It's in the Game: The Madden NFL Saga

David Pierce, with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech, takes us on a journey through the three-decade history of Madden NFL in this new four-part documentary on Prime Video. It's not just a story of success but also of how Madden lost its way and what it means for the future.

Unraveling the Madden NFL Mystery

The Birth of a Franchise

Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins had a dream of making a football video game since childhood. He initially pursued NFL superstar Joe Montana but turned to the iconic John Madden instead. Madden's unwavering push to make the game feel like real NFL football led to the release of the first Madden game in 1988, although it was a mess initially. But the franchise took off in the following years.Madden, who passed away in 2021, became a mythical figure, with people comparing him to Steve Jobs. Current and former EA executives were always striving to build a game that "Coach" would like.

The Cultural Impact and Making of Madden

The documentary spends a lot of time on the cultural impact of Madden. We see how the team reverse engineered a Sega Genesis to make Madden run on the console without a license. We get a behind-the-scenes look at the development of motion-capture technology and the work of in-game announcers. There was a constant battle between fixing bugs and exploiting them. Player ratings were a hot topic, and it was all good tech nerdery and fan service.

The Quest for a Good Game

Despite all the efforts to make Madden more realistic, the question remains: what makes a good game? EA seems to focus only on fidelity, but fans have been asking for new ideas. Superstar mode has been a hit, but the game needs more. The early years of Madden had a different perspective, and now TV football has changed to look more like Madden. But recent years have seen a focus on "physics-based tackling" that some fans find lacking.

The Rise and Fall of Competition

In 2004, EA secured an exclusive license with the NFL, eliminating its competitors. This led to a period of dominance for Madden, but it also meant the end of the drama. From 2005 to the present, there's been little to say as Madden just kept doing what it did.The release of Madden NFL 25 was framed as a moment of victory, but with a Metacritic score of 70 and a 2.8 user score, it felt disingenuous. Another EA game, College Football 25, came back in 2024 and made Madden seem even worse.Three and a half decades later, Madden remains a juggernaut, but only until the NFL allows another game to challenge it. The last time there was competition, Madden was at its best, and gamers are eager to see what happens next.It's in the Game is streaming now on Prime Video, inviting us to explore the fascinating world of Madden NFL.