Bad news for fans of Madden NFL 16’s Connected Franchise Mode (CFM). The popular game mode has subtle bugs that ruins the realism and immersion of its games. Fans on both the Madden Reddit and Operation Sports forums are reporting glitches regarding in-game player hot streaks and player regression.
In Madden NFL 16, scoring drives have goals that can be completed and give a confidence/stat boost to the players involved, helping your team get on a hot streak and pile on points. However, one of the CFM glitches in Madden 16 takes this to the extreme. So much so that player ratings not only reach 99 very easily, they can actually go above the normal 99 cap. Operation Sports Forum member BleedGreen710 shared the below photo showing notoriously inaccurate Tim Tebow with inflated throwing accuracy stats. Mark Sanchez, another NFL punchline, has both short and medium throwing accuracy at 100! Laughable indeed.
However, enjoy your chuckles for the short term, as there are less desirable long term glitches as well. A second major bug exists where player week to week regressions are also out of control. Reddit user mbcowner shared his/her experience of a left tackle dropping eight points in pass blocking over a five week period.
Recently, EA Sports has placed more emphasis on its cash generating Madden Ultimate Team Mode and dedicated Franchise/CFM fans have dealt with day one bugs year after year. This year, not only is MUT still in the spotlight but Madden 16’s new mode Draft Champions, is also getting love from the developers. It’s likely that CFM is getting the short shrift and this year the bugs are more noticeable and dramatic than usual.
Madden fans have every right to be upset about game breaking bugs. However, instead than slamming the developers who are likely losing sleep over these issues and have less than a year to iron these annual games out, a call for a change to the annualization of sport games would probably get more good done.
