Written by Tyler Menssen
What is it like to make Madden video games for a living? Seems like a great job filled with fun, excitement, and the chance to meet a lot of interesting people. Seems like a lot more play is involved than work. According to the
EA Assistant Producer Matt Frederick those assumptions are not far off. Ever since he played Madden 92 Matt has wanted to work for
EA. He got his wish as a tester for Madden 2003 and has since worked his way up to being a producer. His job involves playing Madden, watching NFL films, and talking to coaches and players from the NFL. There must be a catch, right? That catch involves long hours at the job and the pressures that come with making each Madden better than the last. Matt, however, rarely dwells on that pressure. For him working at
EA is a dream come true.
Many of us know what it is like to work in a cubicle and stare at a computer all day long. When Matt described what he most liked about his job he started by saying, “Think about this, I have two flat screen monitors in my cube for my computer, a nineteen inch television, a PlayStation 2, a DVD/VCR player, and some trophies from winning Madden tournaments before I started working here.” Only after detailing his gadgets and trophies did he mention the “cool guys” that are his coworkers. That is some cubicle. Most of us would give an arm and a leg to have all of that stuff in our homes, much less in our office.
The work Matt does varies depending on the time of year. He described his pre-production days by saying that he spends his time “in brainstorming meetings coming up with ideas and watching a lot of football to see what we can take from the real NFL and put in the game.” During the Alpha season, their busy time of the year, he says that he “spends about eight to sixteen hours sitting with one of our gameplay programmers, tuning anything from catches to defensive backs’ awareness on the deep ball.” To make sure that the game is playable after making all of the tweaks and additions Matt spends as many hours as he can playing games with coworkers, testers, programmers. “The only real way to make sure the game is in good shape is to just play like you would have bought it off the shelve.”
His hours per week range from about forty to fifty in the pre-production season to as many as eighty during the production season. The long hours can be cumbersome at times however he doesn’t mind them too much. “I absolutely love to be here.” Besides the long hours there are also the stresses of “being held to such a high standard.” Matt knows that the consumers expect them to put out the best football game every year. He says that the combined pressures of having to put out the best football game and the fact that there are millions of critics out there are “huge responsibilities.” However whenever the stress gets to him he steps back and tells himself “I work on Madden as the gameplay producer. I’ve wanted a job like that since I started playing Madden 92.” In other words, he works on Madden for heaven’s sake, what can be better than that?
One greatest parts of the job for Matt is the chance to be introduced to and talk to superstars such as Michael Vick. For his most memorable moment while working at
EA, he tells this story about his first meeting with a past cover guy. “Two years ago when Michael Vick was our cover guy he came in and took a tour of the studio. I was at that time writing the commentary for Madden and NCAA. I wasn’t the gameplay producer just yet, but as I was walking by our studio GM Steve Chiang introduced me to Vick as the best Madden player at Tiburon. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was pretty cool to meet Vick like that.”
Matt did have a past life before the video game world reeled him in. Prior to becoming a Madden tester he worked at various jobs including being a shoe shiner at a golf course, a stockbroker, and a pest control salesman. Besides working on Madden, Matt also spent some time writing commentary for NCAA 2004. His favorite games to play are NCAA and Madden. He also likes other sports games, but didn’t mention any names. Interesting problems do arise, however, when playing a released game while working on an unreleased game. He explains, “When I was working on 05, but 04 was already out, I would find myself trying to ‘hit stick’ people in 04. It didn’t work that well.” Chalk it up as one of those horrible hazards of the job.
It’s an excellent and rewarding job to work for
EA. Matt has few complaints. All year long he gets to live, breath, and play football. His workplace PlayStation 2 and computer screens get plenty of action. Matt still has a few goals he would like to accomplish such as heading his own Madden team, but with the great guys ahead of him he knows that spot will only come with time. For those of you who want to get in with
EA Matt offers this advice. “If you want to be a programmer, get your computer engineering degree and learn C++. If you want to be a producer, try to get in as a tester somewhere.” That’s how he did it. In just a matter of a few years he has gone from tester to assistant producer. He’s loved every minute of the ride.
