EA explains benching of Madden PC

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

  • Amir_1

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:59 pm PT

    thanks we don't need your crappy ports anyway.

  • Dungeoncrawler1

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:32 pm PT

    LOL...EA struggles to get the franchise right on the consoles. As so many of you have already pointed out, we PC'ers don't need that trash they port every year anyways. To point; the fact they are able to stiffle any competition by paying for the rights to the players names, etc. it's beyond me how they get away with it (can you say monopoly). I personally don't believe it's any different than what the govt. had issues with concering MS and Mr. Gates. Guess he was not willing to suck-up to the Men in Black! EA sucks!

  • Cobra5

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:28 pm PT

    madden was on PC?

    News to me.

  • shade1978x

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:20 pm PT

    I don't think any PC gamers will miss the Madden games. From what I've read on them, they've been consistently mediocre. I guess us PC gamers will have to deal with ONLY getting able to play...

    Mass Effect
    Assassin's Creed
    Fallout 3
    Rainbow Six Vegas 2
    Devil May Cry 4
    Iron Man
    The Incredible Hulk
    Prototype
    Alone in the Dark
    The Witcher: Extended Edition
    FarCry 2
    Endwar
    Tiberium
    Borderlands
    Spore
    Project Origin

    ...but yeah, other than those, I'll be losing sleep over not being able to play another re-regurgitated Madden port.

  • gp3tron

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:12 pm PT

    EA " we are sucking more and more on games for the PC, thats why we have to hold off on some of them, so we can make 50 more expansions for the sims 1, 2 and 3, ok?

  • Oloryn

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:59 pm PT

    Of course its all about the money to EA. If they bothered to put forth any effort to make the PC versions of their games any good, then they'd sell, but they don't. As for PC slowly dying, well the type of people that would think that clearly don't play games on the PC. I love my consoles, dont get me wrong, but if I didn't have a PC I'd have missed out on everything Blizzard (not just WoW) and I dont care what love you may have for your PS3 or 360, you can't compete with PC shooters as far as sheer playability.

  • x_SuperMario_x

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:46 pm PT

    i think EA needs a timeout.

  • sdkingsht

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:46 pm PT

    madden collector's edition? i'll pass thanks

  • RageSet

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:37 pm PT

    @suprsolider

    I hate to rain on your parade, but if you think about the logic behind your answer, you may want to change it. Think about this, a console is a computer designed from the ground up to play games. There were Super Computers (aka Mainframes) before the concept of a console. Believe it or not, developers of software for those super computers developed GAMES too for those same super computers.

    So without a super computer (then a personal computer), you wouldn't have a console. Just wanted to let you know that before hardcore PC gamers come in and flame you to death.

    EDIT: Whether consoles or PC made video games famous is another story altogether. Many will claim that the arcades are what fueled the coming of age that made gaming popular.

  • imnotacrook

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:22 pm PT

    fine, the PC deserved better then sub-par ports anyway.

  • ScottEFresh

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:17 pm PT

    YAWN

  • alex20077

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:15 pm PT

    ehhh, NCAA football is way better than madden anyways. First of all because it can actually be challenging unlike madden where it is very easy to win every single game.

  • Sam_Lowery

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:07 pm PT

    Well if EA didn't do a piss poor job of the PC version every year, maybe people would have bought it.

  • Durfio

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:01 pm PT

    Madden sucks anyway! Its just arcade football. The last football game I actually enjoyed after playing for 3 or 4 days was FPS. Sadly the last 2 versions Sierra put out didn't even live up to its own legacy in my opinion. I just can't stand a football game in which it is so easy to go consistently undefeated. It makes me sick that 16 years ago Sierra produced a video game that pretty consistently produced realistic plays and game results and with all the technology since then the football simulation has gotten progressively worse. I pretty much feel the same about baseball games as well all though I'll admit that I really haven't paid all that much attention to recent baseball and football games because I've just gotten too dissapointed with every game I tried in recent years. So if EA Sports wants to give up on PCs good riddance. I never liked your games any way, maybe it'll open the door for someone else to put out a halfway decent simulation of my two favorite sports.

