MLB The Show 16 - Franchise Mode Livestream

Morale plays an important role as you developer your roster as it will have an onfield effect on player performance. Player morale can be influenced by seven overall factors, including the player's role on the team, coaching staff, and the team's city.

An improved revenue and expenditure model includes real-life budget dynamics including revenue sharing and the luxury tax.

Revamped scouting and GM goals, as well as improvements to player progression, contract logic, and call-up/send-down logic round out the Franchise Mode improvements discussed in the livestream.

Online franchise did not receive any of the upgrades mentioned in the livestream, however online gameplay stability has been improved for MLB The Show 16.

The stream concluded with gameplay as the developers competing in one round of the developer tournament.

I'm not sure that any of the Franchise changes are huge but I like what I see with all of them.

I think I liked the contracts screen the most. Being able to look ahead at what money you have tied up in your players in future seasons, when they are arbitration/FA eligible etc. is a nice add. It's reminiscent of NHL and it's a welcomed and comfortable addition for me.

I really like the Blockbuster Trade/Big FA Signing screen too. Pretty cool and will help with immersion not only because of the notification but because of actually seeing the big name player in his new uniform.

The morale system seems pretty good and it will be fun to see how it affects contract negotiations and free agency.

I'm happy to see the ratings progressions individualized but I'm afraid that they may be too stat-based. Time will tell.

Overall, I don't see anything that is HUGE to me but I do like, and think I will enjoy and appreciate, every one of the changes to Franchise Mode.

As an aside, I was disgusted to hear them use the same excuse that EA uses for Online Franchise. EA uses it for NHL, with regard to not including GM Connected in this generation.

SCEA said they didn't touch Online Franchise because only 45k played it (vs 500k playing Offline). To me, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy and instead of stating that "no one plays it so we won't fix it" they should ask if "no one plays it because we won't fix it."

Being away from the game about two years, what is wrong with the Online Franchise?

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Originally Posted by JBHuskers

Being away from the game about two years, what is wrong with the Online Franchise?

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It is bare bones and has not been touched since MLB 14 The Show.

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

SCEA said they didn't touch Online Franchise because only 45k played it (vs 500k playing Offline). To me, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy and instead of stating that "no one plays it so we won't fix it" they should ask if "no one plays it because we won't fix it."

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That's one of my biggest pet peeves in game development as well. Poor and/or untouched modes will result in few people playing, but that's not indicative of the actual community desire for the mode. See OTP in Madden, GM Connected in NHL, Online Franchise in MLB, etc. Very frustrating.

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Originally Posted by cdj

That's one of my biggest pet peeves in game development as well. Poor and/or untouched modes will result in few people playing, but that's not indicative of the actual community desire for the mode. See OTP in Madden, GM Connected in NHL, Online Franchise in MLB, etc. Very frustrating.

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I agree 100%.

While they may view it as a waste to fix something that no one plays, to me it is a bigger waste to not stay committed to a mode that you spent alot of resources on developing.

It's almost like they operate their business by the seat of their pants, deciding year-to-year what to work on. A better model would be to have multi-year plans. In other words, deciding how much time and money are going to be spent on each area of the game 3 years in advance with a portion of the resources earmarked as "discretionary" so that specific areas that need addressing can get special attention (the amount of discretionary dollars can vary based on the available budget when that year actually arrives).

It is remarkably wasteful to spend time and money developing a mode and then abandoning it. If you're going to do that, you're better off never developing it and using the time and money spent to develop it to strengthen another area of the game.

It's poor management, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

I agree 100%.

While they may view it as a waste to fix something that no one plays, to me it is a bigger waste to not stay committed to a mode that you spent alot of resources on developing.

It's almost like they operate their business by the seat of their pants, deciding year-to-year what to work on. A better model would be to have multi-year plans. In other words, deciding how much time and money are going to be spent on each area of the game 3 years in advance with a portion of the resources earmarked as "discretionary" so that specific areas that need addressing can get special attention (the amount of discretionary dollars can vary based on the available budget when that year actually arrives).

It is remarkably wasteful to spend time and money developing a mode and then abandoning it. If you're going to do that, you're better off never developing it and using the time and money spent to develop it to strengthen another area of the game.

It's poor management, in my opinion.

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I agree but let's be fair. Madden, NCAA et al. are/were famous for doing this all of the time. Features implemented and completely untouched year after year. All sports games do this to varying degrees.

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

I agree but let's be fair. Madden, NCAA et al. are/were famous for doing this all of the time. Features implemented and completely untouched year after year. All sports games do this to varying degrees.

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Yep. I mentioned EA up there. ^^^

Maybe put some time into it and make us want to go to that mode.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The lack of mode/feature development will continue until participation improves.