Madden 09 Online Plagued by Problems

After the disastrous online play of last year it was going to be important to see how Madden 09 performed right out of the gates. The only additions to online this year were the “leagues” and having random weather. So overall performance had to be a focus. While lag was an issue last year it was disconnects that caused the most headaches. In fact my first 17 attempts with 08 ended in disconnects. In regards to what EA was doing about it I was told that four engineers were dedicated to making sure online play ran well this year which represents a significant effort.

How is 09 doing so far? Disconnects are happening frequently (late game field goals seem to be the biggest culprit) and PS3 users are having their games freeze when they attempt to enter lobby rooms. Both of these issues are serious enough to really damage any enjoyment to be had with online. While the games have been relatively lag free they don’t seem to be quite as responsive as NCAA 09 and have an overriding sluggish feeling.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on how online is performing for you in the comments. While it is early in release these problems still shouldn’t be happening. I will update if I hear details on what is being done to address them.

Update: The lobby freezing issue should now be fixed.