John Madden died unexpectedly on Tuesday, December 28, leading EA's Madden NFL fans to mourn his passing across social media, commemorating his influence on the Madden NFL sports franchise. The 85-year-old Hall of Fame coach and legendary broadcaster was an iconic face in NFL, moving from coaching to sports commentary and broadcasting, and garnering fame for his exuberance on camera. For video game fans, Madden pioneered one of the most popular sports franchises in history.
The Madden NFL series dates back to 1988 when EA asked John Madden to endorse its NFL video game. Under Madden’s guidance, EA released John Madden Football on the Apple II and later ported it to the MS-DOS and the Commodore 64. After its success, EA and Madden went on to produce a series of sequels to the Madden NFL franchise, including four games under the “John Madden Football” title, as well as 32 mainline Madden NFL games, among others. What interested Madden in the games was Madden NFL’s ability to educate players on the game of football since the Madden NFL games utilize real strategies. After three decades, the series has garnered a massive fanbase.
Across social media, Madden NFL fans are mourning the loss of John Madden following his unexpected death. “Sad to hear that legendary sports icon John Madden passed today,” said one fan, “I will always associate his name with EA’s video game series.” Another fan wrote that they were “saddened to hear of the passing of the legendary football coach and commentator, John Madden.” They went on to explain that “many of us in the UK first learned of him through his collaboration with EA, crafting an amazing franchise that really made American football more accessible to us all.” As the driving force behind the Madden games, the icon's passing has resonated with countless social media users.
Since the launch of Madden NFL 06, Madden NFL has been NFL’s official game, having solidified support from both the NFL and its players’ union. From 1999 to 2004, Madden NFL competed against NFL 2K, which released six titles before EA signed an exclusive rights agreement with the NFL. In 2020, that deal was renewed, maintaining the company’s reign as the only officially licensed football simulation game. No other developer can utilize real player names, team uniforms, or stadiums. Much of this success is due to John Madden and his influence over the game, having originally insisted that there be 11 players on each team, despite the technical challenges it produced in the late 80s.
John Madden’s influence led to a massively popular video game franchise. Though Madden NFL 21 was plagued with bugs and lacked meaningful changes, Madden NFL 20 is deemed one of the greatest in the series, and Madden NFL 22 took steps to improve the formula after its predecessor’s subpar launch. It’s unclear if EA will continue to develop Madden NFL games following John Madden’s death, but it can be argued that EA’s iconic franchise would not be here without the influence of the legendary Hall of Fame coach.
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