Madden NFL players are orchestrating 23 strikes to protest the poor prospects of pulling good players into groups. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Madden 23 faces criticism
A popular sports video game is under attack for allegedly aggressive behavior towards customers.
Encourage other Madden players to avoid the Electronic Arts developer
Madden NFL 23, named after football icon John Madden, is subject to thousands of boycotts due to its terrible in-game lottery odds. Zirksee is one of the people at the forefront of the movement and encourages other Madden players to avoid the Electronic Arts (EA) developer.
Madden relies heavily on in-game purchases, known as microtransactions, to achieve its profit goal. As the anti-Madden movement continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how the developer responds.
Weak reward system
EA has yet to respond to the strike despite the growing grumbling online.
Players are specifically frustrated with the possibilities regarding packs, which players can purchase in a popular game mode called “Ultimate Team”. In this mode, users build the best possible team by adding player cards to their lineup, which can be obtained through challenges, the online market, or in packs.
Players can save their in-game currency to buy packs, but often the most time-efficient method is to use real money to get them. As a result, packs are basically lottery items in which players take real money and use it to get a random lineup of players.
Players said they will continue to avoid the EA Store until they get a fair value
Many Madden players are frustrated with the prospect of these packs causing the strike. Players have said that they will continue to avoid the EA Store until they get a fair value from the packs.
Zirksee started the hashtag (#packstrike) on Twitter for the movement to rally behind her. One #packstrike follower tweeted data showing the breakdown of his total losses in terms of in-game coins:
EA has yet to respond to the situation, but it will almost certainly have a peeled eye going forward.
Microtransactions in video games
As players continue to hold out in hopes of improving Madden’s lottery system, they’re making huge inroads with their team. Earning coins and upgrading player cards requires much more effort without using packs, which indicates the direction of play as a whole.
The video game industry has generated $15 billion in revenue from microtransactions
The majority of the video game industry has either built or changed its business model to revolve around the use of microtransactions. according to Juniper Researchthe video game industry generated $15 billion in revenue from microtransactions in 2020. Of that, EA generated $1.65 billion in revenue, mostly through packages.
The package system, and more broadly, loot boxes, brought great debate to national legislators. Authorities have debated whether the stolen boxes constitute gambling and therefore need to be regulated.
Two months ago, the UK government chose not to ban loot boxes after a 22-month debate. However, countries like Belgium banned it in 2018, while Spain is considering banning providers from selling to children.
Madden originally received great reviews after its mid-August release. However, as the game progressed, fans started noticing more issues. EA is constantly tuning its games and could come out with an update as the strike continues.
