The Positive and Negative Effects of EA Removing Ultimate Team
Let’s talk about EA’s biggest cash market for sports video games: Ultimate Team. What started in 2009 as an exciting mode for Madden 10 that seemed calm at the time has transformed into Electronic Arts' most giant cash cow. Despite all the money it’s made, it continues to be the main target of hatred for Madden games by its hardcore fans. When I watch a video of Youtubers who criticize Madden, they always use Ultimate Team (as well as franchise mode) as one of the leading vocal points of their frustrations. The claim is always because Ultimate Team includes microtransactions; it makes EA more money, so they can care less and less about what made Madden a solid game. However, their criticisms have been valid, as we haven’t had a great Madden in over 16 years. This issue with Ultimate Team doesn’t just affect Madden; it spreads criticism about other sports titles like EA FC and EA’s NHL titles. While EA’s newest title, College Football 25, hasn’t had this issue due to the care of the game being about Dynasty, Road to Glory, and Head to Head Online, it could be an apparent concern for future titles. So what if EA decided to remove Ultimate Team from their titles one day? What would be the positive and negative effects of that?
Negative
Some people enjoy this mode, and I won’t hold anyone against them for liking it. However, there will be those people who only play that mode and don’t understand the actual game of Madden, so you will see people who play Ultimate Team try to convince EA to bring it back. I could see many comments on EA’s social media team flooded with the same comments repeatedly like Madden forgetting to fix franchise mode. The only other negative I can see from this is from a YouTube perspective. If Ultimate Team is removed, most Madden content creators who get the top views of their channel from Ultimate Team will end a cycle with their views turning into money, leading to them buying more packs for Ultimate Team. However, not every Madden content creator is based on Ultimate Team, so by removing the mode, they can use other modes like Franchise to earn their cash from videos.
This Team Cost 50 Million Coins..! (youtube.com)
Positives
There are many positives and negatives here, and to start, I’ll mention the game's product. Removing Ultimate Team can finally allow EA to build the suitable Madden game that most consumers want to see, a game that doesn’t have a physics animation-based engine, a well-deserved but fun franchise mode, adding fun stuff like classic teams and cheat codes back into the game, as well as other things that once made Madden a great franchise. But let’s say EA still wants to use the Frostbite engine for Madden 26, for example, and fans want to play online still play; you still have regs and play a friend online; it solves the problem of people wanting to play their friends and other people online without having to resort to microtransactions to make things flashier. You also won’t have to worry about people who spend money to build the best team. It’s more balanced that way. All these options can allow EA to make more money because people enjoy a product, and they can take time to make it better; that’s why most fans are College Football 25. These positives also apply to the other EA sports titles. You don’t need a trading card game filled with luck, and most people lose their money to spend.