  • theclaw135

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:01 pm PT

    Let's hope they use this opportunity well.

    Benching it gives them more development time to get next year's sports games done right on PC, which I hope they'll do.

  • suprsolider

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:58 pm PT

    What in the Hell you think the consoles emulate?? PC's!!. Console games wouldn't be here if PC gaming didn't lay the tracks. Respect your Elders!!
    --

    Um, consoles were gaming before PC's. Like the Atari 2600. Computer gaming came along after the 2600 made gaming marketable.

    So get off your damn soap box and respect your elders like Me who has been there when PC gaming started and when console gaming became marketable with the 2600.

  • JackfnBurton

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:56 pm PT

    Don't even give me that whole 'PC gaming is dying' crap - I don't even have to scroll down to sense the nimrods oozing out of the wood work, whipping out that tired old bit again.

    Sports games on the PC don't sell as well because most PC gamers are into genres that are more conducive to the platform. Besides, the quality of sports titles lately for the PC has clearly been an afterthought for publishers. Given the rather anemic quality of Madden 2008, I'm not exactly going to miss it. I think I played that for all of a week and then went back to killing things.

  • KnightsofRound

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:48 pm PT

    It doesn't really surprise me that EA Sports games have crappy sales on the PC, especially when they are making superior versions on the Xbox 360 and PS3, yet still release PS2-quality sports games on the PC. It's a completely half-assed attempt, and personally I think PC gamers are better off without this garbage being lazily ported to their gaming machine of choice.

  • DontEatCream

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:43 pm PT

    EA's sporting efforts on the PC has been pretty half-assed for the last few years. Really, this news isn't that shocking nor surprising.

  • damariners

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    nak kata bangang pun ado gak EA nie.. port ps2 ke current pc power.. sape nak beli.. kalau EA port dari ps3 dah lama org beli EA makin lama makin bangang....
    p/s: sorry not using english. all i'm tryin to say, that ea s**k..

  • aschuhart

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:33 pm PT

    the fact that console games are becoming insanely popular, and don't have NEARLY the pirating issues that PC gaming does, I can't blame EA for it even though I'm a PC gamer. From business stand point, a very smart move and will save them money which is the goal of any business no matter what they do.

    Besides...the past couple versions of Madden just seemed like clones of each other with updated rosters. If you look at most the reviews you seeing "why did I waste my money on this?". Well now you won't have to.

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:31 pm PT

    LOL. no more sports games for PC and some people say death to pc games? come on. pc gaming is still top notch

  • aem98x

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:30 pm PT

    Who cares. EA, especially EA sports is complete garbage and Madden has been terrible for years. Now if 2K sports would release games on PC that would be fantastic. Might consider getting rid of the 360.

  • djtim_3000

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:21 pm PT

    With the seriously minimal investment required to port a game from 360 to PC it seems as though EA are just being the typical corporate wankers they are known to be. To people saying that sports games on the PC are rubbish - why? Typical Gamespot posters flaming their mouths off with out have a shred of thought or evidence to back themselves up.

    For those of us with decent PC's (I use my PC for all sorts of things - internet, games, study, work, facebook - can your console do all that?) this is a slight let down, I use my 360 controller and sports games play just the same as on a console. But it is nothing an enterprising smaller developer won't be able to rectify in a year or two.

  • ilikewhatyouhat

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:20 pm PT

    EA, update the ****ing game engines on the PC and maybe people will buy the crap. Stop porting it directly from PS2; I don't want to play the PS2 version of NHL 08 on my PC; I want the next gen version. It's quite obvious they're going to bench the games until the average Best Buy bought PC can handle a ported version from the PS3 or 360 so they can port those with little effort in order to get some sales from those who can't tell their ass from a Pop Tart.

  • metalisticpain

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:12 pm PT

    What he means is

    We are EA, and for Hermits to buy a sports game it has to look good and be well constructed, something that would require some effort on our part. So we are not making one because its too hard and we can just copy paste the games from the 08 for consoles

  • dru26

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 9:00 pm PT

    My biggest anti- PC argument ( no MLB, NBA, and NHL representation), just added a major hit.

