Both he and Tom Brady, the latter who was also the cover athlete of Madden NFL 18, shared the cover of Madden NFL 22, released after both men appeared in Super Bowl LV, which Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 20, eventually broke the 'curse' when he would go on to win Super Bowl LIV, as well as the game's MVP award, on February 2, 2020. Sega and 2K were parted from the NFL license shortly thereafter fortunately for the latter, their 2K series of NBA games is still quite popular.Īlso of note is the Madden Curse, which has felled some of the great football players of the last decade, and was famous enough to have its own page on this wiki before it was decided to be cut.

note Remember Sega and 2K selling their NFL game for only $20? The NFL was pissed about that, believing nothing carrying the NFL logo should be presented as a 'discount product'.

While many people blamed EA for buying out the license because they couldn't handle competition, the truth is that the NFL was going to give one franchise or the other exclusivity the venerable Madden franchise simply won the bidding war. The most notable incident happened in 2005, when it was announced that the Madden games would be the only football games allowed to use current NFL players and teams for (at least) the next few years. Still, the franchise has some detractors (mainly because, by this point, they've run out of things to add, so the latest sequels are more like roster updates). It's praised for its realistic level of play, to the point where the latest edition is frequently used to predict the outcome of big games up to and including the Super Bowl.

The game that brought video football into the 21st century.ĭeveloped by Electronic Arts, John Madden Football, later shortened to simply Madden NFL, is the namesake of coaching legend John Madden, an American Football game based on the National Football League that has, since 1988, been released annually, and always falls among the top sellers of gaming each year.

Madden 08 pc windowed mode