The Sad Decline of Madden - FULL DOCUMENTARY 

This is both parts 1 and 2 of my most recent fall of Madden documentary edited together for an easier to share video. Lots of new content coming soon!

Reminder that IGN has been calling every Madden for the last 7+ years "a step in the right direction"

Small detail I loved on the older maddens. When you’d play Indy, Peyton would take forever to snap the ball just like he would in real life calling a lot of audibles

Madden used to let you design your own plays. X and Os, any legal formation was allowed. You wrote it up on a graph. It was incredible. In fact, I HAD TO design my own defensive playbook in Madden 2004, it was the only way to stop my cousin from abusing Michael Vick. I created a formation like a 4-3, but with two DBs in the outer LB spots playing QB spy, I called it the stiletto, and it worked. I would kill to be able to do something like that again.

I did a job at EA in their Madden broadcast studio where they film the live championship series and they know how bad their game is. While the players compete live on broadcast, they have people in the back studio playing the game that matches what’s happening live, so when the game glitches out, they can quickly switch to the backup version being played to match in the back room. To me, that was the most eye opening thing that even EA knows their game doesn’t work properly and they have a workaround when it glitches out during live broadcast. Sad state of the game it’s in.

I worked on 2k5. Was gutted when we lost the license. Greatest game of all time

Watching this really makes you appreciate the golden days of video games.

Can’t believe how much has changed. I never realized how watered down current madden was until seeing a side by side comp like this. Sweet vid.

Recently paid 17 for madden 23 on PlayStation and still feel like I got robbed

There’s 1 glaring difference between OG Madden players and current Madden players. Back in the day, you were taught how to play football. You learned why specific plays are ran, what the concepts were, different routes, schemes etc. You truly felt like you gained more knowledge and made it a fun experience when playing against other people because it felt like going against another head coach. Current Madden players (or at least the popular ones) don’t know anything about true football concepts. “1 play touchdowns” “Money plays” “the best play to run in Madden” has absolutely tarnished football gaming. It sucks bc kids today are growing up without learning football. They just copy what they see on RU-vid and think that it’s real football. Nothing is real about “best broken play in Madden”, it shouldn’t be this way man

This doc is insane they really took out that many features 😭🤦🏽‍♂️

I have never played the earlier maddens, but my favorite mode has always been franchise mode. It makes me so sad to think about what it used to be and how stripped it has become. I long for the day when franchise mode is as developed as it could be.

I honestly hope this catches the eye of the younger gamers who don't even realize how bad they have it. It really is amazing how bad it's gotten and remains.

The reason us real football fans get frustrated is because we know what these games could be! Who thought when we were younger, the football games then would still be considered better than games today. It’s honestly disheartening when you think of the what could of been’s. They get way too much money and then do nothing with it. Imagine all pro football 2k8 with the best graphics and the old style of franchise modes it would be freaking AMAZING!!!

It’s upsetting to see this decline of Madden, seeing how much that has been removed from gameplay, and the monopoly it has brought. I hope EA gets that license taken away.

Glad you brought up backbreaker even if it was for a moment. I still play it regularly to this day even though I haven’t bought a madden in years. I download custom NFL teams and rosters, and sometimes college teams and rosters. It’s lacking in features on its franchise mode but the actual gameplay is so good it keeps me coming back 10+ years later.

Playing the old Madden games between 2002 and 2007 was so much fun and I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the seasons from draft, training camps and through the season with the radio show and news articles, looking at all the stats, pro bowl votes. Also creating teams and designing stadiums was awesome.

2000s: It’s in the game! Now: It’s all a shame!

I forgot how good Madden used to be. An actual game.

Very well done man, the tracks used, volume levels, footage, information and overall editing/production. Mad props brother!

i specifically remember my senior year in high school when Madden 06 came out for 360. My friend anmd i had been waiting for this moment for over a year. i got to his house and we could barely contain ourselves as the game booted up. The madden and NCaa series had been enhancing our livees and friendship for years and we assumed that the game could only get better for the xbox. However this year long anticipation for madden 06 on xbox 360 didnt last long. After the first quarter we just sat there with our mouths open. We could not believe how bad it was in every aspect. We quit the game at half time and I went home. My friend returned the game the next day and never played Madden again. One of the saddest moments of my life.

