EA SPORTS Football GM Cam Weber talks about rumors, vision, and Madden NFL 12By Cris Benson The Fantasy Football Informer
It’s Thursday afternoon and I am sitting in my office at home anticipating a call from Cam Weber the new GM of EA SPORTS football. I have a list of questions that I want to ask him as well as wanting to share one personal grievance. I wanted to cover everything from the recent resignation of Ian Cummings affecting production, the reasons for Madden NFL 12’s new release date, and my personal favorite is defense coming back to Madden! But a funny thing happened during our interview I began to realize that Cam Weber is not just the GM of EA sports football because he is an enthusiastic leader but he is the GM because he is deeply passionate about football just like the rest of us fans.
How passionate is Cam? Just listen to him reminisce about his days playing football for NCAA Division II Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.
“I was a quarterback and captain.” Cam continued, “I played a full career as a college quarterback.” Not only did Cam play the game, but he was also the SFU Clan quarterback coach in 1997.
He cannot contain his love for the sport of football. “I had moments on the field I will never forget.” Cam explained. “…you got the ball in your hands and it is the final two minutes of the game. As quarterback I would come into the huddle and look into the eyes of my offensive line and my team. There is no greater thrill to me.” That same passion and love for football is what brings Cam to EA SPORTS football, and the title of GM is something that he is very proud of as a fan, player, and enthusiast of the game.
Cam was quickly put to the test in his new role. His first challenge: the NFL lockout and the possibility of having no NFL football this fall. When I asked Cam about the lockout and if there was going to be any interruption to Madden NFL 12’s production his response was short.
“Not at all, it’s business as usual. We’re charging ahead.” It is no secret that the lockout is the most significant problem that EA is facing, but that it is not stopping the team at Madden NFL 12 from producing a great game.
But when creative director Ian Cummings announced his resignation last week Friday from EA Tiburon there was immediate Internet speculation that the new release date for Madden NFL 12, that was announced just days prior, was related. I asked Cam if this was true.
“There is absolutely no link between these two events.” Cam described Ian as “talented” and that he would be missed. “We thank him for all the time he put in and all the effort he put into the Madden franchise over the years.”
Cam explained to me that this is common for the industry that they work in, and that video game companies compete for to obtain talented individuals, and that Ian simply pursued another opportunity. The creative director role has been assumed by other designers and Phil Frazier, who is the executive producer for Madden NFL 12, now has the role of coordinating the creative teams involved.
As for the re-release date, it was decided upon long before Cam arrived at Tiburon. The new date was chosen to align with NFL events such as the festive NFL Kickoff week. It simply made sense from a marketing perspective for EA to run their events simultaneously with NFL events.
Even with the loss of a creative director the game has not sustained any lag in production, nor have any of the new additions by the creative team been removed. Cam mentioned that the game is in its alpha phase. Now it is just a matter of playing the game and finding out what needs to be fine-tuned.
I asked Cam if a new creative director would be announced soon, but Cam explained that is not a current priority and instead will be done when the production of Madden NFL 13 begins. That is what makes Cam the leader of the team, because he recognizes a need and addresses it when it is the right time to do so.
As I told you in the beginning I have a personal grievance with Madden NFL 11. The game played like it belonged in an arcade as a form of entertainment rather than a simulated football game for NFL fans. I told Cam that at times it felt like you could just chuck the ball up in Madden 11 and it was an instant TD and Cam recognized my grievance.
“Our defensive secondary play has received a major upgrade this year.” Cam went on to tell me how zone coverage behavior was addressed and that the AI(artificial intelegence) was tuned and given greater depth. “You’re going to see a major change in that (defensive secondary AI) in Madden NFL 12.”
This is what I like about Cam. He gets ‘it’ and addresses the key issues that are of concern to a Madden player when he talks about football.
“Personally I’m a core football guy, and I am excited about the improvements we made to our core game whether it’s the performance of players throughout the course of a game, or the defensive improvements. We’ve also got a pretty big set of additions to the collision system. I think we significantly moved the needle in game play this year.”
During our conversation we spoke about some overall improvements to the Madden 12 game that I am not able to report at this time. Check Madden NFL 12’s official site on Thursday, April 28th, for an announcement of all of the new features that will be released. What I can tell you is that those features are exciting and innovating to say the least.
When Cam first addressed the media in San Francisco he spoke of a three year ‘rolling plan’ which a lot of people misunderstood. The three year plan speaks to deadlines and goals and not to the removal of ideas but instead the building on ideas for the future. This goes back to early in Cam’s career in EA Canada (in Vancouver) where he learned that the gaming industry is built upon these kinds of plans.
Cam was a developer who worked as a producer and executive producer on hit titles such as Fight Night Champions and FIFA 10. This was when he was introduced to the business strategy of building on technology for today while also creating innovative technology for tomorrow’s titles. It is not as simple as when the three years are up the process is starting again from scratch. These are complicated business strategies.
What is certain is that when Cam discusses these strategies his plan has a long term vision for all of EA’s football titles. Just like a GM of a NFL team must be, Cam is aware that the future is just as important as the present. Relying on gimmicks that are inserted one year and removed the next irritates the hardcore fan, and that is who Cam is focused on with EA’s NCAA Football and Madden titles.
“This is a game (Madden NFL 12) that is dedicated to the hardcore fan, which is fundamental to my philosophy on how we will be successful.” Cam continued “Madden 12 is about delivering that experience first and foremost.”
Unless you live under a rock you might not have heard of the Madden NFL 12 cover vote on ESPN Sports Nation (you still have time to vote). EA will be revealing their Madden NFL 12 cover athlete Wednesday, April 27th, and the event will air live at 4pm EST on ESPN 2 Sports Nation.
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