Madden producer David Ortiz leaves EA Tiburon

by James Ransom-Wiley { Feb 6th 2008 at 7:30PM }

The 'other' David Ortiz, the EA veteran who worked his way up the ranks to lead producer of Madden for Xbox 360 and PS3, has left EA Tiburon, reports 1UP. While inside sources cite "family reasons" for Ortiz's departure, rumor 'round the water cooler tells of a growing fracture between Ortiz and the mysterious inner workings of the studio. (We can totally see how ordering the peons to copy/paste game code from year to year could lead to, um, dissatisfaction.) "David's been a valuable part of our team at EA Tiburon, and we wish him the best," EA said in a statement.

Thankfully, one man's loss is another's gain, and Tiburon producer Phil Frazier will ~~move into the batter's box~~, erm, take over as lead for Madden NFL 09 – Frazier most recently struck out as a developer for the ill-received NFL Tour.

Tags: david-ortiz, ea, ea-tiburon, madden

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

XanthouS @ Feb 6th 2008 7:47PM

Like a rat deserting a sinking ship.

FrankTheCrank @ Feb 6th 2008 7:54PM

EA...how about 60FPS on the next PS3 version of Madden...that would be a nice start.

rv @ Feb 6th 2008 9:27PM

Also, not sucking would be good too.

Durandel @ Feb 6th 2008 8:42PM

Well, this proves that EA at least HAD some intelligent developers :P

Donald @ Feb 6th 2008 8:58PM

Guess I should cancel that order of champagne, then.

arty @ Feb 6th 2008 9:18PM

Hilarious picture.

itouchmyself @ Feb 6th 2008 10:03PM

Maybe Madden will be good now. NAHHHHHHHHH!

Deck @ Feb 6th 2008 10:33PM

Well at first I thought maybe this was a good thing... reading that he was leaving.

Then I changed my mind. That Frazier guy... NFL Tour... yea no thanks. This sucks.

DCBlack @ Feb 7th 2008 9:33AM

I would give him a chance. Maybe he couldn't do well with a contrived formula like Tour, but hopefully he's got some good ideas on how to improve the Madden series. I hope...

facepalm @ Feb 7th 2008 2:03PM

change what? The 1UP article even praises Madden 08, and drops the fact that they thought it was good. I don't see how an internal developer is going to change the game when it makes plenty of money as is.

EA is more about cash and making madden for the mainstream than actual innovation.