Former NBA Vet Says EA Sports’ Clint Oldenburg Ruined Madden’s Gameplay
Last week EA Sports released the latest patch for Madden 21, and the update caused a major glitch. That caused fans of the annual game to be locked out of their games. Madden 21’s developers are aware of the glitch and are working to fix the issue.
Before the company could release a statement, fans immediately went to EA’s social media platforms and voiced their concerns. This was supposed to address the easy bands during interceptions and the high incidence of flags during play on the ball. If that wasn’t enough of a tweak, quarterback runs were altered a little, and players can no longer abuse the spread draws. That’s a good thing in some of the Madden users’ eyes, but If they can’t play the game at all, it won’t matter.
“Hey Madden Community, We have observed an issue where players were getting locked out of signing into Madden NFL 21. We have corrected the root cause, but because affected players are unable to sign in, not all players can get online to get the fix. Below are some workarounds per platform to address this issue. Our teams are currently working on an Emergency Title Update as soon as possible to correct all impacted players. We apologize for this inconvenience,” said The Madden Team.”
Per Aaron Perine of Comicbook.com, EA had a similar issue with their Franchise Mode earlier this year, and it sparked fans to use the hashtag #FixMaddenFranchise.
“Hey Madden Franchise community, I’m Seann Graddy, I’m the executive producer for Madden NFL. On the behalf of the entire development team, we wanted to reach out to say, we see your #FixMaddenFranchise Tweets and we understand your frustration,” Graddy shared. “Now, the franchise community is critically important to us, and of course, we appreciate your passion for Madden NFL. We’re reading your feedback and we clearly understand that you want more. We’ve seen your requests for more information about what the franchise community can expect moving forward.”
On Friday, EA Sports’ Creative Director, Scott O’Gallagher was on Instagram Live with former ten-year NBA veteran Ryan Hollins. During their conversation, Hollins asked “Can we talk about this Madden patch, and the game crashing?”
O’Gallagher: Didn’t hear that!
Hollins: Can I talk to you about Clint Oldenburg [Gameplay Production & Ratings Adjustor]?
O’Gallagher: Clint is my dude!
Hollins: Well, talk to your dude about ruining game play!
O’Gallagher: Naw, stop it there will be no Client slander!
Hollins: Look, I’m going to have to talk to your dude about ruining game play and user controlling the game!
O’Gallagher is a big user control guy dating back to his time at 2k Sports {NBA 2K] and how smooth the handles are on the game, but according to Hollins, there is nothing smooth about this year’s installment of Madden.
EA owns the exclusive rights to the NFL, meaning other companies cannot compete with the sports conglomerate. If you ask fans what is the best football game you played in the last 15 years? They will most likely say ESPN’s 2K5 with Terrell Owens on the cover.
That was the last time Madden had a competitor in the NFL video game space.
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