EA Sports
Anyone who’s regularly played the various installments of the Madden video games is likely all too aware of the many, many issues that have plagued the once-beloved franchise. While those titles should have theoretically improved over time, basically every dedicated fan knows that’s not the case—and it’s hard not to place a lot of blame on EA Sports.
The developer has been pumping out supposedly “new and improved” versions of Madden since the 1980s, but slightly updated graphics and tweaked physics engines can only do so much to distract from the fairly inexplicable removal of features, an increased focus on the cash cow that is Ultimate Team mode, and the glitches that have claimed the lives of an unknown amount of innocent controllers over the years.
Of course, EA doesn’t have a ton of incentive to innovate due to the de facto monopoly it currently has on NFL video games (although that could be changing in the coming years). The fact that millions of masochistic gamers also still pick up the newest release each year despite largely knowing what to expect certainly doesn’t help—although there’s a slim chance the company will make some effort to atone for its past sins based on the magnitude of its latest transgression.
According to Ars Technica, the majority of people who sunk a significant amount of time into Connected Franchise Mode (CFM) since Madden 23 was released in August have run into a fairly infuriating issue courtesy of what unfolded shortly after Christmas.
On December 26th, EA issued a statement acknowledging server issues that prevented many players from connecting to CFM (a mode that allows them to control a coach, player, or team and play with other people online) before sending an update on December 28th that said the issue had been resolved.
Unfortunately, that didn’t really turn out to be the case. Over the weekend, a representative for EA Sports shared a bit of bad news when they informed the Madden community “a data storage issue” had resulted in the majority of CFM files becoming permanently and irreversibly corrupted, saying it only expects to be able to recover 40% of the leagues that were impacted.
As you’d expect, many players who fell victim to that snafu aren’t exactly thrilled.
I would like a refund for this year and last year’s madden. Nothing but broken promises last year and complete lack of respect and responsibility towards your CFM community. I know you guys think it’s easy just to restart but it’s not. I do not play any other game mode of madden
— Bill Cowher_MoM (@cowher_mom) January 2, 2023
@EAMaddenNFL this is completely unacceptable I put in to much time for my cfm to just get corrupted like this, it’s been a up and down emotional roller coaster with this game and I love madden, I feel like I spent all my money on this game for no reason like what’s going on?
— Romeo Carter (@RomeoCarter14) January 1, 2023
Madden really doesn't care about Franchise Mode. Corrupted files on 60% of their leagues #SMH
I think in 10 years everyone will be playing NFL 2k (release ~2024?) @2K @EAMaddenNFL @MaddenNFLDirect @EAHelp @EA #madden
— WHAT Mafia (@WHAT_mafia) January 2, 2023
please give me a refund!! @EAHelp @EAMaddenNFL !! Your game is not what i agreed to purchase! CFM does not work. I want my money back!! This is screwed up #madden #MaddenNFL23XboxSeriesXS
— Nick Wursta (@NWursta) January 3, 2023
It’s nice to think EA will learn from the error of its ways, but if recent history is any indication, you might not want to hold your breath.