How Madden can finally fix his franchise mode

On Twitter for the past few days, #FixMaddenFranchise has been trending: during a global pandemic, in the midst of a contentious election and protests against racial injustice, and as sports will finally resume.

People love Madden. Or they love to hate Madden. Or they hate having to love Madden. That’s because the game has been, well, calling it pretty harsh in recent years.

The game released a list of new features for its upcoming 2021 game a few days ago, and to put it bluntly, fans were pretty pissed off.

All of the “improvements” mentioned above could have been fixed in a quick update to Madden ’20. And while fans of the game certainly buy it for its relatively deep online modes (like Madden Ultimate Team and Knockout Superstar), and its occasionally enjoyable solo mode (Longshot), the staple of the game is its franchise mode.

Understandably, the game has focused almost all of its efforts on its online content, where you can make money from “microtransactions.” Madden hasn’t really changed this mode in seven years, and it’s become outdated and downgraded. It’s time for a review. Fans deserve it, and guess what, EA Sports – they’re willing to pay, too.

Here are five suggestions of what we think would give NFL fans what they deserve, and how Madden should strive to improve, looking back on his past:

Training ground

In 2004 Madden launched his mini-camp modes – position-specific training exercises that helped you improve your players in the regular season. I myself remember staying up all hours of the night, a high school student with nothing else to do, trying to get a gold in each exercise.

Drill offers did not improve, but remained in the game until 2013 when they disappeared, never to return.

This would surely excite football fans. The current franchise doesn’t have, well, any training ground, just four preseason games that 95% of players simulate.

Give us a little depth

Madden 20, and 19, and 18, and … well, all versions since 2013 have been boring. It has been generic. The game mode has felt like the most basic of what had to be done to finish the game on time. It is like a ‘C’ student.

But the game was not always like this. In the past, the game has shown that you can dig deeper with player analysis and provide a feel of the game that seems authentic and new every time it is played.

Other sports games have shown that they can do this, too. The Show’s MLB franchise, which contains flaws of its own to make sure, is incredibly deep. It offers excellent exploration, excellent business logic, and a level of control that embarrasses Madden.

Make it customizable

Speaking of embarrassing Madden, does anyone here play NBA2K? The franchise mode there is absolutely amazing. They have eraser classes dating back to 1960 to import, so you can literally replay history. They’ve expanded records (including postseason and team records) and keep track of everything. They have five years of tradable draft picks, deep lead scouting, and a really deep offseason with loads of homework and features.

But where NBA2K really does make things fun, it’s a fully customizable team move. In Madden, the franchise mode offers relocation, but cities are restricted as are team names (and have been identical for years). In the NBA, you can literally move anywhere and have any name as a pet. MLB The Show adopted this for their 2020 game. Reaching the Madden Times.

Refresh the eraser, exploring

This has been a complaint of mine for years, as both the fantasy draft and the rookie player draft have not changed for nearly a decade (seriously!). Franchising, when you hit the offseason and the draft, it’s pretty much the first round or the fall. The game has almost no layered consequence players in the later rounds. There are few hidden players with X factor, or even players with superstar or rapid development.

There should be a way to find last minute gems. Not every fourth assailant should be a 62 player overall. There is a way to make it much more realistic and enjoyable. Hitting the browse button for the first muggers and then randomly picking up the ones you hope are good is realistic, but not in a good way. There should be better information and exploration. It would lift the entire game mode.

Repair the sim engine

This is another selection of nits, and one that could easily be fixed for Madden 2021. The statistics are, well, somewhat out of place. Here is an example, based on a seasonal simulator posted by a Twitter user:

Current QB 2019 statistics

As you can see, almost all QBs have a 70% completion rate in Madden. Only Derek Carr did that in 2019. Almost all the simulated quarterbacks had a ridiculously impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio. The NFL has changed and the sim engine has not kept up. It will certainly add to the realism of the game if the statistics reflect reality.

This doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult …