#57.3 – The History of the Madden Football Franchise

That One Sports Show

It’s a long and storied franchise and one that’s near and dear to our hearts. This week we took a look at where the greatest football simulation of all-time came from and what changes its seen over the years.

In 1982 Electronic Arts was founded by Trip Hawkins, a young upstart in California that was a computer and strat-o-matic whizz. He was always searching for a way to make the perfect football simulation and in 1984, with developer Joe Ybarra had a meeting with John Madden to see if they could get him to put his name on a football video game.

If you’re unaware, John Madden is not a big fan of technology. He would never fly with his team, opting for a train or bus to take him where he needed to be. The Internet was not something he believed in and really only saw computers as a coaching tool.

The meeting on the train proved to be a tough task for Hawkins and Ybarra as Madden insisted on “11 players or it’s not real,” a phrase that would later be featured on the back of the box. Technical limitation in 1984 proved to make the game slow and overall pretty terrible, with 6 or 7 a side as the optimal number. Madden insisted on 11 per side and Ybarra and Hawkins got to work. Over the next three years the game was developed, a timespan that for most games would be a deathbell, but in 1988 the first version of Madden was released for the Apple II. Joe Ybarra, when looking back on the development process said “All my memories are of pain.”

After the successful launch of Madden, the years and game progressed into eventually what we see today. New technology has allowed for better game mechanics, better graphics and overall a better game. If it weren’t for that meeting on the train and the determination of a football simulation enthusiast, we’d still be farting around with Joe Montana on our screens.

Other Football Video Game Franchises

Joe Montana Football was the only big name rival and Sega wanted to re-brand Madden with the Montana name since Madden was not available for Sega. EA said no in 1990, and Sega did its own thing with Montana and followed the game with 4 sequels. The franchise has been dead since 1995 but is getting a mobile reboot this year.

• NFL Street (2004-2006)
• NFL Blitz (1997-2005, 08, 12)
• Blitz: The League (05, 08 dabbled in “League”, unaffiliated with the NFL – had players like “Mike Mexico”)
• Mutant League Football 1993 – EA
• ESPN NFL 2k5 (triggered EA to buy exclusive rights)
• Backbreaker was supposed to be the golden boy in 2010

With EA taking over football, there’s clearly a breakdown of sports video games and people in charge of those. For example, EA has corner of the market on football, futbol, golf, UFC and boxing. 2K Sports has taken over basketball and Sony has baseball on lock with MLB “The Show”.

EA first got a license for Madden in 1995. All previous versions, 1988 and up had random player names. We live in a much better time.

Some Failed Madden Features

I’ll give EA credit, they definitely try out a lot of different concepts when coming out with a new version of Madden. Somehow they’ve managed to be less stale than Call of Duty and the yearly release. They don’t always get it right though. Here are a few features that we’re glad are gone.

The QB vision Cone (06) – The triangle of death that comes out of your QB helped make more accurate passes, but it just didn’t feel right.
Madden IQ Test (09) – Step right up and see how dumb you are. Don’t be shy, Madden will tell you instead of letting you just pick the level.
Rewinds – This was one of the cheapest systems ever added to Madden and probably the end of several friendships. Something bad happen in the game? No problem, just rewind it. Be gone Cheaty McCheater!
Create a fan (05, 06) – Yes, because nothing screams time consumption for something not heavily featured like creating your own fan.

Best features no longer available

With as many bad features as they’ve added and removed, there were bound to be classic features that they had in the game that were sadly stripped out. These are some features we wish EA would bring back.

Create a Play (2003) – This system allowed me to recreate my entire high school football playbook. Wishbones, offset lines, it was the best.
Superstar Mode (06) – Living the life of an NFL player, a total simulation of the experience was available all of one year. The story mode is a feature in FIFA 17 and has been around in the NBA 2k games for a bit now.
Create a team (2002) – You could use different logos, create new color schemes, the whole nine yards (football punssss), but the NFL saw a possibility for folks to abuse the system and nixed it.
Ambulance comes on the field to remove injured players (1992) – Some called it classless, but it’s better than watching a guy roll around on the ground.
Helmet-popping off hits (2006) – The NFL put the kibash on this feature, deeming it too violent.

Call it like you see it

For a while John Madden’s voice was widely used in the game, but 2009 marked the last time his golden vocal chords and “BAM”s would grace our ears. Gus Johnson was featured in 2010 (my favorite, Geoff’s least favorite) and then heavily featured Jim Nantz and Chris Collinsworth.

On exiting the booth in 2009 Madden said it was to boring and tiring to stay in a booth and cover every scenario. Never much for technology he’ll still make millions on royalties as the Madden franchise rolls on.

Fun Fact: Madden, running a simulated game, has predicted 9 of the last 13 Super Bowl winners and the point differential 4 times.

#57.1 – Athletes of the Week and Which Kobe is Best
#57.2 – Football This and Football That
#57.3 – The History of the Madden Football Franchise
#57.4 – Farewell Rio, Hello Tokyo: An Olympic-sized Goodbye