Madden 26 drops in a little over a week. I’m excited, but there’s some cautious optimism around two key new Franchise Mode features.
The team at EA is set to deliver a version of Madden Franchise that could be the best we’ve ever seen—all things considered. I’m basing this on expectations born from what I know about the franchise historically, what I’ve seen in previews, what I’ve heard from those with hands-on experience, and what I’ve read in the deep dives.
My confidence level in most of those things is strong, but I’d say I have the least confidence in the information inside the deep dive. It’s not that I doubt Madden 26 will have what it says it will have. I wonder if some of the features will carry enough depth to still feel like features once we see it.
There are two features that have me both worried and excited. Finally, EA is said to be delivering a legitimate halftime show with highlights and coherent value to Franchise Mode experiences.
Trust me, I know—Ultimate Team players could care less about a halftime show, but to us hardcore Franchise Mode players, this has been a long time coming.
My only issue at this point is that we haven’t seen the halftime show revealed. We know NFL Network’s Scott Hanson is voicing the feature, but we haven’t seen it in action. In the Franchise Mode deep dive, EA tells us:
“You’ll see highlights from across the league in the Halftime Report, bringing the world around you to life in Franchise mode. It doesn’t end with CPU highlights. For the first time in any NFL video game, you’ll also see your friends’ highlights appear at halftime in a multi-user online league. When a friend’s highlight is chosen for the show, their customized Player Card will appear on-screen. If it’s a highlight from a game with two other players in your online league, you’ll see each of their player cards. One of the most exciting elements of our Halftime Report is the host, Scott Hanson. Who could be better to speak about games around the league than the beloved host?!”
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This all sounds great. How could it not be as it appears? I don’t know, but I think that something this potentially cool should have been shared in the form of a video on TikTok, YouTube, IG or something. All we really have is a blurred photo from the Halftime Report of a Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals game.
I read the paragraph, but I need to see it to feel it.
The other feature is tied into this one, and I’ll be honest—I’m shocked this got into the game. The Weekly Wrap-Up Show is a dream come true for me—at least conceptually. As I mentioned with the Halftime Report, how is EA not showing us a glimpse of this in action?
This seems like golden footage that could be good to secure more than a few pre-order purchases. However, here we are, August 1, and the game is ready to hit for early access on August 7, and we’re still guessing about how this will look when the game is live.
I’m taking EA at their word, but I’m also hoping the final version isn’t too small to make an impact.
