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EA Tiburon shows us why Madden sucks

Apparently EA Tiburon, the house in charge of Madden, has a history of pulling pranks on each other. As funny as some of the stories are, we as gamers should be a little disappointed in this kind of shit. On one hand, its hard to say that spending thousands to fill a room with plastic balls is a waste when you’re EA and you make Madden (actually its still a waste). But this is the same company that wants to flood your favorite games with in game ads and reap the profits, rather than using ad revenue to cut us players a break. I’m glad to know that this is what they’re using their money on rather than coke and hookers whenever they ream you for the newest lazy Battlefield expansion.

Second, the only thing I could think of when reading this article was “get back to work”. And I’m being dead serious – these guys have all the time to pull elaborate pranks, and yet they couldn’t get a competent version of Madden ready for the release of the 360. They’re still having troubles with things in the next gen Maddens. When I compare this to the stories of Bungie developers working themselves to the point where they may very well be hopped up on more than caffeine, it is hard to laugh. Of course, the Bungie stories surely have an extra bit of drama to them, but the point still stands. Tiburon, get your fucking games in working order before you go play in the ball pit.

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pat
Admin
pat
16 years ago

is there any overlap between this team and the group that was (is?) suing EA for overworking them?

Matt
Matt
16 years ago

The lawsuit, I believe, was based in California. I’m not sure if subsidiaries in other states could join the lawsuit, though. Also, the lawsuit was based on individual employees, and I don’t think they released a list of their names. So it could be, but it’s probably only a few, if any at all.

Oscar
Oscar
16 years ago

First of all, the ball pit was entirely funded by studio employees, out of pocket.

Second, they did it to boost morale and team spirit, which was low due to long hours.

Third, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are no longer employed by EA.

Fourth, if Madden sucks it’s not because of the guys who did this. Madden’s quality (or lack thereof) rests entirely on executive producers and marketing directors.

So… kindly refrain from beating up on the ones who deserve your scorn the least.