EA To PC Gamers: No Madden 09 For You

If you prefer to play Madden on a PC rather than a console, get used to updating those rosters by hand.

EA Sports announced on Tuesday -- and it appears this was not an April Fools joke -- that they would not publish a PC version of Madden 09 and plan to produce only console versions from here on out. EA developer Peter Moore wrote on his blog that it was simply a business move and that EA would look for other ideas for PC football games in the future.

Translation: NFL Head Coach will probably shift to PC. You can just sense our pal MJD's excitement at that, can't you?

On a business level, I understand the decision, but the end result is that the most in-depth version of Madden on the market is disappearing, and because EA has exclusive rights to the NFL and NFLPA licenses, nobody will be producing a new NFL game for PC this year -- an unfortunate hole in the gaming market? Or is this a sign that all sports games are becoming console-only? Are PC gamers too busy fragging each other in Unreal Tournament or leveling up in World of Warcraft?

What do you say, PC gamers? Will you miss Madden for PC? Or are you still playing with hacked Tecmo Super Bowl ROMs on NES emulators?

(H/T: Ars Technica)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-03-2008 @ 8:23PM

Micah said...

They already murdered this year's PC version by basically removing any sort of valid keyboard control scheme - the best you could do was map controller buttons to your keyboard. And since I'm absolutely terrible at using the controller, this didn't help at all.

Between this and the fact that the 2K license murdered baseball on the PC, I'm getting really fed up with these exclusive licenses. Unfortunately, there's absolutely nothing I - or any of us - can do about it.

Joel said...

I'm still mourning the loss of NCAA Football for the PC, and that was almost a decade ago.

This sucks really badly. Hopefully Madden has a group of modders as dedicated as MVP Baseball has.

4-04-2008 @ 7:29AM

tanning lotion said...

What they are saying is that it is not profitable for them. Someone else will step up and fill in the void.

4-04-2008 @ 10:41PM

Chaz said...

Aw Phooey,my daughter always bought my Madden for a birthday present. Guess I'll hint for a new car this year.

4-04-2008 @ 10:25PM

Geoffrey Miller said...

This is the same thing that happened when EA got the NASCAR exclusive license.

There used to be a tremendous NASCAR racing game produced by Sierra and Papyrus that was as real as they come.

EA's arcade games just don't touch it.

Sad.

4-05-2008 @ 12:27AM

triberocks4 said...

I am now truly mad at EA Sports. They took away our baseball game, our football game, and the basketball game they give us is almost beyond repair. Thank god for mvpmods.

4-05-2008 @ 2:24AM

cowmanbh said...

I was looking forward to Madden 09 for the PC. I feel neglected, and I'll bet there are many more PC gamers out there who feel the same. This is an outrage. I have almost lost complete interest in Madden. EA can suck my nuts.

4-05-2008 @ 4:05AM

andyk30 said...

I really hope they don't decide to screw up Tiger Woods while they are at it!!!!!

4-05-2008 @ 9:47AM

Very Annoyed said...

When anybody gets a monopoly on anything, quality and availability goes down hill. it's sad that this is allowed. the best games for all systems come from competition from other companies. they did away with that by getting nfl license. now there is no pc version. they will never seem the same to me or other players of MADDEN. what goes up must come down and this is the beginning of their downfall.

4-05-2008 @ 8:32PM

snood199 said...

That's ridiculous. The PC versions are much better than the console types.

4-09-2008 @ 3:54PM

Darnell said...

It stinks to lose the Madden PC version, my friends,family and I play a fall and winter league using the PC version of Madden because we live up and down the east coast as well as it being one of the ways we stay in touch.Who has 400 dollars to play the only game you want to play on both console and PC.Wow EA please rethink this.Did you take over the rights to take over the PC gamers.Say it's not gonna happen...please.