5 Things Madden NFL 20 Franchise Mode Needs to Have (Forbes)

I completely agree with this. All those a very important to me too. At least we know that EA is hearing it.
Can we just take a minute to really think about all the stuff 2k managed to put in their games every year? All the changes and improvements. It’s really amazing. Regardless of the problems that game has too.
I feel like every time EA releases a blog I find myself asking “is that it” and just feeling completely underwhelmed. Even on the “major improvements” and with 2k im just blown away with the amount of stuff they add.
To me, madden is so far behind now. I don’t know if they could ever catch up. In my mind they stuff have to add everything that they used to have. And do it better. And THEN add some awesome stuff we’ve never seen. And I doubt that’ll ever happen. Seems madden is always years behind the other games.
And it’s nothing against the devs. I’ve heard horror stories about the mess of code and the terrible foundation this game is built upon. I think EA is just terrible. Just look at what they’ve done to Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield.
The fans of both of those game series have been screaming exactly about what they want. And they just refuse and do things their own way. I see a trend between tiburon and dice

Good article. Only thing from there that could be in 20 is the improved stat tracking. Injury system definitely needs to be looked at and improved.

The ability to create a expansion team and take it into franchise mode would be nice. Also the ability to start franchise in the offseason would be nice too.

I agree with all those!! As far as the weekly wrap up show, remember the Tony Bruno show on the old Maddens? That was super awesome!! I loved it! I love the precorded interviews. With the technology advancements bringing back the Tony Bruno show would be great since they would be able to add in updated interviews and stuff.

Man this guy gets it. It's nice to see a mainstream article pushing this kind of stuff. Hopefully it will have an impact.

The biggest thing to me is how the PS2 versions of Madden are miles better than today's Madden. The depth of the games, the presentation, the animations, the franchise mode!! Everything is better!! Heck, the franchise mode on Madden 99 on N64 is better than today's Madden. I used to play the heck out of franchise mode and go years into the future with it. Now I get board with Madden very easily and only play 2 or 3 years with a franchise before I get tired with it because it's so boring. It's so bland. There's no excitement to it anymore.

Here's a great video showing Madden 2005 and why it was one of my favorite Madden's ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WopxdoDuW1E

I can’t really disagree with the article generally speaking, but even if all of these things were fixed and added it would still fall short of what it should be. He is aiming too low in my opinion. I don’t need Madden to outshine 2K necessarily, but I feel they should at least come really close in terms of features and depth. Again, even with everything from the article fixed and added it would not really compete with 2K19 IMO. A game that’s about one year behind at this point. I don’t even care for the NBA or basketball, I just play 2K19 for the Franchise experience. It has it’s issues but that can be said for every single game by any company.
I’m more of a franchise player, so I could live with Madden’s current level of gameplay for a far advanced Franchise experience. With that said, I think at minimum you have to get one or the other right. If Franchise mode is lacking then gameplay should be top notch and vice versa. One side should be rewarded at minimum when we are talking about a game this big on an yearly basis. We’ll see what they reveal for all of the new and refined gameplay, but given their track record I’m not holding my breath.

Here's an interesting video I came across on YouTube tonight. I had no idea that EA was directly responsible for the creation of the 2K NFL franchise. You guys should give it a look. It's interesting to think that the development team that created 2K were originally hired by EA to create the first PS1 version of Madden, Madden 96. A version that ultimately got canned and we didn't get the first PS1 version until Madden 97.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vohicxpX63U

Pretty much everything concerning player differentiation sounds great so far (with the possible exception of Mahomes' Bazooka/80 yard pass ability; hopefully that doesn't rear its head very often). Still, I'm disappointed that coaching staffs and stat tracking didn't make it in. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the former has been the sim community's consensus number one want for the last couple of years.
In regards to injuries, I remember MoonlightSwami presenting a very sensible idea a few years ago about having separate injury sliders for each position. That might be a good first step to a bigger overhaul of the game's injury system.

I agree with some of the stuff you said, but not the aiming low part.
Madden isn't going to change the way the make the game just like that. History tells us that there will be some changes here and there for all modes. Two different companies philosophies on how to make the game and market it.
I saw this debated a bit on Twitter, nba 2k had association mode for a real long time, but they added some things to it on a yearly basis and years later My League emerged. It took 3 or 4 years before a My League emerged after offline became My League.
The writer of the article added those five things at the end the would he felt would personally would make good additions for CFM. For me, his big want, a halftime/end of game show, doesn't really touch my radar because after a few times, I'll be skipping it anyway.
And I'm the opposite of you, to me, game play is king, and everything after that is icing on the cake. My games are 1.5 hours as it is and I just don't have the time anymore for playing at the most two games per week.
My opinion isn't greater than anyone else's, let's hope they continue to add onto CFM. I think the author's point was the additions they are adding this year sound good and I agree with him, just depends on how the execution of them go.

This is a good article and I agree with a lot of what he said. I been wanting coordinators back in the game and would like to see a coaching carousel. But It would have to be one thing that they don’t water down for the causal crowds. coordinators and head coaches need to have an impact on schemes and the schemes need to have more of a impact on game day.
Also need to fix the game’s legacy.

This would be great. Would love to re-do the draft for teams. I'm sure Giants fans would like that as well.

