Madden NFL, in some form and by some name, has existed since the late ’80s. Developers have released roughly 50 games in that time, making it the most iconic annual franchise in video game history, not to mention one of the best-selling.Madden NFL 26releases later this year, and Game Rant recently attended aMadden NFL 26event in Orlando, Florida.
At the event, Game Rant spoke with executive producer Mike Mahar about the differences made this year, how the team is now jugglingMadden NFLandEA Sports College Football, how the community is involved year in and year out, and ultimately what it’s like to work with such a longstanding legacy.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Madden NFL 25 vs. Madden NFL 26
Q: During the presentation, we heard about a lot of changes from last year, but I wanted to see what you think are the biggest differences between last year’s game and this year’s?
A:We broadly changed or added features and depth everywhere, but I would say the biggest areas of focus and change are in the core, per team, per quarterback, per player, withthe gameplay driven by the AI and 10 years' worth of dataand thousands of thousands of players. If you’re playing against AI, you’re going to see a dramatic difference between the teams you play, as well as the core gameplay stuff we changed to make the game smoother, more responsive, faster, and the physics as well. That’s pillar one, the gameplay.
Pillar two is the presentation elements. Yeah, we added two additional broadcast teams last year, for a total of three, but we added four new broadcast packages this year. We have weekly recaps inFranchise mode, the half-time report presentation. Scott Hanson’s coming on board, which is amazing, and he’s a great guy to work with. Then all the run-outs, and I’m probably missing something. I don’t want to include weather in presentation because it’s gameplay-impacting, and we still have work to do on it. But I’m really excited to play Franchise mode or Super Star in a heavy snow or rain game. It’s going to feel really different and run, and I think engaging and challenging in a new way.
The third biggest change is with Franchise, and I mean, we said it’s the biggest Franchise update in a decade. Regardless of its size, I think it’s how the changes were made that matter and how it’s going to change how you play, how it’s presented, and then what all that means for the future of the mode because we get to build on all that stuff as well. I’d say those are the three biggest areas: gameplay, presentation, and Franchise. That said, we made changes in Superstar, Online,Ultimate Team, and all the visual stuff; it’s really endless.
Q: A few of the changes are also coming to College Football, so I was wondering if you could speak to the relationship between the development teams and how y’all coordinate improvements between Madden and College?
A:So, we call it the American football gameplay team. We call it American football because EA makes another football game, which we will also just call soccer going forward between you and me. We make a soccer game, but we have a football gameplay team that makes football for College and Madden. There’s such a thing as core fundamental football. Not to sound like an NFL coach, Mike Tomlin, or Coach Madden, but this is football. We’re talking about football, so there are a bunch of core changes we make like the stunts and twists, the gameplay speed stuff, calling the zone coverage. This is stuff that’s just football, and with a bigger team because we make two games, we can really attack more of all that.
What we do there is because we selfishly want to make two amazing products you play all year round. We just want you playing College and Madden all year. That’s what we want. to do that, they have to be both amazing and different, right? Luckily, some real differences between college and the NFL make both games fun, unique, strategic, and visceral, so that’s how we attack it. We say, what are our players saying in each game? How close are we to the best simulation of the sport inall sports gaming? What is common between them, and what do we need to separate and make as unique as possible?
It’s a very strategic partnership, well actually not even a partnership. It’s one team trying to figure out how to do both those things simultaneously, and we’ve been doing it for a year and a half. Obviously, you can probably imagine that year one was getting College out the door, so it was pretty college-focused, right? That was necessary to get that right, but moving forward, we have the velocity and capability of using this giant, really talented team to bring their expertise to both games.
Q: Would you happen to have any sort of rough estimate on the percentage of changes in the game this year that come directly from community requests?
A: Oh, geez. Well, the immediate answer is high. It’s certainly at least half, if not more. Some of their requests are not so much novel, new ideas, but they come from a place of playing the game and not seeing a thing in College or Madden that they would normally see. It’s stuff that’s not affecting the game in a way they’d expect if playing in theNFLthat’s true to the sport, so we go after those things. You’re here, you’re on the ground, so it’s easier to communicate this to you than it is on the internet or social media. We really do listen because we want to overdeliver on player expectations. Players are rightfully so demanding, sometimes even cynical, and that’s fine, but we are in every space that they’re in, whether it’s the bowels of Reddit, Twitch, Discord, or YouTube. I’m an old-school operation sports guy, so even in the backwater message boards, I’m in all those spaces just trying to figure out ways to surprise them and ensure players have a great experience.
But also, this team is super talented. You saw Boat’s presentation and I played football, but not at Boat’s level for sure, right? He’s an NFL Super Bowl-winning player who provides insight into the game that almost none of our players are capable of. Very few people know what he knows, right? That’s the advantage of having a team that can actually impact the game in ways that are unique to our team.
Q: How do you sift through feedback and determine what was made in good faith and may be actionable versus someone who is just mad and acting in bad faith?
A:I have always believed, having played sports, that all feedback is a gift. There’s some truth in everything, right? You just have to be, and I hate to use this word, but emotionless about feedback. You sift through it all, read everything, read the rants, read the most visceral posts, and see what the truth is in it. Sometimes there’s not a lot, sometimes there is, so you have to do your best to prioritize that stuff in a way that enables us to deliver on it every year.
The Madden Legacy
Q: Madden has been around for a long time, so how does that impact your approach to new innovations, new features, and adding to the game year after year when you have to consider the long history of this franchise?
A:Most of the game team is obviously aware of it, including myself. I’ve been on Madden for three and a half, four years. I’ve been playing since I was 12, so I think I’m well aware of it. I would say we leverage our heritage, our tradition, and the things that make Madden ‘Madden’ to most of our audience. We are constantly looking at the market and constantly looking at what the player feedback is, and we are trying to not just overdeliver on expectations but truly innovate in ways that surprise players. We’ve got a couple more tricks up our sleeves on how we’re going to do that, but we want to be thebest sports gameon the market, unequivocally along with College, and you’re able to’t do that unless you surprise, delight, and innovate in a space beyond player expectations, especially when you’ve been around for 30+ years.
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