Nicolas Bernardini

I knew this game wouldn't be worth buying, so I didn't buy it. But I ended up getting a copy for free because EA needs more sheep to exploit with their online gambling ring so they started giving away copies for free and I have to say they have hit a new low. I went from not buying it because it wasn't worth 60 dollars to deleting it after I got it for free because it wasn't even worth the storage space. It is literally the most disgusting attempt at a game I've ever seen and I get sick to my stomach thinking about it. I won't get too into detail about the little things (pass defense ai, and offensive line incompetence on running plays) and more focus on the big picture. The last few years I just thought the developers didn't care. They had a monopoly on NFL simulation (if you have the gaul to call this simulation) games, so they knew that football fans had no choice but to buy the game. I mean football isn't like basketball where you can just go down to LA fitness and play a full pickup game any time day or night. There's no such thing as a football pickup game, and the only opportunity people get to really experience football is by playing Madden, so people will buy the game no matter what. I figured the developers knew that, so just stopped trying to innovate. But then I came across a fact that led me to a conclusion even more sinister. Electronic Arts makes more money from microtransactions (MUT packs) than they do from actual game sales. That means they are totally okay losing customers who want to play franchise because they can make more money on people who play Ultimate team. That's why they so readily gave away free copies. But here's the thing, they don't just ignore gameplay. The realize that the key demographic they can make the most money from is kids. They are the ones buying the most madden packs, so they pander to the kids. If the game were a simulation football game that relied on skill and strategy the kids would never compete with older people who understood the game and didn't spam the same 3 exploits every play. They purposely dumb down the game to pander to their cash cow so they can continue to squeeze every bit of money they can out of their parents credit cards. Spending $200 dollars on in game purchases is for idiots, so they gear the game towards idiots, otherwise they would move on to fortnite where they belong and all EA would be left with would be those loyal fans they hate so much, unwilling to spend money on an online gambling ring. So it's not that EA doesn't care about gameplay. They do. It's important to them that their gameplay is a bad as possible, mostly scripted so that those who spend the most money win and all of us peasants who want a realistic game are left with snoop dogg and quavo. All of these stupid game modes are obviously such a pathetic attempt to pander to their hypebeast demographic without fixing the core gameplay. They won't do it because they don't want to, the more dumbed down it is, the more likely they are to keep the dumb kids who spend the most money. We will never have an enjoyable realistic NFL experience. We need to accept that already. I've given up, and so should you.