjoy it anymore. Most of it is the FOMO fear of missing out type stuff. Watch fat user on MCA tournaments, pander to black people by pretending he's ghetto, one of most annoying "personalities" I've ever had to endure. And they want u to sit through HOURS of this stuff each time, to get a relatively decent card or two. There's a level of 1-2 of 10 in fun, covered by a mountain of tedious mechanics and statistics that really get thrown out the door IMMEDIATELY, during any big game, or after you've won "too much" and they want to draw u back to the Microtransaction store, to "improve ur squad". Why was my team just dismantling an 87 ranked team by over 3 touchdowns, yet I lost to 82 ranked team without a single players ranked higher than mine at ANY position. This stuff, if ever outted in court, I truly believe would be illegal. But with millions turning into BILLIONS, now everything is just basic locked in. You can't improve the game now, bc people simply purchase it regardless of quality. If u could become a billionaire or millionaire, and work ur * off, or barely @ all, which would u choose? If u could basically guarantee ur job by making same game every year, always super successful, if u ever went AGAINST that business model, you'd be fired promptly probably the next year. 2 at most. So they can only make TINY changes, and only @ start of year. People HATE the game at start, bc they were just playing last year's "fixed" game, with abilities all over the field, and amazing players. Downgraded to kids that I could testify in court, are not playing to the level of my former high school team. You think ANYBODY within EA could testify against ANYTHING I've said? I'd take all of this to God himself, so obviously I wouldn't care bout EA. Theyve went from greedy, to just straight up criminal @ this point. When I have statistics showing a player with certain ratings, you can't just lie and change those statistics bc u implemented a cheating system that makes u play worse whenever THEY feel like it. Or, if they want u to lose to get u to go back into the store to spend, they can now just make your experience unfun, tedious, and harder than advertised. That's not false advertising, that's called lying. I want to see the "sliders" on every game/mode I play, which even if they somehow implemented that, they'd simply lie. I'd like to see the Nevada gaming commission, go in, and ACTUALLY test their numbers to see who is actually getting what, and how often. I can tell a major difference just in pack odds of my game coin purchases, vs. My real money ones, which by definition, means they're lying about pack odds. I truly wish I had the opportunity to sit down for awhile, with the world's best attorneys, give them ALL the data points to check, and just sit back and watch EA perjure themselves, or disclose what's ACTUALLY goin on behind the scenes. Back to back years, voted "worst company in America" (or world, I think just American). The year they had lowest game ever recorded, 0.2 of 10 on metacritic, they STILL made over a billion bucks. About 600-800 million on game sales, EVERY year. On a game that truly should be free-2-play @ this point. U probably weren't expecting THAT good/detailed of an answer, but feel free to ask ANY player who plays these games regularly/a lot....see if I'm lying about a SINGLE point I made. I dare you. Even better, if y'all are rich, or more likely, ur parents are, have them "invest" in a lawyer, and sue EA. Or have em "pull strings" in Washington, and have em do a senate select committee, dedicated to getting to the bottom of what that one Hawaiian senator or whatever was talking about, few yrs back with star wars battlefront 2, EA YET AGAIN with child gambling mechanics called out on a live address this dude paid to cut into, to get people to stop purchasing basically illegal products, yet won't bc the kids are basically addicted @ this point. The game simply can't get better. It's not that they "don't want" to fix it, it's that @ this point, they have a fiscal responsibility to SHAREHOLDERS, not to customers. Lie to a customer, u probably still have em buyin next years game "hoping" for better...lie to a shareholder, and you're either fired, or prosecuted. They need the game to be bad early in year, otherwise, people would get that years game, and never a new one, bc they have one on next gen system that works great. Needs to be bad at first, forcing u into getting the one option at every position, that EVERYONE wants, say Fred Taylor for this year. A good running back for sure, but my Walter Payton at 89 doesn't play as good as FRED TAYLOR at 87? keeping in mind, they've been charging kids and dumb adults MINIMUM of 50$ per player, just for an 87 that plays AVERAGE. 83-86 might play well sometimes, but will be wildly yet regularly inconsistent. CPU especially in solo battles, can take 84 Bryce young, who's struggling in real life, and I've seen him throw 14 passes without a miss, on coverage that just shut out an 87 solo battle team like 24-0. You'll easily be able to tell the games you'll lose (the ones they "want" u to lose) bc things in that game, won't happen like they do in "regular" games. You'll probably fumbled for first time in over 10 games straight. You'll probably get A LOT of 3rd and inches. You'll not be able to manufacture an INCH even with a 94 lynch, acting like a small player tackling him, was a cannon blast that he simply MUST fall down as quickly as possible, to fix. It's kinda the exact opposite of what real football is. Basically 0 emotion. 0 REALLY big brutal hits. Added ONE animation that I ever seen regularly, lifting up legs. Yet I've seen probably 37 new animations for the COMPUTER side of the ball. Oh if u somehow ever DO manage a fumble, the ball will literally move into the hand of THEIR players, like 🧲 magnetism...I'd say I recover about 10% of all fumbles. The plays that "cheese" the system, are not the plays run in real life by successful programs. Perfect example might be ray lewis. Brutal, emotional player. Yet in game, just another middle linebacker. I special animations, u could just get his abilities, and throw em into some other kid who just got into th league a year ago, and bam now you're suddenly better than guys who dedicated their ENTIRE lives to the game, over like 15 grueling seasons of pain. They even had the AUDACITY, to include Johnny manziel. No Otto Graham. No Jim Thorpe. U get the draft BUST, Johnny manziel as the "best QB in the game" at the moment, bc people have heard his name and probably saw his little documentary. It's so unbelievably shameful to Include a player who refuses to work hard to get better. Kyler Murray gets a 90 ranked card, despite his team PULLING HIM WHILE HEALTHY... benching him bc tiny little guys like him can't see over the O-Line, so he's constantly having to run, check down, or throw to sidelines. You've got LAMAR JACKSON, ranked same as Kyler Murray. Now if that doesn't tell you where maddens at, what WILL? I just wish I could get the opportunity in court at some point, to be able to present all of this, after what they call the "discovery phase", I'll bet you anything they'd pay me @ about 500k-750k to sign a non-disclosure agreement, to shut down the case before it could topple their evil empire. Im guilty of it too, I just literally pray, that for just ONE year people would take the year off...and that's the one time where I would make the GUARANTEE...You'd see the best Madden game of all time. But when you can produce 💩 and still make literal billions, where's your "motivation" to change ANYTHING. Ever?
