The Madden Monopoly Hurts the NFL.
The lack of innovation for Madden is unfortunately in the developer’s slogan name “It’s in the game.” However, not much has changed with the Electronic Arts series. Before Madden secured the licensing rights to all NFL games in 2005, the professional football league’s gaming products were diverse and elite. Let’s take a trip down memory lane as that was almost twenty years ago. The first football game that I ,as well as many others, was introduced to was Tecmo Bowl which was created by Tecmo in 1991. The complexity of playing Tecmo Bowl was very thin as you really had minimal controls that you had to worry about to play the game. You can imagine and see the 8-bit game having minimal importance on the game, until you miss a tackle or score a touchdown using the directional buttons and two/four button system to start the play or tackle somebody. It was available on Nintendo’s Gameboy and SuperNintendo consoles as well as on Sega’s console.
In comparison to Madden, Midway’s NFL Blitz was significantly different than Madden. NFL Blitz was an arcade-style game that wasn’t the traditional game of football. Imagine a 7 on 7 in full pads with bone-breaking hits and unnecessary roughness is allowed well after the play. I would imagine players like Bill Romanowski (the steroid-user) and Richie Incognito (known for being a dirty player) would've been the prime example of the type of players in this video game. While the NFL Blitz may have been a bit drastic as far as video games, it still has its similarities to the NFL during that era as big hits and targeting weren’t abolished from the NFL yet. The NFL legends such as Ray Lewis and Ryan Clark would have thrived in Blitz as being known for their dismantling hits against NFL offensive players to never want to go over the middle or head-to-head against them. NFL Blitz was released on PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast.
The NFL Quarterback Club series that was created by Acclaim Entertainment for Nintendo and Sega platforms, was one of my personal favorites. Why was it one of my favorites? It focused on quarterback play and that’s one of the things that I liked the most because I played quarterback from elementary to high school. This game had some innovative ideas including meeting in-game statistical objectives throughout the game and other strategic gameplay situations. While maybe not being the best thing to do in focusing on quarterback play, it sure made a great time and emphasized how important quarterbacks are to the game of football.
The largest competition to Madden at the time was the NFL 2k Series. I’m sure some people can’t comprehend that 2K used to have a football gaming series as well. 2K had a backing by ESPN and even ESPN-styled commentary in the video game. 2K had a competitive edge that kept football games evolving by having comparable, if not better, smooth gameplay, unique personal camera angles, and better AI. The game was competitive to Madden at alarming rates and even was cheaper than Madden at $19.99 in comparison to Madden’s $49.99 at the time. NFL 2K was available on Playstation 2, XBox, Sega’s Dreamcast, and Nintendo’s GameCube. Visual Concepts and Sega developers did their big one with the NFL 2K series.
Madden is losing its hold over its consumers due to the lack of innovation and imagination of what should be their best game. NFL Blitz provides an arcade-mode style game that would appeal to gamers that don’t want solely a simulation style game. While Electronic Arts has dabbled in non-simulation sports games with their Street series , they have been short-lived and many are deemed classics upon gamers around the world. Tecmo could possibly do well because of the resurgence of retro gaming. However, it would be a short-lived return. And lastly, a new NFL 2K series game could possibly do well as the 2K basketball series has almost obliterated Electronic Arts’ NBA Live series for their innovation over the years. 2K’s introduction to player styles in basketball can be mimicked to the football arena as well with smoother gameplay, in-game objectives, and updated story modes along with corporate sponsors like ESPN backing the game again.
