Pastapadre: Senior Members of the Madden NFL Development Team Departing Tiburon

[cdj]

Several high level members of the development team are apparently on their way out and may be joining a new studio that is being founded by a former Tiburon executive. When made public some of the names exiting the studio will be immediately recognizable to those who closely follow the series.

On Friday The Orlando Business Journal reported on the new social gaming studio, to be known as Row Sham Bow, that is creating 60 “high wage” jobs in the Orlando area (also home to Tiburon). Job postings for the company began going up earlier this month.It is unknown at this time what if any impact would be had on the development of Madden NFL 12 or even if those individuals would be leaving immediately.

Courtesy: pastapadre

[Paakaa10]

A quick search on Google for Row Sham Bow employment opportunities yielded the following link: http://personforce.com/jobs/employme...Designer/10586

Here's a quote about the company from that listing:

Row Sham Bow, a start up social gaming company, is looking for an outstanding Lead Game Designer. You will be responsible for leading the design effort for multiple games, ensuring that our games perform well in terms of retention, virality and monetization. You will work closely with the entire team to conceptualize, implement, deploy, and manage our live games.

Sounds like an entirely different beast from EA SPORTS.

[Paakaa10]

And here is the Orlando Business Journal article which presumably was the basis of Pasta's report: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/p...-new-firm.html

A new Winter Park-based online games developer plans to create 60 high-wage jobs in Central Florida.

Row Sham Bow Inc., formed by a former Electronic Arts Tiburon executive in March, is seeking economic development incentives: $114,000 worth from Orlando and $570,000 from the state.

The incentives would come through the Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund Program, which provides $3,000 in tax refunds to a company for each new job it creates in Florida. The program is designed to foster the creation of high-skilled jobs and encourage the growth of corporate headquarters and high-wage industries.

The company’s plans include:

That's all you can read without subscribing to the service.

[Rudy]

I wonder if this will impact the NCAA team as well.

[Paakaa10]

Amidst the confusion of the news today and the reactions... some good news via Twitter question and answer:

@pantherbeast: @Fillycheze Can you say at this time if the release date for madden 12 will remain in August or will be the date be pushed back or forward?

@Fillycheze: @pantherbeast Will release in August.

Hopefully that will put a quick stop to rumors of the game being in trouble as far as development and potentially facing delay for that reason.

[CLW]

Amidst the confusion of the news today and the reactions... some good news via Twitter question and answer:





Hopefully that will put a quick stop to rumors of the game being in trouble as far as development and potentially facing delay for that reason.

Just to play Devil's Advocate here. Didn't EA also state that NBA Elite wasn't being pushed back until the last minute? I don't know whether it will affect Madden/NCAA or not. My guess is it will likely depend on how many are leaving/what those people are responsible for/does EA have anyone that can immediately step up and replace them.

IMHO this is definitely something to follow closely as it could lead to a delay or us getting a very inferior product full of bugs.

[gschwendt]

As well, I'm assuming that most developers sign at least a single year contract which would likely keep them through at least near launch. Obviously I don't know any specifics but I'd be willing to bet that the developers would be there at least until August.

[Solidice]

As well, I'm assuming that most developers sign at least a single year contract which would likely keep them through at least near launch. Obviously I don't know any specifics but I'd be willing to bet that the developers would be there at least until August.

at the very least, there until the game "goes gold" and is finalized.

[Paakaa10]

Just to play Devil's Advocate here. Didn't EA also state that NBA Elite wasn't being pushed back until the last minute? I don't know whether it will affect Madden/NCAA or not.

When you consider the level of investment that EA SPORTS has in its NFL game compared to NBA, I really think we're looking at apples and hand grenades in terms of the difference. Having a license to produce video games in partnership with a sports league requires a game to be released every year. EA SPORTS was able to shelve NBA ELITE when things were going down because of one of two things: NBA JAM was in the pipeline, or the cost of "missing" a release wasn't too bad given the cost of the NBA license.

With the NFL, however, the league has already agreed to give EA SPORTS a break on the licensing fees this year--with the lockout and all that looming overhead--so it would be a real problem for Madden NFL 12 to not see release. The Madden developers are also being a great deal more open about talking about the game still being on track for August--Phil Frazier just Tweeted another message reaffirming that on his @Fillycheze account--whereas the cancellation of NBA ELITE came out of nowhere just a week or so before it was due to his stores.

Both NCAA Football 12 and Madden NFL 12 are presumably at alpha stage in development right now. If I remember correctly, the first "meaty" looks at the games typically come at EA SPORTS "Draft Night Premiere" in NYC the day before the NFL Draft where they have journalists and athletes checking out the progress. If that "milestone" gets missed, then we can start to be concerned. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry very much for this year.

My guess is it will likely depend on how many are leaving/what those people are responsible for/does EA have anyone that can immediately step up and replace them.

