There are certain video game franchises that are so big, you can’t deny their popularity even if they’re not your cup of tea. A prime example of this is “Madden NFL.” Electronic Arts’ (EA) premiere American football series has been pumping out games every year for over three decades. Depending on who you talk to, its either beloved, or a shadow of its former self. Either way, its history has been turned into a documentary series that’s available to watch right now on Amazon’s Prime Video.
The late, great John Madden was one of the greats. He spent his years as a coach with the Oakland Raiders (now the Las Vegas Raiders) before spending the next several decades as one of the most recognizable sports commentators in the history of the medium. His winning record and ubiquitous presence around the sport led to him being sought after to be the name of a video game football series.
“It’s in The Game: Madden NFL” is a four-part documentary that dives into the history of the series, and what it took to get Madden’s name attached to it. We talked a bit about John and his legacy after he passed away in 2021. Football was a big part of his life, but educating people about sports was also a huge part of it as well. Madden was as much a teacher as he was a coach or broadcaster and he didn’t take having his name attached to something very lightly.
Back in the early days of video games, it was pretty common to have a sports figure slap their name on a game and not have any part in it. This is what led to mediocre fodder like Lee Trevino‘s Fighting Golf or outright stinkers like Bill Laimbeer‘s Combat Basketball. Madden didn’t want that to happen under his watch and that’s a big part of what led to the original John Madden Football having a difficult production cycle before releasing in 1988. Once the title released for consoles in 1990, the production train has rolled right along across every console generation.
Sometimes it can be hard to separate a game’s developers from their publisher and this has led to the Madden series courting controversy for some time now. Electronic Arts has been accused of unfair business practices by making their Madden series the only NFL licensed game title. Furthermore, fans have alleged that EA have basically been rereleasing the same game over and over again with minimal updates and changes outside the player rosters.
However you feel about the Madden series, it still looms large over the video game industry with the amount of popularity and clout it carries. Having the opportunity to see its origins and how it evolved is a unique opportunity regardless of the outcome. With the current NFL regular season wrapping up this weekend, now’s the perfect time to dive into “It’s in The Game: Madden NFL.” It’s the perfect way to fill the gap between now and Wild Card Weekend, especially if you’re favorite team didn’t make the postseason cut.
Watch it on Prime Video here, and check out the trailer below:
