Three separate covers are coming in a tribute to the NFL legend
It’s not the only way EA is paying tribute to the man who has fronted the ubiquitous Gridiron sim since its 1988 inception. It’s calling today (June 1) Madden Day, and dedicating a renovated field at EA HQ in Redwood Shores as ‘John Madden Field’. June 1 was the original release date of that very first game in the series, 34 years ago.
There’s also an ‘interactive experience’ dedicated to Madden in the new game. Two versions of Coach Madden lead opposing teams of All Madden athletes, who go head-to-head in the 1970s Oakland Coliseum. Remastered audio clips of the great man also feature as part of this bespoke mode.
“There are people on the team here who, until quite recently, used to go to Coach’s house annually to review the game,” senior producer Mike Maher tells GamesRadar. “There is a deep connection [among the team] to him as a person. And he stands for authentic eleven-vs-eleven football. That caused us to go back and look at what inspired Coach, and EA, to partner originally.”
We’ll have more on those Madden-inspired new gameplay features tomorrow (June 2), and a Madden 23 release date is also expected imminently.
Source: gamesradar.com
