Sports Games- Yearly Release Or Every Other Year?

[JO_75]

I been talking with my friend about this and I have seen people say this about Madden. It seems in this day of age where companies can fix things with patches, and DLC is starting to be the new big thing, it seems that sports game don't need yearly releases anymore. We have pretty much said Madden 10 is no different than Madden 11 except for a new roster which meant we paid $60 for a roster update. My friend and I were talking about the new NASCAR Game coming out in Feb and we talked if it needed a new release every year and me & him agreed that it should be good with upgrades through DLC and every other year releases. I also think Madden would benefit from it. I think Madden would be fine with releases every other year with DLC to update the roster with say a charge of $10-$15 for the DLC where they still get their money.

What is your opinion.... In this day of age where DLC is starting to be big, do Sports games no longer require Yearly releases and just updating a game through DLC and making a new one every other year or do we still need yearly releases?

[theFRANCHISE]

It makes more sense to have a new release every two or three years rather than every year. While EA Sports will always make money off the Madden name annually, the sales trends are starting to show waning consumer confidence in the brand, especially since every title shows minimal change from year-to-year, touting only one or two new features on top of somewhat-adjusted gameplay elements.

While $10-15 for an annual roster update seems to be the price point most consumers are OK with paying, I'd be fine with $20-25 for a "season pass" of roster updates from year-to-year.

Basically, the first season that the game is released will offer free roster updates released periodically until the end of the NFL season. Then, for subsequent seasons, if there is no new game, you can either download optional roster updates a la carte for maybe $5 a pop, or get the season pass for $20-25 which gives you free updates throughout the course of that season through the final update following the Super Bowl, and so on and so forth for each season, with a new season pass offered each year that there isn't a new game. That way, you're not buying a new full-priced game every year, EA still gets their money, and you're still paying a reasonable price for the amount of work that would go into a brand-new overhaul of the roster for each new season.

[XxSizzleXx]

Pickup Madden 10 again, it wont be as similar as you seem. The running game in both games are very different.

[theFRANCHISE]

While there were enough differences between games in the past three Maddens for me to justify buying them new, there's been disappointments in each game, especially between 10 and 11. The lack of updates to Franchise Mode in this year's game was my biggest gripe, as well as O-line blocking (though running the ball is easier), defensive AI, and some minor roster complaints on my part. It just feels like Madden 2010 The Expansion Pack rather than a new, full-featured game.

[RoflDogs]

On the topic of sports games, is NBA 2K11 worth getting?

[JO_75]

I found something on Operation Sports where they had 2 people give their opinion on this topic, 1 wrote about how yearly games are fine and still the norm and another wrote about how games don't need yearly releases.

For Yearly Releases:

http://www.operationsports.com/features/1201/the-yearly-release-cycle-is-just-fine/


Against Yearly Releases:

http://www.operationsports.com/features/1200/the-yearly-release-cycle-needs-to-be-changed-up/

Who do you guys agree with and hopefully more people post their opinion on this, this is a interesting topic.

[ryan23945]

of course it makes sense, but i paid my 60 just like u did, cuz we cant not go buy it

[TreTheRaven]

I had skipped on buying Madden 11 and am holding off till Madden 12. I used to buy every year till like many others, I didn't notice much of a change if any. Figured might as well save the $60.00 for a new game or something else like food.

[XxSizzleXx]

[quote name='RoflDogs' timestamp='1293260398' post='584763']
On the topic of sports games, is NBA 2K11 worth getting?
[/quote]


I heard it's very in depth and one of the best basketball games released. Don't play much basketball games but I picked it up on eBay, still waiting on it. If you can get it for 40 bucks there's no reason not to get it.

[XxSizzleXx]

Yearly releases are the way to go for sports games, as long as they improve the game every year.