The level of detail and knowledge in this video is more effort than anyone at EA is willing to put in!

Man I absolutely loved the madden superstar version where you got to randomly generate your genetics/traits from your parents. Trying to get mom as an olympic sprinter and dad as a brain surgeon etc. I loved that they made you take a QB IQ test and the sheer options of what you wanted to focus on (buff your teams stats, buff your own stats etc).

such a walk down memory lane of how much better football games were. Thanks for putting this together.

The cheerleader physics is the most heartbreaking missing feature

I used to love franchise mode in the mid 2000s. It was so fun to build up a team and draft the best rookies. Now its just MUT or bust. Even that used to be more fun. The gold packs were 9000 coins and you could regularly pull good cards so I never spent a dime and still completed the sets and reached 99. Those were the days..

Amazing job!!! Makes me so sad to see what we have today. So many great memories on Madden 05. Now…none. Keep up the good work my man. Never stop making these!

This is extremely well done and very in-depth. Great job!

one of you greatest hits, thanks for the re-edit. Definitely worth a rewatch

EA went to total unplayable shit after they NDA Fired Ian Cummings! The man repsonsible for Franchise during the golden era.

Rip to my Madden career. 1997-2015.

I bought every Madden from 1995 on Sega Genesis to last year. It's unreal how stripped down the games, especially franchise mode has become. I remember Madden and Pat Summerall in the booth for the game preview and James Brown doing a weekly recap in the studio (I think that was Madden 98 on pc). Madden 96 also had NFL Combine drills if you created a player. My brothers and I still talk about some of these features to this day.

I have no faith in EA's upcoming NCAA Football game.

I have never played a Madden game or sports game of any kind for any appreciable amount of time. Nor do I intend to play one in the future. I just like listening to people talk about what they are passionate about. At least when that passion is directed towards improving something good that has been ruined by greedy people. Good work.

One of my favorite features was the ability to create teams and design stadiums. Was bummed when they stripped that feature.

I stopped playing sports games because of all of these issues. I used to play franchise mode religiously.

I gave up on Madden after 21 and just EA Sports games in general which is really sad because all I played as a kid were sports titles. Really sad they don’t care anymore about these titles.

Thanks for keeping this video relevant, it still holds up just as well as it did when it first aired.

Thank you for posting this!! I have been boycotting Madden for years hoping they would change but they only made more money. However, I don't buy bad games year after year and until I believe that they finally make the game (1) playable like a real football game (2) competitive to play, even against just AI, if I can beat it on the hardest setting and win easily after only playing 10 games, it's not competitive and (3) fun to play! Yes, I have to enjoy playing it, when something happens during the game, I want to think "wow, that was cool" instead of "wow, that was stupid".

When you played the receiver in All Pro Football 2k8 at 26:43 literally tracking the ball and changing his stride to the opposite side mid play, my jaw dropped and I was actually in awww of watching how the play unfolded. It was very similar to the reaction watching real NFL highlights in RU-vid when players make highlight real plays. And that was from a video game from 2008. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any gameplay from the modern madden games that left me with that type of feeling where I forgot I was watching a video game, you know a football simulation, and not the real thing. Crazy.

I watched the full video because you do a great job on putting these together. I love watching and seeing people do great work. I'm older (53) and don't really play video games anymore other than MVP Baseball 2005 on PS2 from time to time but your videos I always watch. Good watch this one.

This video has made me depressed. One of the things I always loved was the difference in attendance. It was also different if you had a bad record.

Great video. It's been about 10 years since I played a Madden game and this removed any FOMO that I may have had.

The last one I played consistently was '13. I've tried 3 of the newer ones since then and haven't even made it through an entire game. It's just so odd to me that the player actions/animations/movements were much more fluid and realistic 10-15 years ago than they are now.

It’s the gameplay. Unforgivable. Will never touch Madden again. RIP my Madden career 2000-2016

I still say my favorite NFL game was the original NFL Blitz. I just loved that insane game play.

My buddy Doc was a caller on the Tony Bruno Madden show. Thank you for this.

