About Madden NFL

Madden NFL (known as John Madden Football before 1993) is an American football video game series developed by Electronic Arts Tiburon for EA Sports. The game series is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, a well-known former Super Bowl-winning coach of the Oakland Raiders and color commentator. The games have consistently been a best seller, and has even spawned TV shows where players compete. Among the game's realistic features include sophisticated playbooks and player statistics, and voice commentary that allows players to hear the game as if it was a real TV broadcast.

The series was originally conceived by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, who then approached Madden in 1984 for his endorsement and expertise. Due to Madden's insistence that the game be as realistic as possible, the first version of John Madden Football was not released until 1988. The second version of the game was released in 1990, and annual versions since then. The series' name was changed to Madden NFL in 1993 after EA acquired the rights to use NFL teams and players.

Despite Madden's retirement as a broadcaster in 2009, he still continues to lend his name, as well as provide creative input, for the game.

Overview

As of 2010[update] Electronic Arts has sold more than 85 million copies of Madden NFL since 1988, and as many as two million in one week, for more than $3 billion in total sales. A team of 30 developers and more than 100 game testers works on each new Madden NFL at EA Tiburon in Orlando, Florida. Madden continues to participate in each Madden's development:

He breaks down upcoming rules changes. He brings up concussions, helmet-to-helmet hits and gimmick quarterbacks. A digression on how the Dome Patrol-era Saints used to frustrate Bill Walsh's 49ers teams with short linebacker drops becomes a lecture on the obsolescence of the fullback, which then morphs into a short aside on player character.

The game series is popular among both football fans and players; the latter often complain to Madden and EA about allegedly inaccurate ratings of their abilities, or ask for changes in their in-game appearance. Such complaints began as early as 1990, confusing the broadcaster, who did not contribute the player statistics for that year's version due to lack of time.

Voice commentary

Voice commentary in Madden allows players or watchers to hear the game being called as if it were a real game on TV. For most versions of the game, this commentary was performed by Madden himself and his contemporary broadcast partner. Initially, this was Pat Summerall (Madden's partner during his days at CBS and Fox during the early 1980s on through the early 2000s) until Summerall retired; the role was then filled by Al Michaels, John's broadcast partner on ABC Monday Night Football (2002 – 2005) and NBC Sunday Night Football (2006 – 2008). Madden NFL 08 would end up being the last version to feature Madden's commentary. By that time, he felt that reciting a script covering every single scenario in the game was boring and tedious, but said that in the decision to remove him from game commentary, "I feel that something is being taken away from me". Madden was replaced by Cris Collinsworth as color commentator, who was then paired with Tom Hammond in Madden NFL 09 and Madden NFL 10, and Gus Johnson in Madden NFL 11.