  • ptown58

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:59 pm PT

    No one ever pirates 360,ps3,ds,psp or the Wii just pc games. The whole pc pirate kills pc gaming makes no sense.

  • CYSYKO

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:49 pm PT

    who plays madden on a PC anyway?

  • litewo

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:48 pm PT

    PC Gaming Death Watch: 4-2-08

  • BigJerm1

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:29 pm PT

    Nishua said: "How about benching the consoles version"?

    Why would you discontinue the versions that are worth a damn. Nothing against PC gaming as a whole, but sports games on the PC suck, Madden being no exception.

  • Keivz_basic

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:22 pm PT

    No surprise. There hasn't been a next gen madden or nba live released on the PC despite more than capable hardware. This year was finally supposed to be the year but (like my recently busted 500 GB HD) it was too good to be true.

  • Montrealien

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:21 pm PT

    bjmage16 said..

    Makes sense to me. Scale back the games released for a slowly dying platform.

    Yeah, very very very slowly dying. People have been predicting PC gaming dead for years and years and years, join the club of redundant predictions of PC dying. You are number 125446985641125412 that is wrong. Madden's market is not PC gamers, that is all, move along.

  • The_PC_Gamer

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:21 pm PT

    Eff you EA. gg

  • aronj

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:17 pm PT

    So lets see, company dumbs down and neglects platform then blames consumers for not buying a warmed over product. Makes sense.

  • attorihanzo

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 8:15 pm PT

    PC gaming will not die thanks to koreans.

  • bjmage16 posted Apr 2, 2008 7:56 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    bjmage16

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:56 pm PT (hide)

    Makes sense to me. Scale back the games released for a slowly dying platform.

  • abw1977

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:55 pm PT

    Sport games have always been a bit lackluster on the PC compared to the console games (Unless you go way back to the days of Front Page, or Tony Larussa baseball) so I'm not really surprised... Especially, from EA with Infinity Ward mentioning how much pirated software had been going on with COD4.

  • Tranceplant

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:53 pm PT

    Besides Golf, sports never really ever been strong on the PC...

    Oh wait... I forgot about DEER HUNTING! XD

  • sdcazares1980

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:47 pm PT

    You'd be surprised on the comments the loyal PC folk have for Madden. Read the above linked blog.

  • Proman84

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:44 pm PT

    I really hope that this is just a temporary thing and these games will return to PC next year. I really like playing NBA games on PC.

  • sdcazares1980

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:42 pm PT

    After reading some comments, I didn't think that there was such contempt for the PC version of Madden. With the Xbox 360 Controller being fully adaptable to the PC, you'd think PC would be on a roll. I guess not.

  • jfrdricks63

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:38 pm PT

    eh, makes no difference to me madden games are teh suck anyway.

  • Chaz02787

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:36 pm PT

    Why not just release Head Coach on PC...I mean that's the platform I originally wanted to play it on, and now it's not even available?

    F U EA

  • Nishua

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:33 pm PT

    How about benching the consoles version?

  • ChinoJamesKeene

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:24 pm PT

    i doubt many poeple care, its been the same game for a longtime. Hell i don't even get why console poeple buy this game every year.

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:21 pm PT

    LOL how would this nail anything into the coffin for PC gaming, sports games have been console bound for years now ... just like rts is primarily PC bound .... certain game types just work better on different platforms get over it. Im not really saddened by this because honestly even though i only own a PC, lately sports games have just been much more fitting on the consoles.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 7:16 pm PT

    Madden used to be the stuff of legends on pc. I remember getting together to play it on pc. Even after purchasing xboxes, ps2s, and gamecubes we mainly played on pc. That started dieing out once the console versions started showing more precise control and online action. However I don't see Fifa being abandoned quite yet. The consoles are dominant but that market has a fair bit of pc players so EA wouldn't want to abandon that.

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