It is still 2012, but the only thing as consistent as the year changing is a Madden game coming out along with it. Since the 16 bit era of gaming Madden has continued to make an appearance. Before then even, football inspired games were made, but it wasn’t until Madden that the games took off as large continuing hits.
The appeal of playing as your favorite team or home city team keeps driving players to the sports genre, but let’s be honest – what will be different about 2012’s edition and 2013’s edition? Graphics are at a point of minimal, if any improvement and the game itself barely changes each year. What can they do? Have the refs lay down imaginary fines for violent hits? That’d make it more up to date… But besides that the only thing that changes each year is the roster.
Is seeing minute roster changes worth $60 every single year? Since the games are all playable over the internet and can stream live information from the internet, why can’t they just automatically update the rosters for you? The NHL series will remove injured players from the playable roster based on real life events, so why can’t they add players in the same manner?
With connectivity being at all-time highs and minimal options to justify a new $60 price tag, it makes us wonder why they can even consider charging this price each and every year.
Then again, the game continues to sell at $60 a copy year in and year out. Gamers and consumers simply do not care that they are spending a lot of money every year for the exact same game. It is all economics and supply and demand at this point. The supply can easily be made and due to the continued success of the franchise every year, why not go ahead and keep charging $60 for what should be a free update or at most a $10 charge for an update.
Football fans get worked up over something as petty and boring as the “draft” so it doesn’t take much in their heads to justify spending time and money. If watching people have their names called is worthwhile, $60 for a copy of what they already own doesn’t seem to be a stretch. Perhaps they should realize its the offseason and go swimming or relax on a patio instead. With that in mind, the Madden series will continue to see success.
