Madden NFL 24 Interview – “It’s a privilege to represent the community”

thesixthaxis.com:

The Madden series is a gaming institution, and one that, like its EA Sport sibling FIFA (or EA FC as it’s now going to be known) is an imposing figure on the landscape. Madden 24 is shaping up to be a bumper year for the franchise, and part of that is how it draws on the knowledge and know-how of programmers, animators, artists… and on the game’s community.

Two sides of that community have a more-than-tangible hand in this year’s release, with Issac ‘Spade’ Etheridge, a former Madden streamer, and Kenneth ‘Bo’ Boatright of the Superbowl-winning Seattle Seahawks, helping to shape the future of Madden. We sat down with them this past week to talk over what makes this year’s edition so special.

TSA: So, what was the focus coming in this year? When you sat down and first started putting things together, what were you aiming for?

Isaac ‘Spade’ Etherbridge: User control. I think a big focus was giving as much control to players as possible. Just taking feedback too. We’ve got a very vocal player group and our players have pretty much been asking for more control over what’s happening in the game, less dice roll, fewer scenarios where they feel like they don’t have control of the outcome. That was definitely the focus from the outset.

TSA: You both come in from outside of game development, how’s that helped you?

Kenneth ‘Bo’ Boatright: It definitely gives you a different perspective, like, being on the outside, you have this sensation of “we should just get this in the game, this should be easy to get in the game.” Once you get in the house, you actually realise how much work has to be done! How much things need tuning in general, how much is in the process, and you realise how the process really works. It takes time to get