Source: EA Sports / Tiburon / EA Sports Madden NFL 25
A new Prime Video documentary about the iconic football game franchise Madden NFL is being described as a “cautionary tale” while still celebrating one of the most successful sports games on the planet.
In their review of the new Amazon documentary, It’s In The Game: Madden NFL, The Verge breaks down the 4-episode documentary and how it navigates telling the story of how EA’s most successful video game came to be and how it continues to remain so popular.
The documentary tells the story of Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, who has wanted to make a football game since he was a kid. Before John Madden even came aboard, Trips tried and failed to bring then-San Francisco 49ers star QB Joe Montana onboard as a partner, eventually opting for the Hall of Fame football coach.
Madden applied the energy he brings to coaching pro players on the field to the game’s development because he wanted to build a football video game that accurately portrayed the feeling of NFL football.
Like making cuts to a roster, Madden said nah to EA’s original idea of 7-on-7 football for graphical reasons, pushing for it to remain 11-on-11. He also worked on the game’s playbook while obsessing over all the tiniest details, but even with his input, the first game released in 1988 was a hot mess.
The Doc Makes It Clear How Madden Became A Juggernaut
Like any tech start-up, you have to take your losses before you get wins, and that also applies to Madden. The game would go on to become a juggernaut, and the document does point out that EA acquired the NFL license in 2004 as the major reason for that.
In doing so, EA eliminated all of the competition, like the NFL 2K franchise, which was graphically better, felt better, and was cheaper. Being alone at the top is only good for so long because Madden NFL has become a mere shadow of what it used to be.
It’s now a stale product that only focuses on presentation and delivers a carbon copy of weekly NFL games instead of the fun that made it the successful video game franchise it is in the first place.
Following every Madden NFL release, fans, including NFL players, complain and post videos of bugs, which show them being down on the annual product.
Maybe one day Madden can find the endzone again, but we always have EA Sports College Football, which is currently the better option.