During the summer of 2004, after 2K5 was released, I bought it immediately and at the time happened to have a roommate that played offensive tackle for our university football team. He wasn't a big Madden player, and didn't play 2K5 a lot until I showed him first person mode. Once he saw that - he was addicted. He'd get back from work or practice as we got closer to the school year starting and the system was immediately taken up playing 2K first person mode.

I feel like your ultimate goal is to have the NFL bring in competition to compete with Madden in order to get a better simulation football game. I support you 100%. I also just followed your subreddit. Thanks for all that you are doing and the time you are putting in to address this problem.

Those old mini games especially the field goal kicking were my whole life as a kid.

I love these videos man a lot of time and work put into these and especially with one of my favorite game genres “football” been on madden strike since madden 19 and sad point is I will have to continue the strike for another generation 😢

No cap after hearing all those features they removed it makes me want to play the old maddens now

Nice to see this full documentary! This past year I went back and bought Madden 05, 06 (6th gen), and 25. I enjoyed playing each one!

I think the biggest feature that needs to come back is those cheerleader “physics”😂😂

Your vid reminded me of why I use to love playing Madden back in the day. And man, 2k was so fun on dreamcast as well. I haven't bought a madden game is years because of the franchise features are gutted, relocating and moving teams, doing a fantasy draft, all of it is gone and I'm not paying for that content with MUT. Thanks for your doc, don't stop fighting EA

that pocket presence you showed for 2k8 was very lifelike compared to any other NFL game i've seen. for reference, my first football game was Joe Montana's Sports Talk Football as a very young lad

It's a great disappointment to say that they have not progressed since 2k was out of the Football simulation business. When they had competition it was a completely different scenario. And even old madden titles were superior in depth like u just pointed out. It's embarrassing a shame and downright baffling to not see an accurate simulation of Football Sunday! When will the NFL wake up? Fifa sure woke up and EA lost them I'm just hoping they wake up soon before the shot hits the fan. Laziness breeds bugs and that's all madden has .

Since I ended up playing football games for the first time ever last year I ended up stumbling across your channel. I don’t know how people still buy the new game and sit there with a stone face acting like not much is wrong. This is too much loss in features to not be super frustrated about. I’ve just been playing ncaa 06 and retro bowl as my football games.

Thank you softdrink for continuing to make these videos, we really have to take a stand against madden because the games just simply aren't good anymore, my guess is that they are going to ruin college football too if that releases this year smh.

Great video! I grew up when these games were good. My last Madden was 10 and I'm on year 30 of my franchise. 🤗 I forgot all those features of the previous games in the late 90s and early 2000s. Again, great video, thank you.

THANK YOU for that Tony Bruno segment - it is indeed sorely missed!! OMG, "local newspapers"; memories!!!

This is why I'm glad I kept all my PS2 Madden games and anything prior.

My gaming days are behind me, and I haven’t played Madden in prob close to 10 yrs, so I had to watch this out of sheer curiosity, and, great video! Very well done! Gotta say on one hand I’m shocked but on the other hand I’m not. Can’t believe all of those super cool features have been removed never to return, and the buggy ass gameplay in 2023?! Wow that’s shameful. I used to love the value you got out of playing single player modes, and all of the customization options available, importing/exporting, tracking stat history, etc. It was wicked fun. But bro you you mentioned what the game has become, simply, the game is made for ultimate team/ online gameplay. Once multiplayer online play showed up it changed everything. It runs the show now. Nobody buys games to play campaign or single player modes and game developers as you mentioned aren’t going to spend the time and money and effort to include all those features and improve the mechanics bc it’s not necessary. It’s sad but we saw it coming years ago.

Really love this video. I went in thinking yeah Madden is pretty bad, my receivers get hit in the back of the head with the ball and stuff. And then you brought up all of these features that I had forgot about. It's sad because I don't ever see it changing without introducing competition. It doesn't seem likely given EA Sports has a crappy model that makes them a bunch of money and they will be able to continue to pay for exclusive rights to make these games.

Another excellent in-depth presentation by SDTV 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

In November I bought a fully backwards compatible PS3 to play the old madden games and 2K, miss those days.

At around 11:30 i realized what the song was that was playing, idk where you got that rendittion but I loved it.

