EA Sports has commented on a social media campaign trending earlier this week as fans reported dissatisfaction with the Madden NFL 21 improvements in the popular franchise mode. Earlier this week, the publisher released a blog post outlining the additions and improvements he’s making to the upcoming franchise mode and franchise face of the football sim.
Unfortunately, the changes made to Franchise are minimal, with the addition of new X-Factor skills and an expanded wildcard playoff round. Honestly, it reads like patch notes instead of a new game release. Fans feel that the publisher has been prioritizing Madden Ultimate Team over other key areas of the title, as the card collection mode is a much bigger money order for the company.
In an attempt to appease his community, executive producer Sean Graddy recorded a video message addressing the concerns, noting that the company will listen to the comments and share more information about its plans for the franchise to move forward. It’s a pretty hollow statement that will do little to calm criticism, but at least admit that the publisher has listened to the community’s concerns.
Of course, it remains to be seen if it really acts on the feedback. The franchise has remained relatively static for much of the generation, so it will be interesting to see if the publisher makes a concerted effort to improve this part of the launch as we move forward into the PlayStation 5 generation and beyond.
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