by Andrew on Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:44 pm
There has been speculation about sports games going to a subscription model with a release every few years, but I'm not sure about that. Obviously there's a lot they can do as far as pushing through new content and even fixes, so on one hand, it's feasible. As noted, it would alleviate issues such as starting over from scratch in the career modes. At the same time, I imagine the subscription for updates in between releases wouldn't be that much cheaper than that of a new game (otherwise it's definitely not going to be as profitable), and not releasing a new game every year would have its drawbacks as well.
Consider that while a lot of updates are feasible, there are major changes and fixes that require a brand new release. Imagine getting stuck with a broken/problematic game for two or three years, and having to pay to play it with updated rosters because it's the latest version, for better or worse. It'd be annoying to be stuck with the same story in The One and MyCAREER for multiple years. Likewise, if the game is constantly being updated for the latest season, we'd lose the ability to go back and play from old starting points, as we currently can when we fire up an older title. We'd be losing seasons worth of basketball gaming.
The profits that can be made do make it unlikely in the first place, but even if the option were on the table, I'm not sure I'd want it; for the above reasons, I'm not sure it'd be any better. What I would like to see is more appreciation shown for loyal gamers who do buy the game every year, or at least bought the game the year before. I'd like to see some sort of "returning player bonus" where you can make some quick progress in MyCAREER and MyTEAM if you played the mode last year. Obviously you can't have everything transfer over, but if you could keep some of your top cards or have a significant one-time boost to your MyPLAYER, it'd make it less of a grind and less painful to start over in a new game.
Is it an outdated concept? Yes and no. I think if it were to ever happen, the games would need to get to a point where a release can sustain gamers for at least a couple of years. There'd still be the drawback of losing the old starting point for franchise and career modes though, assuming of course it would be easy enough to change that it an update without causing a whole lot of problems.