Great video. It was put together very well and very informative

Man!!! I am so happy you posted and made this. It is so true. I thought I was the only one who wasn’t happy with Madden. I used to get madden every year back in the day. Now it’s every 3-4 years. I get annoyed with the qb play with ball placement, horrible packet presence and how mobility is almost exactly the same for most players (unless you create a COMPLETE stud). #NFLdropEA

It's going to be a rude awakening for Madden once that 2k Arcade official licensed game releases

Great breakdown, I agree on with how Madden has sadly fallen from grace and then some. Also your bit on "We wouldn't care as much if the game was playable" is how I was. While I was definitely bummed by Madden removing all their cool features in Madden 13, I was at least content with the game feeling playable. I was still fine with the games since I could play them fine with friends and stuff. However by Madden 18 when they switched to the Frostbite engine and the game became extremely unplayable, that was the last straw for me. It was sad that Madden really went to this abysmal state, and are only not changing the game since it's pulling in tons of revenue. I hope one of these days Madden eventually becomes good again, but if they couldn't fix these issues that have been present 2017, then I don't think they'll ever be at least decent again.

One of the best features this video left out was Football 101 from Madden 2003. Was huge for teaching me the game and why formations are what they are and for what purpose

ESPN NFL 2K5 still remains my favorite Madden game.

The only way of change is to stop buying the game. Hurt the pockets of EA Once their money is hurting then we can see changes in the game

Bro , I friggin have all the love for you 🎉🎉❤

So glad I saw this. I last played madden in 2008. Was considering getting the newest one but now I’ll just reminisce over long lost fun from my youth.

You make some great points. Me myself, I stop buying that game a long time ago. I think my last 1 was 2006. Got tired of getting ripped off. But nothing is going to change as long as that game sells over a million copys a year. It's like I always say we have the power. Stop buying and watch how fast things change.

2K’s arcade football game comes out this summer (my guess is july / august), the NFL wanted 2K to release the game last year but it wasn’t ready the way 2K wanted it to be and they told the NFL they weren’t gonna release an inferior product. I’m glad 2K stood up to the NFL and did the right thing by taking their time and making the game the right way, they know if they want to get a real chance to make an NFL licensed football game again they have to make a very STRONG case with their long awaited arcade game and knock this one out of the park in terms of sales, gameplay, presentation, commentary etc.. We as fans already know 2K brings all the bells and whistles when it comes to their sports games, but with them not having to worry about the NFL license and what can or can’t be put in the game and still has to be approved by the NFL this let’s 2K really go all out and give the fans a football game they’re gonna enjoy playing. Best believe the game is gonna sell well because everyone wants something different and a game they can enjoy playing again, EA has let madden wither and die after getting the NFL license because without no competition they didn’t have to improve the game anymore. 2K said their gonna release multiple football games at the same time….there’s supposed to be something for everyone, I’m looking forward to playing the arcade game and as long as the game is fully customizable that’s fine by me.

Really great Video. I was a huge Madden fan for years always getting the newest version. I've stopped buying them completely for a lot of the reasons you outlined. Would love an actual simulation football game.

There's so much truth in this video. I respect the fact that you did your homework and have facts to go alongside your words instead of just the typical "Madden is Trash" rhetorical. You actually go the extra steps to show why Madden has regressed, why it is considered trash when it was once a revered series. I want to send a link to this video to anybody who tries to argue that Madden is looked down on just because it's "cool" to hate EA. Would love to hear their rebuttal to this video.......I mean it's indisputable that EA has removed features and options that were once in previous games, you absolutely cannot deny that. There is no argument to that, ony speculation as to why these features were removed. And the NFL exclusivity licensing was absolutely the downfall of not only Madden, but football games in general. Competition pushes developers to make the best product possible. We the consumers end up happy with the product, publishers make money, developers make money, consumers are happy, everybody wins. Eliminating competition hurts everyone, but it's due time to hurt EA where it hurts.......their wallets.

It’s like ea is walking across America and they take one step every year.

