EA Sports: Running Out of Ideas

One of the biggest announcements coming from EA at E3, unsurprisingly was related to their famed Madden franchise. And there is no doubt that their plans to include playable online franchises in a 32 player league are exciting.

Lately though, it seems that newer installments of these sports games from companies like EA, Konami, and 2K, have been lacking new features.

Instead, as the 2010 series of sports games come out, I’m afraid that this lack of ingenuity will lead to each successive game being nothing more than a glorified graphical and roster update.

The most simple principles of capitalism states that competition will drive prices and creativity. Unfortunately, competition is an element that is lacking in some sections of the sports genre.

EA and 2K have monopolized the football (American) and baseball markets, respectively; as a result, there is no competition to fuel creativity.

This isn’t to say that EA and 2K have abused their exclusive licensing. Both Madden and MLB: The Show are great series. However, because we’re subjected to one game from only one company, it feels as if each “new” title lacks a distinct feeling that truly makes it each game really “new.”

Any tweaks to game play are generally minor and are things that would be expected in patches updates. A new game should not simply include additions (EA calls them enhancements) that clean up bugs or smooth out game play.

EA knows this, so they release just enough new features to have gamers coming back for more.

Take Fifa for instance. In the ‘08 version of the franchise, EA released the “Be a Pro” feature, which allowed players to create and take control of one player rather than an entire team. They severely limited this feature though by only making it playable for one single season.

It seems completely reasonable to allow users to play out an entire career of their player right? So, in the ‘09 version what does EA do? Well, players can now take control of their player for an amazing four years, just enough time to experience one World Cup.

Now Konami’s ‘09 version of Pro Evolution Soccer (or Winning Eleven to some), EA’s major competitor in the soccer (or football) section, had a similar “Become a Legend” mode. However, Konami allowed users to take control their players for an entire career, which included both club and national teams.

Rather than introducing new ideas and new options to have gamers coming back for more, it appears that EA has opted to just “improve” on certain aspects of their games to have gamers eagerly waiting.

They know the sports genre in itself is limiting. After all how far can anyone take a sports game? The boundaries and game play are clearly defined. Is there really any way to present pitching a baseball, shooting a basket, or catching a pass in an original manner, and if there was, how many variations of that presentation can there be?