EA and the NFL…WAKE UP!!!!
Dear Electronic Arts (EA):
I have been playing your games since I was 3-4 years old, thanks to having an older brother who is seven years older than me, renting Bulls vs. Blazers, PGA Tour Golf, NHLPA ’93, and Madden ’93 for the Super Nintendo, from a now-defunct video rental store in New Bern, NC called Video Views. Although they’re the inferior versions, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) playing them.
It wasn’t until around 2000-01, that I became a really hardcore fan of yours. That’s when the PlayStation 2 came out and you guys did a spectacular job with Madden NFL 2001, NHL 2001, SSX, and NBA Street Vol. 1. I remember the days coming home from school and plugging in that PlayStation 2 or sometimes, the Super Nintendo and hearing “E…A…Sports…It’s in the Game!” knowing that I would be in such a treat.
Madden NFL 2001 Intro
Fast forward to 2020. The NBA Live series is on life support. NHL and FIFA are decent. But, Madden on the other hand…It is a “Hot @#$ mess…It’s pretty much NOTHING” (sounding like Six Nine on a Beyond Scared Straight episode – y’all remember that show on A&E that took troubled kids to a jail tour back in 2011-15)? Lazy development, a copious amount of microtransactions, which cause children to commit Credit Card fraud before they even reach 18, jagged animations and I could even go on and on. EA, you have raised the bar so low that even IGN gave you a “6.”
YouTuber RyanMoody21 explains a whole lot, especially when he discusses Madden 21 “basically an unfinished product,” refusing to “fix this game yearly.”
There’s a reason why the retro game scene is ascending. There’s a reason why people still compare ESPN NFL 2K5 to every Madden since 06 (the first year EA had exclusive NFL rights). There’s also a reason why people go further back to the Nintendo Entertainment System games “Tecmo Bowl” and “Tecmo Super Bowl”. These games are so legendary, that they are considered the best sports games of all-time, thanks to their outstanding gameplay and high replayability.
The National Football League ought to be ashamed for themselves for extending the NFL exclusive contract until 2026…Well, you might wanna void that once 2K Sports makes an arcade NFL game and don’t be surprised that they could outsell Madden.
Going back even further, in 2004, EA and the NFL should be ashamed for themselves for signing that exclusive deal with the NFL. EA did this despicable act because a $20 game (ESPN NFL 2K5) was outselling them and cost a fraction of the price of Madden NFL 2005, which is considered the greatest Madden ever. One anonymous executive for EA was saying, “It scared the hell out of us,” meaning that a bargain-priced game was cutting into their profit, that they sold it for $30.
Electronic Arts and the NFL…Please get it together, ASAP, because Madden 21 has negative reception and many people are starting to realize that the once-proud football video game franchise has fallen off. You have held the monopoly for way too long and it’s time for y’all to wake up!
Signed, a disgruntled sports gamer who often goes back to the days when sports video games (and video games in general) were actually fun to play.