EA Sports announced that Madden NFL 24 will be a “make-or-break” situation for the company. Madden NFL games have been stale in recent years, it's become obvious that fans are unhappy with the final product. Looking back, not all games in the series were perfect, even the much-praised PS2 era sports games. However; there were elements from those old games that we think should be incorporated into the simulation-football game series. Here's what we'd like to see make a comeback in the Madden NFL series.

Presentation

Since Madden NFL 11, many of the presentation features that were in football video games seemingly disappeared. There's no more live-action halftime and weekly recap shows from Madden NFL 10. The EA Sports Radio Show hosted by Tony Bruno (From Maddens 05-07) is gone, despite Bruno stating he'd come back to do it again, if asked. There's not even a newspaper section, like in Madden 07, which let you read both local and national headlines.

All that's really left nowadays is the flashy cutscene before a football game starts, some draft day commentary, and social media posts. While these things aren't bad, there's a whole lot more EA Sports could be doing to improve.

A sports game series we always look to is the NBA 2K series, which dominates in terms of presentation. The games feature pre, post, and even mid-game interviews with actual NBA personalities. We actually get to see people like Doris Burke on the court and speaking to players. It'd be nice to have just one of these kinds of interviews, even if only a select amount of players or coaches can do them.

Franchise mode, whether it be a GM, Coach, or Player, should have more substance. The FIFA series at least has cutscenes of players working out, Managers meeting with players and their agents, and new players being introduced to the club facility. Madden NFL 24 should incorporate some of this, even if every conversation is contained to text only.

A cool idea too would be to have a whole cutscene for draft day featuring personalities like Mel Kiper Jr., who lists 5-10 players he sees being drafted right away. Super Bowl media days should also be a thing. More should be done to commemorate the bigger moments of the NFL season.

Madden NFL Stat Tracking

Have you ever wanted to see a retired players stats? Has your superstar player retired, but you'd like to go back and see some of their accomplishments? Well in current Madden NFL games that's impossible. Other than the legacy score, which contains championships and yearly awards, there is no career stats page for retired players.

There's also not a good game log stat page. Want to look at Lamar Jackson's game-by-game stats in chronological order? Well then you'll have to go to each game individually in the schedule. It's time consuming, and by the time you're done you may forget what you were looking for in the first place. Want to know a certain player's injury history before signing them? That's impossible too. All you really can see is how many games they played, but that doesn't paint the whole picture.

Offseason moves, like free agent signings, should also show more relevant date to coaches and GMs. You should be able to see how they performed, and how many games they played without having to go to separate pages. Drafting players should also include something similar to create a more authentic NFL experience.

Create a Team/Stadium/Play

Long gone but deserving of a return in Madden NFL is the option to create teams and their stadiums. Madden games used to give you a whole suite of logos to choose from, with different colors and multiple uniforms. You also had the chance to design your own stadium. Players could decide where logos would appear on the field, the setting surrounding the stadium, and how seating arrangements worked out. Nowadays, that's no longer the case.

Madden NFL used to have a create a play feature, too. You could design custom routes for receivers, what kind of blocks the linemen are using, and a simulation to practice said plays. There's arguments that it would be too overpowered for online play, but EA could simply keep it an offline option. Also, considering how a few plays in Madden like Four Verticals has been overpowered for years, it wouldn't be the worst thing to return to the series.

There should be more creation in Madden NFL in general, besides just creating players and their gear. We're glad we can still create superstars, but we'd like to see more customization in the series moving forward.

Coaching Overhaul

There are plenty of things to say here, but we'll keep it down to just a few major points.

Madden NFL should bring back licensed coordinators and other coaching positions, and not just the head coaches. We think it'd be more immersive to see a full fledged NFL staff which includes more than just the rosters. We understand that this may be too much for some players, who just want to play their regular and postseason games. But there should be a little more of a middle ground for people who want a more in-depth football experience.

Head coaches with bad coaching records probably shouldn't remain head coaches. Why not bring back the ability to hire a former head coach as a coordinator? How about former players becoming position coaches and building their way up? Wouldn't it be cool to hire Larry Fitzgerald as a WR coach, then promote him to offensive coordinator, until the moment he takes head coaching reigns?

Games like Madden NFL 09 for the PS2 let you do something similar, and that was almost 15 years ago.

Also, it would be nice to turn your Superstar career player into a coach. Say you play for 15-18 years, who's to say your player can't become a coach for the team you previously played for?

Importing players from EA Sports College Football

EA Sports College Football set to release in summer of 24, and there will likely be a superstar (Road to Glory) mode that accompanies it. If that's the case, then how cool would it be to take that character into next year's Madden title? If it happened in the 360 era with NCAA 14 to Madden NFL 25, it can surely happen now. Heck, if cross-play with other consoles and PC players is possible, then this should be easy.

Also, what are they going to call Madden NFL in 2024? There was a Madden NFL 25 already, but I digress.

What would also be nice is to be able to see a draft day cutscene of that player getting selected. It wouldn't have to be anything crazy. It could even just be them picking up the phone and celebrating. Not much more would really be needed after that, but we're hoping EA Sports breaks out of its comfort circle to go all out with the presentation.

Not related, but we'd also like to see more in-depth college football player scouting. It should be something more than just the “press a button and spend points to see their skill” gimmick we've seen for the last decade.

 

Madden NFL 24 will release sometime near the end of summer 23. If previous games are any indication, than we can expect a late August or early September release. Until then, check out ClutchPoints Gaming for more.