EA explains benching of Madden PC

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Apr 2, 2008 5:00 pm PT

Peter Moore says "serious business challenges" are preventing the publisher from releasing PC edition; other sports franchises to be similarly sidelined.

Last week, Electronic Arts announced that the Madden NFL 09 season would commence on August 12. Surprising to some and grating to others, the publisher at that time also said that the Tony Dungy-covered NFL Head Coach 09 would be available only as a pack-in to the $89.99 collectors edition of the game. However, that wasn't the only unusual tidbit nestled away in the release. As revealed by way of omission, the publisher also pulled the plug on the PC edition of its annual trip to the gridiron.

Today, EA Sports quarterback Peter Moore shed some light via his official blog on why the PC edition of the game had been benched. Echoing sentiments expressed by various other gaming execs, Moore said EA Sports would be scaling back its efforts on the PC on account of the platform's troublesome economic climate.

"The PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii," said Moore. "We are committed to shipping a limited number of our games on the PC this year, but we've also had to cut a few of our games from the platform."

However, EA Sports hasn't abandoned the most venerable of gaming platforms quite yet. "We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform, and we'll continue to explore those," said Moore.

Developed by EA Tiburon, Madden NFL 09 is currently slated to arrive on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Wii. The Madden NFL 09 Collector's Edition will be available only for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

183 Comments

  • Justforfun44

    Posted Aug 10, 2009 6:52 am PT

    Wow this is a big loss for PC gamers. I am very surprised. The first time I played Madden was on a PC. What's a PC football fan to do?

  • iceeman

    Posted Aug 10, 2009 1:20 am PT

    what a big mistake electronic arts is making....
    what a big mistake electronic arts is making....
    what a big mistake electronic arts is making....

    THEY JUST LOST ANOTHER CUSTOMER AND ANOTHER AND ANOTHER, as many people i know my age don't game on consoles but only the PC. they got a big investment in pc and do not want waste more money on a new system.

  • Tyson8earzz

    Posted Aug 9, 2009 7:39 am PT

    @Noseweed

    Thats the dumbest comment ive seen all morning here. Guess you have never played a pc game and do not realize you can hook up a 360 controller to the USB port. "playing w/ keyboard", cmon, unless you are 20 yrs behind which it seems your brain functions are lol GG console fanboi

  • NoseWeed619

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 9:50 am PT

    I think that that's just fine. I mean, if you use the keyboard to plan madden, then that's just kinda sad.

  • virusAUA32

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 11:45 am PT

    I think if u just buy a USB controller u'll be fine.
    BUt i think they need to ramp up the graphix in the PC version. cause gamers pc have way better graphix than any console. I gave a 8800 GTS.

  • insanitycheck21

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 11:42 pm PT

    fff

  • Crzy1

    Posted May 8, 2008 6:35 am PT

    *yawn* Havn't touched an EA Sports game in years, don't think I'm missing anything. Good luck with it EA.

  • UmTopher11

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 12:13 pm PT

    I have grown to hate EA more...and more...and more....I have always been pissed at the lack of graphics and new features in the PC Madden games.

    I have also been wanting MVP Baseball back for years.....

  • SCF_BlacKnight

    Posted Apr 25, 2008 4:51 pm PT

    Good idea, lose an entire group of people.

    Hard to maneuver? Buy a controller for your PC you tool.

  • m_malyszko

    Posted Apr 25, 2008 8:40 am PT

    Ecenomic Climate? WTF are you talking about?

  • ripdareaper92

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 3:16 pm PT

    lucas 182oh and btw.. player WEAPONS?
    WTF is a player weapon?
    oh right... that icon thing that does NOTHING AT ALL...

    lol i died from laughter when he typed this

  • deadlynatas

    Posted Apr 16, 2008 5:50 am PT

    Consoles are so much easyer to manuver then pc so i dunno..

  • CptChris562

    Posted Apr 14, 2008 5:34 pm PT

    I got an idea! How about EA benches Madden? Bring back 2k and more that way EA actually has to try to make their games good. All you get with Madden now is a roster update and a new feature that will only last for that year.

  • lucas182

    Posted Apr 11, 2008 4:21 pm PT

    wow... maybe EA should try playing their PC sports games...
    maybe then theyll find out they all SUCK compared to their console versions..
    why do u think madden 08 cost only 40 bucks?
    play the game, youll find out...

    console gets a crap load of features... PC gets a new menu (which still looks like sh*t in that sorry a$$ 1000x700 resolution EA) and a "ring of the champion" that could as well be an excel spreadsheet.. would make no difference.

    and guess what.. its been like this since madden 05.
    oh wait.. this year we got widescreen support.... woohoo... now my stupid looking players wont look as fat.

    whereas in the console, you can practicly see the sweat on the players face...

    oh and btw.. player WEAPONS?
    WTF is a player weapon?
    oh right... that icon thing that does NOTHING AT ALL...

    seriously EA...
    you EXPECT PC GAMERS TO BUY THAT KIND OF CRAP?!!!
    we are NOT that stupid.

    oh and BTW... i DONT have a console port
    sports games are just as good on PC (i have 12 usb ports, i can play with 12 gamepads just like playstation if i wanted to)
    we do have BETTER graphics
    and
    pirated games are just as easy to find on consoles... wake up
    the only thing consoles *may* have better than a pc in tech terms is sound.. but i rarely care about sound, my ears are not that sensitive.

  • DangerClown

    Posted Apr 10, 2008 11:35 pm PT

    It's just a symptom of how sad PC gaming is getting. It sucks having to rely mostly on ports to get by. Not that there aren't some great games on the consoles, and Madden is one of them. It sucks that consoles are stealing most of the oxygen in the gaming industry right now. As many others have already said, even most ports on the PC feature better graphics and added features that usually add so much more value to the title. I am thinking of picking up a PS3, just so I can get in on some Force Unleashed among others.

  • Krusnikzero2

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 3:01 pm PT

    Ohh noes, one less madden game!

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Apr 8, 2008 2:16 pm PT

    They may as well just bench all their craptastic sports games. they all stink.

    Old Peter is too busy makeing sure Madden runs at 5fps on the PS3 while it runs at 60fps on the 360. I wont waste another dime.

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