Definitely aiming too low. You even said his main want is something you’ll just start skipping after a few times. He’s pushing create a team and injury presentation?? That’s three out of five things in his article that don’t really matter much. It’s not going to make Madden THAT much better. I want them in obviously but I don’t see much of a true impact.
Game play is king for most players and I would be excited if it was overhauled. I’m just saying that even though I’d prefer to see big leaps in franchise before game play right now, they at least need to have one of the two aspects at a high level. We can agree there, right? Right now we are both losing out and not getting what we want (I almost want to say “deserve” at this point). To basically be average or below in BOTH is unacceptable. Especially for this many years.
2K built on what they had. Madden seemed to quit that mindset when the ps3/360 launched. Then I thought with CFM in Madden 13 they were starting over with the mindset of building it up, and yet here we are. That’s why NBA 2K is very deep and immersive overall at this point and Madden is far behind. 2K seems to have executed a plan over the last several years to build up the game. That’s good business. Madden 20 gets a little more meat added and it may seem more promising right now, but that’s because the standard they set for an NFL video game product the last decade+ has been average or below.

Thanks for posting, I’ve seen it though. Agreed it’s a good watch if you haven’t taken the time yet.

I would like a better injury presentation to the game, but wants and likes are to each their own.
We do agree Madden is what it is, I'm trying to be realistic about it.
You are also correct that Madden didn't add to CFM much after Madden 13, sometimes just a after thought. Madden and big leaps are not in the same sentence on a yearly basis. I need to see big leaps to believe it. And I don't feel they will change up that process anytime soon.
Madden needs to keep adding to CFM and game play to please as many people as possible. It's not a matter of what we want, we get, but more, marketing and the suits will make the game they see fit based on the Rex interview and Ian's take several years ago.
If the CD Mike Young carries out on his wording, CFM may have some good additions this year, IF and a big IF, they are implemented and executed properly and correctly.
We'll see.

Great info. His five would be awesome additions.

Agree the injury system is kinda bad.
I don't mind injuries but the animations of how they got injured is bad. I've seen a player named as getting injured while walking away after a play as if nothing happened.
Also in past Madden's, can't recall which.... occasionally a player would get injured and it would be career ending and season ending. Wouldn't mind seeing that again.
I did have one player that had a 30 or so week injury and obviously that is season ending but in the past it would say "Out for season".
All five of those things in his article would be a welcome change

He's right on the money with the coordinator/coach carousel point. With Madden really pushing this "scheme fit" and "archetype" in the franchise, I am actually pretty surprised that there isn't a presence of offensive and defensive coordinators that would heavily influence the schemes your team uses.
The obvious application is that in the offseason, given the players you have on your team or player you plan on adding (young QB you want to build around), you hire the best coordinator that coaches a scheme that gets the best development out of your players. Maybe next year (he said for the eighth straight year).

i dont consider what was done this year any more than previous years ( outside last year) . On average since madden 13 , what we are getting this year is on course for the same amount . Not more, which is what they imply by saying the most resources ever ( again this is the second year they had claimed this ) . That implies you did more, and frankly they didnt. Sure they did somethings but i just hate the way they try to make it sound like more than usual when i really dont see where it is.
I brought up how much 2K is able to do in a cycle and pointed out that madden could but just doesnt. Of course i was then "informed" that the only reason 2k could do that much in a cycle was because they had built up MyLeague for so many years first. Which i still dont buy . I am soley talking about the amount of things getting done. The issue is EA wont put the amount of resources into it as 2K does. Thats the sad bottom line . Which is rather pathetic . Even the blog this year they posted lacked real good details on things, almost read more like cliff notes.

My thoughts to his issues
1. Accurate Stat Tracking
Yeah. Should be accurate. Hardly at the top of my list of issues
2. Better Injury Presentation and Logic
I've been screaming this for years. Yes, I was happy to see off ball injuries but it can be better. Agreed... show an animation that shows the injury. But honestly, it took 25 years to get this. To be able to put animation to track the injury in next year's game... I just don't see that happening.
And I've been screaming that I should not know the full extent of the injury immediately. If the guy has a torn ACL, he should be out for the game then after the game, I see how bad it is.
3. Coordinator Impact
In order for this to matter, ratings need to matter. Yeah, I know EA said that there will be a disparity between 89 and 90 but does this disparity apply to the AI? Slow LBs still cover fast WRs. So until ratings really matter, this does not matter.
4. Create-A-Team
I would love to make a new team. EA needs to quit blaming the NFL for the lack of this.
5. Weekly Wrap-Up Show
I. Don't. Care. And neither do you... you just don't realize it yet. We all marvel over ESPN 2k5 and their little pre/half/post game show thing but come on... we all Xed through it 90% of the time. And let's be honest... EA will cave in (eventually) and waste time with this nonsense... you know you're not going to like it. It's going to be too this and not enough of that.

I agree with this 100%! There are so many more important things to focus on that are broken/should be included. No doubt majority of players would skip it after the first few times

Couldn't agree more.

That video made me kind of sad. We should be wayyy ahead of where we currently are.
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I have been passing on Madden because of how shallow Franchise Mode is compared to MyLeague in the NBA 2K Franchise. 
I keep hoping Madden will add some of that customization and freedom to do what we want. And being able to look at all years stats.
But I would be happy if they added Create-A-Team even like NHL has where you can just pick a logo they have and select the colors (if they don't want us to upload logos like NBA 2K). 

Lol, this type of writing is just funny. I would care. I watched the weekly highlight show every week in 2k5. I watched the weekly recap show every single week in College Hoops 2k8. I watched the Extra Point every week in previous Maddens. I watch the halftime show every single franchise game in Madden this year. I would watch the weekly recap show if they implemented it.

Anything to immerse us in the whole league instead of feeling like we're the only team alive would be a huge addition to the mode.

Exactly. I mean, it's at a point right now in CFM that the league news is not even prevalent on the home screen. It's hidden and tucked away in the back.