Fantastic video 👏 older sports games are just so much better than what we have now

You and Ryan Moody are great at pointing out why I don't buy Madden anymore. I hate when the O lineman either lets go of the defender as you reach the hole so you can be tackled for a short gain 70% of the time, or when they arent engaged they will actively look to run into the ball carrier like they are a 12th defender. I also hate when your defender is in perfect position to make a play on the ball but if the computer decides their ratings are too low, nothing happens when you press the button. Finally, you can't lead your WR on a deep throw, and they won't let you take control of the WR and adjust to the ball. All of this has been happening for YEARS.

This video was amazing. Great job dude.

cant wait in 10 years when kids will talk about madden 23 being the glory days lmao

21:48 out of all the features that were removed or were a part of 2K or other past games, this one takes the cake. i love this idea so much, as somebody that almost exclusively plays single player games. this was in a game launched almost 20 years ago using hardware that’s nearly a quarter century old now. i’ve never really played any madden game (other than madden 19 very casually, just messing around with friends) but the fact that developers were able to do this back then is just unbelievable. back then you could play against an AI version of yourself, your friends, or just other people while being completely offline. now, many AAA titles require an internet connection even when playing a single player game mode. it’s sad to see how things have changed. if there was an actual simulation NFL game that wasn’t total crap i’d probably buy it, hopefully it wouldn’t require $60 per year for a glorified roster update like nearly every AAA sports title now. i never understood why they release a new game every single year instead of every few years with updates here and there, especially since most people just download new games from steam or whatever other thing online anyways. i guess it’s just even more money for EA lol

Picked up Madden ‘23 for the ps4 shortly after it came out. FINALLY get my hands on a ps5 and the only way to upgrade the madden version is the pay for a full new copy… and then when it goes on sale the all madden version or whatever is cheaper than the base game which isn’t on sale at all for some reason?? Makes no sense dude, great video

All the point you made apply to sports games in general. And I was talking about this recently with a friend: I think that an internet connection to consoles has ruined gaming (not just sports). It has its pros but the cons far outweigh them. That is a hill I am willing to die on

It’s sad because with no competition, mainstream reviewers aren’t looking at what should be the standard and included in a football game, they’re just comparing to what we got in the previous years. Ultimate team has been the death of sports games and we can only hope there is more competition in the market sometime soon.

Never stop never stopping.

Fire video can tell you took a long time. Good job

What I hate about modern madden is the forced outcomes If it wants you to win, it will force you to win even if you work against it. Same with losing

Those old madden games on the ps2 taught me here in europe how Football works 💪🏼💪🏼

15:45 When I simulate games/seasons, Lamar usually gets 725 - 900 rushing yards but for some reason in one of my saves he damn near just stopped running the ball. He went from 800 something yards to 245 yards in one season with no injuries

Here's a list of awesome features that Madden does not currently utilize: 1. QB sack Avoidance system where you can Dodge high, low, left, or right 2. A play challenge system where you can actually chose what you're challenging 3. Camera shots of fans tailgating, cheering/booing the play, leaving early if the home team is getting blown out 4. Custom music, getting to choose what songs play and when 5. First person football, putting you inside a helmet and actually on the field 6. A real halftime highlight show, showing highlights from other games being played. Wanna know what's especially messed up? THESE FEATURES WERE ALL IN ESPN NFL 2K5.

Great video! I gave up on madden and games during the ps2 Era... To date, none have interested me back in. I'm a fan of the franchise mode back in the day, and an old head... Honestly, nothing topped tecmobowl in the 90s

Yep, I used to love the amount of things you could customize in Madden back in the mid-2000's. Madden still is fun, but it's hard not to see that it quickly became a shell of its former self once there was no more competition

Internet killed Madden .... EAs motto is NO MONEY IN FRANCHISE MODE...

I enjoyed this video. I miss those days. I used to take days off work to play the old Maddens. I stopped playing after Madden 10. I bought Madden 12 and it was a glitchy mess, especially it rained every game. I gave up after a month. I got Madden 13 for free, played one game and blew out a team with a 4 string QB. Haven’t touched it since. I knew then that the game was going downhill and I was right. All these features back then was great. If only they had them now. I hope Maximum Football comes out to be a good football game.

I agree so much !!! I love to play franchise in my own lil world but the options suck .. I expected more by now … I have been playing since Slick Vick was on the cover and yet I feel like there should be so so much more by now!!!