I’ve been invited to the Madden closed beta for Madden 24 franchise mode, ostensibly as an apology for how badly I got screwed twice in losing franchises to a bug in the system. This is a positive step forward (and an easy one) for Madden, because it allows the people who love franchise mode and were most impacted by how crappy it is to provide serious feedback on the game mode as it is prepared for a new season. It also gives me one heck of a jumpstart on understanding any new mechanics to be developed. I want to love franchise mode. I want to have the experience of managing a team from an owner’s or General Manager’s (this is not an option as a stand alone mode right now, but it could be) perspective. I want deeper control in the draft process as well as in the contracting process.
All of this has me thinking about the NY Giants and the choices left to be made in real life. One huge choice is how to deal with the Leonard Williams contract, which ends after this upcoming season. I bring this up because the contract contains a void year, which, if you didn’t read the article at the other end of the link, means it isn’t a real contract but a cap hit that accrues regardless of whether the man plays for the Giants in 24 or not. If we don’t resign, we still have a 6 million dollar cap hit. If we DO resign, we have the 6 million hit PLUS whatever hit is based on the contract. This is a very difficult thing to work into a video game, but I wish they would try to do better with understanding and interpreting the cap stuff. Right now it is basic. It isn’t as bad as the draft stuff.
The draft stuff is basically what happened when EA’s NFL team got a hold of EA’s CFB team’s notes and copied them. The setup feels like college and doesn’t reflect the complexity of the NFL scouting system, how private visits (there are 30+) and other phases of the process work. I want it to work. I want franchise to actually feel like we are building something and how we choose to build truly impacts the game. I want teamwork settings. I want it to feel like I have a larger role in developing an organization than setting box seat prices and finding a 99 speed WR post draft.