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John Madden made his first video game football appearance on the PC twenty years ago, with EA shipping on the Apple II, Commodore 64, and DOS platforms. However, Madden won't be making an appearance on the PC this year, as EA has decided to go forward with console and handheld versions only for Madden NFL 09. Furious? Perhaps the soothing words of Peter Moore will tame you, gamer beast.
He says on his official EA blog that the PC "presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii." Moore goes on to say that Madden isn't the only PC effort being scrapped, but lines the whole thing with a bit of spun silver, writing that "We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform, and we'll continue to explore those."
The news doesn't seem to be sitting well with PC-only Madden players, who suggest that EA Sports "EAT A ***" though we're not sure what that means. Another commenter asks "WFT Peter? NO PC??", suggesting that Peter "needs grow some balls instead of hair!" which certainly gives us a lot to think about.
Obviously, EA likes to make money and would take the cancellation of a key franchise on an extremely popular platform seriously. We just have to wonder how profitable it was becoming to continue support for Windows-only virtual footballers.
