In a financial call with investors and press this afternoon, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello went through a strong slate of games for the mega-publisher’s fiscal year 2011, which runs from April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011. Among the list was a curious mention of “an innovative and new take on Madden.” What exactly that means — whether Ricitiello was talking about this year’s Madden NFL 11, a possible successor to Madden NFL Arcade, or a new product altogether — is unclear at this point.
EA Tiburon’s Madden NFL games usually launch during the second week of August, so we could be seeing a radical change in the storied football franchise. Whatever Riccitiello meant, we’re willing to bet it’s the brainchild of Mark Turmell, who recently signed on as the Madden studio’s Senior Creative Director. Turmell will be working on both Madden and NCAA Football; in an interview on EA Sports’ Web site, he mentioned that he’s aiming to make the games more accessible:
… how to communicate rules/situations to the user, ways to make the game easier to pick up and play, how to make plays/moves more impactful and entertaining, and even the general pacing of a game to keep player attention. The industry and audience is changing fairly dramatically, and often times our customer is looking for a quicker, more streamlined experience. … [H]opefully I can bring a little extra magic to the mix and our games will appeal to an even larger audience.
Well, Turmell created Midway’s NFL Blitz series, so maybe he’s going to bring the rubber-band AI from those games into Madden. That’d draw in more fans, right?
