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# Departing Madden designer calls EA a money-obsessed robot. BREAKING NEWS FROM FORD’S THEATER
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/departing-madden-designer-calls-ea-money-obsessed-robot-breaking-news-fords-theater/
- Published: 2012-12-05T16:02:41.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T14:48:56.000Z
- Description: AJ Dembroski, a designer who worked on the past two iterations of the colossal Madden franchise, went on the Twitter warpath this week after leaving Electronic Arts. Among his contentions: the game’s extremely talented designers are chronically stifled by a pervasive focus on metrics/statistics/numb
- Author: Joseph Bernstein
- Tags: News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/madden_13.jpg)

AJ Dembroski, a designer who worked on the past two iterations of the colossal *Madden* franchise, [went on the Twitter warpath this week after leaving Electronic Arts](http://www.pastapadre.com/2012/12/03/former-madden-developer-speaks-out-regarding-frustrations-and-disappointments?ref=killscreen.com). Among his contentions: the game’s extremely talented designers are chronically stifled by a pervasive focus on metrics/statistics/numbers, that the franchise is hopelessly compromised because EA is a publically-traded company, and that the company sees the *Call of Duty* franchise as their competition for *Madden*. He also memorably writes that working for EA made him miss driving a taxi.

Basically, Dembroski confirms every widely-held stereotype about Electronic Arts, and then does it again, and again, and again: “but seriously… don’t trust EA. Not because they’re bad. They do good by their people, really. But because they’re robotic…Paint by numbers. They see video games as a collection of features. They don’t understand the artistic aspect of it…And they NEVER fucking will. EVER! Nor will any corporate entity.”

He alludes to several features, including a scouting and a legacy mode, that were removed from the game prior to release, presumably at the hands of a slick corporate meddler.

Dembroski’s passion for creativity in AAA gaming is well-taken, and it’s heartening to know there people like him in the big gaming factories. The task of turning *Madden* into a cutting-edge franchise, though, is probably a futile one, and the comparison to *Call of Duty* is instructive. It’s noble but also naive to expect huge corporations to change major and majorly successful products for the better more than is necessary to ensure continued financial success.