+1

All we know for sure today is that a former EA executive is starting up a game company called Row Sham Bow, Inc. which will be headquartered in Central Florida and apparently will be staffed by some members of the current Madden NFL development team. Until we know with 100% certainty which developers are leaving EA SPORTS, it's very difficult to know what this means for the future of the game.

With Row Sham Bow, Inc. apparently a social media--read as: Facebook--gaming developer and with job listings emphasizing the ability for employees to monetize the games developed there, maybe this will end up being a positive thing in the long run where the Madden NFL team moves away from monetizing the game. Nobody knows anything for certain here, and I'm sure it'll be a while before we in the public learn anything about what's going on.

IMHO this is definitely something to follow closely as it could lead to a delay or us getting a very inferior product full of bugs.

I can understand being gun-shy about the games with so little hard knowledge available to us at the moment. Just like every year, however, the key is just to wait and see what comes out during the PR push and decide whether or not the games are worth your money this year. If there are any major issues to come out of this news, then I'm sure we're going to know before the games hit store shelves; and then you can act accordingly.

[JeffHCross]

As well, I'm assuming that most developers sign at least a single year contract

EA does do a lot of contract work, but I'd be surprised if it was still anything more than at-will employment. I'd think people would be free to go as they please, especially in an industry with as much turnover as the game industry.

[gschwendt]

EA does do a lot of contract work, but I'd be surprised if it was still anything more than at-will employment. I'd think people would be free to go as they please, especially in an industry with as much turnover as the game industry.

But for a yearly title, with set deadlines every year, I wouldn't think they would have a "leave whenever you want" situation, especially not for "senior members". Again though, I don't have any intimate knowledge of how they're setup... I just couldn't imagine them not having annual contracts.

[JeffHCross]

But for a yearly title, with set deadlines every year, I wouldn't think they would have a "leave whenever you want" situation

Well, we have an annual release cycle at my work -- it's not "contract" work, but even with our annual release cycle people can go as they please. I know Tiburon, especially recently, has started to employ people on contracts, but I don't know if that means it's an actual contractual obligation, or just that it has an expiration date.

[CLW]

I personally found it somewhat surprising that there are no non-compete agreements in these employees contracts. I would think EA would want to protect itself from having a new/some other company take EA's talent and then have that talent directly compete against me. That's pretty standard employment contract stuff for anyone high enough on the totem poll to matter.

[JeffHCross]

Well, if I was EA Sports and I had a no-compete clause, it may not include Facebook games. I may not care enough, to be quite honest, about Facebook.

Personal opinion, that is.

[coogrfan]

Apparently Pasta has twittered that Ian Cummings is among those who will be departing.

[CLW]

Apparently Pasta has twittered that Ian Cummings is among those who will be departing.

wow Ian leaving sounds like a BIG change for Madden. Madden 12 could very well turn out to be a disaster.

[morsdraconis]

Ian leaving could be the best thing that ever happened to the Madden franchise. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he seems like he's a dick that wants it his way or no way when it comes to Madden and developing for it.

[cdj]

wow Ian leaving sounds like a BIG change for Madden. Madden 12 could very well turn out to be a disaster.

I don't know how it works exactly, but at this point I would assume the items and aspects that 'senior members of the team' worked on for M12 would be done and decided, with it now being a matter of the programmers and devs (more of the ground level guys) doing their thing. I would guess that the end result of Madden 12 will be the same no matter what at this point, no matter what that may be.

[CLW]

Ian leaving could be the best thing that ever happened to the Madden franchise. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he seems like he's a dick that wants it his way or no way when it comes to Madden and developing for it.

I actually "liked" Ian. I never met the guy and never really even interacted with him online in the community. IMHO he seemed to "care" and I thought he wanted to take the Madden series more in the direction that I want (i.e. more sim/true to life). He seemed really "gung ho" in 10 and then last year his "vibe"/body language was not good when promoting 11. I am not sure if he was just burned out or didn't like the decisions made by the "suits" had personal/life issues or what but he just didn't seem as into his job as he once was.

I don't know how it works exactly, but at this point I would assume the items and aspects that 'senior members of the team' worked on for M12 would be done and decided, with it now being a matter of the programmers and devs (more of the ground level guys) doing their thing. I would guess that the end result of Madden 12 will be the same no matter what at this point, no matter what that may be.

Yeah I don't have any sense of whose job responsibilities are what. I have learned that noone is irreplaceable no matter what. However, that doesn't mean that the loss of 1 or several people couldn't do severe short term damage to a company's product.

Something just "smells" to me. As far as I know we have had one video promoting Madden and not much in the way of NCAA news (other than new play diagrams and better grass/graphics). Perhaps I am mistaken but I feel like we usually have more info at this point.

[ram29jackson]

Plain and simple, these guys were sick of working for a company raking in tons of money and not getting that much for working their butts off for a corporation. They are young enough not to be too entrenched and willing to take a chance elsewhere, even though its risky.
..I dont know though, its pretty stupid to jump ship at this time in history and starting a company is way risky.

EA was ranked by the CLC as the top non apparel money maker last year...i'm not reall sure what that means ?